Preview

Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
860 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse
Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse?

HIS 127: World in the 20th Century
December 2012

While political dynamics played a large role in the collapse of the Soviet Union, economic breakdown was the main cause of its deterioration. Built on the Socialist ideology of state owned and run business, the declining Soviet economy was plagued by economic inefficiencies and corruption. The country suffered from decades of being tossed on the rough seas of inconsistent and capricious political leadership. The transformative thinking of Mikhail Gorbachev brought much needed change in policies, but the very reforms of perestroika that were meant to save the country from economic disaster perpetuated its demise (Strayer, 132).
Gorbachev was an honest, hardworking man with a genuine belief in the potential of socialism given the right direction. His rise in the Soviet government gave him considerable insight to the varied leadership styles of Breznev, Andropov, and Chernenko. Over time, he saw that his party’s ineffective and often corrupt leadership and failed policies called for serious reform in order to stop the threat of economic decline. He developed a plan that would provide a “qualitative new state of society” (93). He pushed for a new level of candor called glasnost, a policy largely perceived as successful, that allowed transparency of government entities and removed barriers to open communication. A second key policy called “perestroika”, or economic restructuring, was considered far less successful (115). This plan included decentralizing economic management by the state, introduction of small-scale private enterprise, and making individual enterprises responsible in part for their own products. Perestroika would change the Soviet economy, but not the way Gorbachev had hoped.
Soviet industry had long depended on the state to set prices, wages, direct contracts, and determine what would be produced and in what quantity. When controls were substantially

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    As de facto ruler of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform the stagnating Party and the state economy by introducing glasnost ("openness"), perestroika ("restructuring"), demokratizatsiya ("democratization"), and uskoreniye ("acceleration" of economic development), which were launched at the 27th Congress of the CPSU in February 1986.…

    • 749 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ‘Khrushchev fell from power because he failed to convince the party of the need to carry out fundamental reform in the USSR’…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    General Mikhail Gorbachev

    • 879 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Part 1: Choose eight events from the lesson. Complete the following chart by using information from the lesson and putting it into your own words.…

    • 879 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Western Democratic Socialism demonstrates to the world what a feasible, arguably successful form of socialism looks like. Conversely, the economic, political, and social challenges of Eastern European Socialism eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev, demonstrating a form of socialism that proved incapable of being maintained. Some would say that the USSR was not an impactful form of socialism because it did not last into the 21st century. However, you cannot judge the impact of socialism based on how long that it lasted; instead, judgment of the impact can be based on what was accomplished while this form of socialism existed. In the time that the Soviet Union existed, the USSR was able to implement socialism and major changes were made. These two poles of socialism have sparked a debate about the advantages of socialism, as well as its possible obsolescence or viability. Due to this discussion, they are the most impactful forms of…

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the period before 1941, Stalin was able to institute his economical policies of Collectivization and the 5-year plans. ‘Backwards was to be defeated and enslaved’. Russia had to make up for 100 years of lost time for fear of being consumed by the western world. Stalin, sole leader of the Bolsheviks by the late 1920’s, believed that Russia could modernize their Agricultural and Industrial sectors through his policies.…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During The Cold War, There was a total of 4 change in power. Joseph Stalin being the first dictator of The Soviet Union during The Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev being the second, Leonid Brezhnev the third, and Mikhail Gorbachev the final leader of The Soviet Union. “While this meant change the underlying political reality was that the Soviet system did not trust the people. Government was retained in the hand of Party apparatchiks which the public had no role in choosing. Economically there were improvements.” Despite the improvements, living conditions were poor for the citizens of The Soviet Union. “Agriculture remained a major weakness with poor yields”. Although The Soviet try to improve life for people, life was still poor. The economics…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The introduction of collectivization and industrialization by Stalin were both supposed to end ideological compromise and come closer to Marxist theory. However, many historians have made it clear that these policies created a socialist Soviet Economy which was the opposite of Marx’s theory. State control of the economy was a key feature of Stalin’s totalitarian rule.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In order to contextualise the contemporary sources used in this enquiry, it has been necessary to consult secondary sources in order to provide the appropriate background. Here, the historian Michael Lynch maintains categorically that Stalin's economic policies did little to improve the life of the Russian people, giving them 'few benefits'. Taken from a book published after Gorbachev's 1985 Glasnost, a period of openness when the Soviet archives were opened up, Lynch would have been privy to vast amounts of evidence and statistics. Thus statements such as 'there is little evidence that they [Stalin's economic policies] provided the Soviet Union with the necessary capital growth' and 'there was never genuine…

    • 1864 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Many Historians have debated as to why Khrushchev fell from power in 1964. Historian John Laver states that the failures in foreign policy “are what provided the final straw for many colleagues” however Pravda were eager to blame “his hare-brained schemes”. To assess the reason for his fall from power in 1964 one must assess the policy of De-Stalinisation, his failures in foreign policy and his economic reforms and their failures. This essay shall argue that the main reason for his downfall was his policy of De-Stalinisation.…

    • 1544 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The words of Leon Trotsky, said decades before the eventual demise of central planning, highlight the underlying flaw of the planned economic system; lack of information. The central planner’s realized that the information and signaling required for any modern economy could be found more effectively in a market based system and consequentially central planning was abandoned. The systemic failure of central planning due to poor information was most prevalent in Eastern Europe and the USSR, as evidenced by their economy’s productive inefficiencies, allocative inefficiencies and pricing difficulties. This essay will classify the traditional soviet economy and examine the production, allocation and pricing difficulties which caused its end.…

    • 2648 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1983 Ronald Reagan predicted the end of the Soviet Union, and he describes the socialist state as “the focus of evil in the modern world” because of its military capabilities. The Soviet Union was under great difficulties in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Bloated military budget, social problems, and economic stagnation where the main issues among others.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the Soviet Union collapsed on December 26th, 1991, many considered it a victory for Democracy and America. However, most people fail to realize that America never truly “won” the war. While America did prevent the Soviet Union from spreading with it’s foreign policy, the Soviet Union collapsed because of the structure and principles of its economy, the Gorbachev reforms, and the solidarity movement.. (finish intro change) The first internal issue the Soviet Union had was the problem of a stagnating economy.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mcdonald's in Russia

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev started a new programme of the reformation of the USSR, Perestroyka. It was aimed to improve the overall technological and industrial base hoping to increase the quality of life for many citizens in the country.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gorbachev was to blame for the collapse of the USSR for various reasons, mainly because of his two new policies, ‘Glasnost’ (New Freedom and Openness) and ‘Perestroika’ (Economic Restructuring). However, there were a few external factors which helped cause the collapse of the USSR, such as the effect Yeltsin had on Russia and how countries were growing tired of the whole communist system itself. Gorbachev's intention was to make the communist system work better by allowing people to have their say in how the system could be improved and to make the Soviet system of central planning of production more efficient. However, it just allowed people to openly criticize the system and soon people wanted to get rid of it.…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    #1. In the late 1980s, Soviet Union had brought its glasnost (openness) era. Soviet president Mikhail G. introduced the revolutionary idea of Perestroika, which refers to “economic restructuring.” Gradually, Soviet’s culture and business began to grow. The political parties began to spring up, and farmers began to sell their products on the open market. In 1987, the Kremlin passed a new law on the joint ventures, easing restrictions on the importation of foreign capital, technology, and expertise.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays