4: The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Week 4

Leonid Brezhnev

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, known for his policy of stagnation and a focus on military expansion.

Détente

Easing of Cold War tensions between US and SU

Andropov and Chernenko

Leaders of the Soviet Union who succeeded Brezhnev, both facing economic challenges and political stagnation in 1982-85.

USSR in 1985

• facing severe economic decline

• increasing political unrest

• pressure from the middle class

• unpopular Afghan war - loss of influence on the global stage

• Divide between reality & rhetoric

• popular cynicism - “we pretend to work, the pretend to pay us”

• three leaders die in succession

Mikhail Gorbachev

• protege of Andropov

• first secretary of Stavropol obcom

• Politiburo member

• second secretary (1984-85)

• replaced the old guard in Politiburo with new leaders

Gorbachev’s personal beliefs in Politiburo

• non-violence

• more peaceful, interdependent world

• “reasonable sufficiency” in military expenses

• “all-human values”

End of the Cold War Arms reductions agreements

• Geneva (1985)

• Reykjavik (1986)

• Washington (1987)

• Moscow (1988)

consequences from the end of the Cold War

• Arms reductions agreements

• withdrawal from Afghanistan by 15 Feb 1989

• 1988 “Sinatra” doctrine

• 1989 Central & Eastern Europe: all socialist regimes collapsed

• 1990 reunification of Germany

Sinatra doctrine

Member states of the Warsaw pact determine their own internal affairs

Soviet Mode of Production

• surplus appropriation by the state

• administrative-command system of redistribution

• non-monetary system of centralised bargaining for supplies

• stagnation

• chronic shortages

• soviet enterprises were designed to finish plans, regardless of cost

Dilemmas of Soviet reforms

• market relations to incentivise producers

• this undermines surplus appropriation

• prior to Gorbachev, reforms were always reversed to preserve the system

Gorbachev’s economic reforms

expansion of market relations

new structures of distribution

Economic Reforms

• Anti-alcohol program (1985) & reduction in state revenue

• Decline in oil prices (mid 1980s) & reduction in export revenue

• Law on individual Economic Activity (1986)

• Law on the State Enterprise (1987)

• Law on Co-operatives (1988)

• Shatalin-Yavlinskii 500 Days (1990)

Gorbachev’s expansion of market relations

• opening access to foreign markets

• control through prices instead of quantities

• state orders replace plan deliveries

Gorbachev’s new structures of redistribution

• undermines centralised control of supplies

• intensified aspirations for independence

• diverted surplus to intermediaries

• shortages unleashed inflationary pressure

Law on Individual Economic Activity, 1986

Legalised individual and family-based work

Law on the State Enterprise, 1987

Law on Co-operatives, 1988

Large-scale private economic activity

1990 Shatalin–Yavlinskii 500 Days

Attempt to make the transition to a market economy

Failure of Economic Reforms

• disagreements: to reform the existing system or create an entirely new one

  • relatance to transition to market economy

  • social consequences of transition;

    • unemployment, inflation

• 1990-91: not functioning as a command economy OR market system

Chernobyl Disaster

26 April 1986

• soviet citizens informed by foreign radio

• Soviet tv on 28 April

• Parades go ahead on May 1

• catalyst for openness

Perestroika

“Reconstruction”

• 1987 Yeltsin removed from position in Moscow Party after criticising leadership

• backlash against reforms

• June 1988 19th party Congress: delegates approve Gorbachev’s reforms

Election in march 1989

For Congress of People’s deputies

• elects Supreme Soviet

  • first free elections since 1917

  • Yeltsin elected in Moscow

March 1990

Presidency of USSR

• indirectly elected

• Gorbachev’s tactical victory, strategic error

• Gorbachev is President and General Secretary

Elections in 15 Republic

• legislatures (1990)

• presidencies (1991)

• Yeltsin directly elected as President in Jan 1991

Institutional Changes

• monopoly of power of the Communist party and “democratic centralism” is abolished

• federation council composed of the presidents of the the chairmen of Supreme Soviets of union republics

  • not controlled by Gorbachev & Communist Party

Glasnost

openness, freedom of speech

New Freedoms

• free to criticise conservators in party & state bureaucrats

• rule of law

• market economy

• freedom from pluralism

Mid-way reforms

triggered events that led to dissolution of the USSR

• religious freedom

• ethnic awakening

Unintended consequences of mid-way reforms

• party losing control on media

• taboo topics came to light

  • shortages & crime

  • alcoholism

  • pollution

  • Stalin’s crimes

Soviet federalism

• resentment of the soviet order in union republics due to the suppression of national aspirations

• institutions of statehood and right to succession

• removal of the “leading role” of CPSU in 1989

  • removal of key pillar of the system and Union

Ethnic Politics

• 1986 riots in Kazakhstan

• 1988-90 Armenia vs Azerbaijan inter-ethnic violence

• 1989 Tbilisi & 1991 Vilnius + Riga: violent suppression of protests

• 1989 events in CEE and the problem of Baltics’ statehood

• Feb-Mar 1990 CPSU lose elections in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Armenia, Georgia & Moldova

Revenge of the Past

• national histories reconstructed

• traditions selected, invented and enshrined

Politics in 1991

Rivalry between USSR and RSFSR

• Yeltsin - Gorbachev rivalry

• June 1991 Yeltsin gains 57%

17 March 1991 referendum (93% turnout)

• 76.4% support Union in 9 republics

July 1991

• G7 reject pleas for help

August 1991

• new Treaty scheduled (9+1)

State Committee for State of Emergency

19-21 August 1991

18th - Gorbachev under house arrest in Crimea

19th state of emergency in Moscow

• army & tanks in Moscow

• Yeltsin face of resistance to coup

• mass protests against the coup

20th-21st preparations to attack the White House

• most soldiers refuse

• arrest warrant for committee members

Dissolution of USSR

cascade of independence declarations

• 1st December independence referendum in Ukraine

• 8th December Belavezha accords

  • commonwealth of independent states

• 21st December 11 republic signed the protocol to dissolve USSR

• 25th December Gorbachev resigns

Collapse of the USSR

1985-89

• significant worsening economic, political conditions

  • rationing, poverty

  • 1-2% growth rates

• “Star wars” & military competition

• Mid 1980s - lost momentum in Poland

End of the USSR

• collapse was a surprise

• 1991 - majority supported socialist system or regulated market economy and opposed capitalism