What explains the fall of the USSR? (1985–91) HK

When did the USSR collapse?

December 1991

When was Gorbachev elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party?

1985

Why were people hopeful about Gorbachev's arrival?

It was an event that seemed to offer the communist regime a chance of revival and renewed strength. This was due to Gorbachev's programme of reform.

What was actually the reality of Gorbachev's coming into power?

-within a few years, the economic and political reform undertaken by Gorbachev had seriously weakened the capacity of the Communist Party to hold on to power

-national resurgence in Eastern Europe

-the hold of the central government over the Soviet republics weakened, producing a power play between the Soviet leader, Gorbachev, and the politician most identified with a resurgent Russian nationalism, Yeltsin

-An attempted coup by conservatives in the Party in August 1991 seriously undermined Gorbachev's position as Soviet leader

What was the aftermath of the attempted coup?

-coup collapsed

-Gorbachev was back in power but no longer in control of events

-he tried to rescue the Soviet Union by seeking agreement for his new Union Treaty,but each republic's leader had power and didn't want to join

When did the republics dissolve the Soviet Union as a sovereign state?

December 1991,On Christmas day, Gorbachev gave a farewell message in a televised broadcast and left the Kremlin for good.

Since 1991 why has the question of why the Soviet Union collapsed highly complicated?

-there are 2 key difficulties of interpretations according to historians:

1.The events still fairly recent and too bound up with current affairs to enable a clear path through competing viewpoints

2.Historians have provided detailed accounts of how it collapsed but still struggle to explain convincingly why it did so. It is diffcult to pinpoint any group who wished to bring about its collapse, with the exception of nationalists in the Baltic republics.

What does the suddenness of the collapse suggest?

that short-term factors played the dominant role, but any one of these need not have been catastrophic for the USSR. It was the combination of these factors working together that produced the process of unravelling that broke the Soviet system.

How do historians approach the past in their interpretations?

-with their own perspective on what drives change forward

-individuals?

-individual's intentions and actions?

-other historians see individuals as less influential in determining events

-Are individuals prisoners of their circumstances with very limited room for manoeuvre?

When considering interpretations what is important to think about?

• What is the perspective of the historian?

• How does the historian develop their interpretation?

• What evidence does the historian use to support their interpretation?

• Do you fi nd their interpretation valid? Do you accept the judgements they make based on the evidence they use?

-important to distinguish fact from opinion

-But opinions need to be supported and be convincing

----HOW IMPORTANT WERE ECONOMIC WEAKNESSES IN BRINGING ABOUT THE FALL OF THE USSR?------

How had the Soviet gov justified their legitimacy to rule?

-By demonstating its ability to meet the material needs of its people

-the acceptance of the population was based on the gov ensuring material and welfare needs

-but this could only be achieved if the Soviet economy performed well enough to deliver these

What were the long-term economic weaknesses of the Soviet Union when Gorbachev came into power?

-became general secretary in 1985

-soviet economy in decline

-the Novosibirsk Report of 1983 drew attention to the growing crisis in agriculture caused by state inefficiency and inflexibility

-this was sent to the Politburo but most of its ageing members didn't understand the conclusions of the report or chose to ignore them

-but Gorbachev did listen and realised reform was needed

-this led to a period of trial and error which failed and the economy into disruption and chaos

-Soviet government was placed in a weak and vulnerable position

What were Gorbachev's initial steps for his economic reforms?

-cautious

-positioned like-minded reformers into key positions:Ligachev,Ryzhkov,Yeltsin,Yakovlev

-main rival Romanov dismissed July 1985

What was Gorbachev's initial approach that mirrored Andropov's(his mentor)?

-campaign to attack alcoholism

-this would improve health of soviet people and improve the productivity of the workforce

-mid 1980s-alcohol=15% of all household spending

-detrimental effect on workforce-many turning up to work drunk

What measures did the government introduce to curb drinking?

1. legal age of drinking raised to 21

2. number of retail outlets selling alcohol reduced

3. vineyards destroyed, distillaries closed

4. cost of vodka in shops tripled

What was the impact of the Alcohol campaign?

-some benefits at first

-BUT the tax revenues that the gov gained from alcohol fell+caused shortfall in the budget

-drinking levels began to rise again as illegal moonshine liquor was produced

-became clear that relying on the workforce to become more disciplined/sober would not solve underlying problems of the economy

Why was the Twelfth Five-Year Plan intoduced?(1986-90)

-needed to improve level of growth in the economy

-gov fell back on trad method of increasing investment,controlled by central planning,to push the economy to greater production

-focus of investment=science and research(esp.engineering)

What were the weaknesses of the 12th 5YP?

1. investment heavily skewed to construction projects but these led to extra spending which was needed to equip the factories constructed. Therefore these projects tended to lead to overspends and got far more investment than originally intended

2. equipment used was out of date and prone to breaking-increasingly unproductive

3. industry slow to use new technology+imports of foreign tech drained valuable foreign exchange which was used to import food

4.agricultural sector productivity not improving even with large investments

5. quantity>quality -products sometimes so poor that they were unusable

What was another reason for why Gorbachev's policy of acceleration did little to address the fundamental weaknesses of the Soviet economy?

-opposition to any real change mostly from the party and state economic planning apparatus

What did Gorbachev set up to achieve better coordination of economic activity and reduce waste?

-tried to streamline the state apparatus to avoid waste and cut rivalry

-'superministries' set up

-but these were unable to bring about these changes

What was the chief obstacles to the reforms of the 12th 5YP(superministries)?

1. they were to be implemented by the people whose privileged positions the reforms were trying to reduce

2. changes to investment priorities was resisted by miltary who were powerful in pushing for new investment in military technology

3. Industrial and military investment could only be increased if other sectors suffered, this posed a threat to the gov's ability to maintain goods for the general public to consume

4. alternative was to go into defiicit , a short-term remedy that could not be sustained

5. problems not helped by war in Afg and increased defence spending to keep up with USA's Strategic Defence Initiative (Star Wars) programme

Why was Perestroika introduced in 1987?

-Gorbachev knew a more fundamental restructuring of economy needed

What was Perestroika ?

-Economic restructuring

-introduced market mechanisms and allowed some private enterprise as he hoped it'd revitalise the economy

-hoped it'd incentivise people and encourage production and give greater flexibility than the central command economy in meeting needs of pop

What were the key reforms of Perestroika?

1. The encouragement of joint ventures, January 1987

-gov allowed foreign firms to establish businesses in USSR

-Moscow got first McDonalds,1990

-Gorbachev hoped joint ventures with foreign businesses would open the USSR to more modern tech

2. The Law on State Enterprises, June 1987

-loosening of state controls over wages and prices

-weakened authority of Gosplan

-allowed element of election in the choice of managers

-factories allowed to produce what they liked once targets met

3. Co-operatives were legalised in 1988

-allowed small-scale private enterprises to be established

-resulted in flourishing sector of cafes,restaraunts and small shops

-use of term 'co-operatives' appealed to conservative ppl in Party, who feared the dismantling of socialism. Gorbachev was thus able to partly disguise the move to a more market-based economy

What was the impact of Perestroika?

1. food production small increase (from 1% to 2%) but still not enough to feed population

-1/5 USSR food imported

2. enterprises still subject to state interference as devolving of powers depended on state bureaucrats who wanted tight control

3. products taken from cheap state shops to co-operatives that charged much higher price-produced inflation

4. co-operatives would use buyers from richer cities, leaving poorer cities lacking adequate food etc

5. co-operatives very successful so attracted corrupt gov officials who demanded bribes for permission to continue to operate

-criminal gangs also saw potential of extorting money(like they did with producing illegal alohol)

6. uncertainty over supplies encouraged hoarding and shops were emptied of goods as they arrived

7. food rationing introduced in some cities to try solve this situation

8. principle of electing managers led to rise in wages-urban wages rose by 9% in 1988

9. foreign companies keen to invest in the USSR faced with endless bureaucracy that made progress slow,putting off potential investors

10. reforms undermined by officials-in some cities ignored-Leningrad, the city administration withdrew all sausages from shops and warehouses and buried them

Why was the situation of the 12th 5YP made worse?

-Made worse by a fall in the price of oil

-great impact as USSR became more reliant on using oil exports as a source of foriegn exchange

-by 1984, oil and gas accounted for 54% of Soviet exports

By the end of 1989 what was the Soviet economy's state?

-reforms had weakened the apparatus of state planning but did little to replace it

-economy massively in debt and approaching crisis

-Gorbachev's promise in improving consumer goods for the population had not been achieved

-his reforms made the situation worse

-Strikes increased, workers such as the coal miners in the Don Basin protested over unpaid wages and food shortages

-gov response was to increase wages but this only short-term

-little point in having more money if shops empty

-Gorbachev's failure to improve the economy undermined his political power/position

What was the only solution deemed to work after the failure of Gorbachev's economic reforms?

A dismantling of the Soviet economic system

What did the State Commission on Economic Reform's report conclude?

-a more radical solution was needed

-called for a move to a market-led economy

Why did the State Commission on Economic Reform's report split the politburo?

-as reformers wanted to implement this quickly,while others called for a more gradual transition

-Gorbachev faced challenge of trying to maintain unity in the party leadership

-October-500 Days Programme was put forward to move rapidly to a market economy but it was rejected by the Soviet gov but accepted by the Russian Parliament

-Division between the central Party leadership and that of the national republics within the USSR caused chaos and the economy collapsed

-Soviet output declined by 1/5th between 1990 and 1991

What have interpretations of Gorbachev's economic reforms been influenced by?

By the attitudes of individual historians to communism as an economic system

What led many historians to the conclusion that communism was inherently weak and its economic failure was not surprising?

In the West, historians have often adopted the view that liberal free-market economics are the best way of achieving material growth and supplying the population with its needs and wants.

How do historians on the political left view Gorbachev's economic reforms?

-view more positively

-Soviet economic weakness was not insurmountable. Many bad governments have been able to hold on to power through periods of economic decline, and economic failure would not in itself have brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union.

How does the context that Gorbachev was living in influence certain historians views?

It is true to say that Gorbachev faced a very unfavourable international climate: a war in Afghanistan, falling oil prices, a US embargo on imports of technology to the USSR and the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe during 1989.

----HOW SIGNIFICANT WERE THE FAILURES OF GORBACHEV'S POLITICAL REFORMS?----

Why did Gorbachev decide to introduce political reforms?

-as his economic reforms had failed to make an impact so attacking the fundamental weaknesses in the Soviet system and he realised that the main obstacle to reform was the Communist Party itself.

What was Glasnost?

-The Soviet policy of openness under Mikhail Gorbachev

Why did the party need reforming?

-As the whole apparatus of the party and state had become unmanageable

-partition between different branches of administration had led to corruption and nepotism

-Gorbachev recognised that the whole system needed streamlining

-This would provide the additional benefit of offering the opportunity to remove those offcials who were against reform

What was the impact of Glasnost?

-started as a method of getting new ideas to revitalise the party but descended into an open attack on its corruption

What were the key criticisims of the party under Glasnost?

1. Complaints about poor housing

2. Stalin's mass terror ,famine of the 1930s etc

3. sensitive issue of Soviet victory in WW2 discussed-reckless waste of human lives

4. environmental issues-damaging impact of gov irrigation schemes on the Aral Sea

Why was it difficult for Gorbachev to halt Glasnost once it had started?

-the Soviet gov's response to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant convinced Gorbachev that Glasnost was essential

-they made no official announcement until they were forced to respond after scientists in Scandinavia picked up readings of unusually high radioactivity in their air space

-Soviet gov's delayed admission of an accident had disastrous results for its own people

-evacuation of people living in toxic areas was delayed, adding to the human cost of the accident

-increase in leukemia and birth deformities

-Chernobyl reflected weaknesses of the USSR-nuclear power plant badly managed and its deficiencies were covered up by secrecy

-didn't help Gorbachev's international reputation

-thiss whole affair seemed to provide an urgent justification for Glasnost

By 1989 how many informal groups were there holding meetings,organising demonstrations and adding their voices to the call for political reform.?

60,000

Instead of producing support for Gorbachev what did Glasnost result in?

A wave of criticism against the party,much of it against Gorbachev for his weakness in pursuing radical reform.

When did Gorbachev attempt to seperate Party and state?

-At the 19th conference of the Communist party in June 1988

-but little was done to get individual officials to choose one over another as lines between the two had become blurred

-this was because of the Nomenklatura system where promotions within the state relied on loyalty to the party

-often that one person had equivalent positions in both

-e.g. in October Gorbachev became president of USSR as well as general secretary of the party

How was shifting power from the Party to the Soviets attempted?

-By allocating more finance to the Soviets to give them resources to support their role

-deputies of Soviets to be elected for 5 years rather than 2

How was the party streamlined?

Central Committee departments reduced from 20 to 9 & 6 new commissions created. 'Superministries' also created to streamline economic planning.

How was there a clampdown on corruption?

-Brezhnev's son in law Yuri sentenced to 12yrs

-attacks on corrupt party officials by public

-Kunayev removed as First Secretary of the Party in Kazakhstan on grounds of corruption

How was there a move towards democratisation?

-1987 at a central committee meeting, Gorbachev discussed idea of secret ballots for multiple candidates

-Gorbachev then announced this multi-candidate elections would be extended to national level with elections for the new Congress of People's Deputies-which was part of Gorbachev's attempts to separate the functions of Party from state

-

What was the impact of the elections for the new Congress of People's Deputies in March 1989?

-gave Soviet public a taste of democracy

-represented a significant change in the context of the Soviet Union

-It had weakened the power of the Communist Party

What was the impact of Gorbachev's failure to reform the party?

-became increasingly frustrated with his failure to change the mindset of conservative party members

-The failure of reforms to the Party left many reformers convinced that the solution was to move towards pluralism

What is pluralism?

opened the possibility of a multi-party system whereby the Communist Party would have to earn its right to govern by elections.

What was the impact of Gorbachev's failure to reform the party on the unity of the party?

1. increasing divisions within the party

-undermined authority of Gorbachev who struggled to find a common ground between them

2.radical reformers like Yeltsin alienated

-in October 1987,Yeltsin openly attacked Gorbachev's approach to reform as being too slow. He was sacked as Party First Secretary in Moscow and then removed from the Politburo in February 1988

3.hard-line conservative communists also alienated

4. development of factions

-Although factions within the Party were prohibited, informal groupings started to emerge during the elections for the Congress of People's Deputies-liberals vs conservatives

5. abolition of Article 6

-If the Communist Party could not be reformed the end the political monopoly of the Party

-This Article enshrined the one-party state and therefore became a symbolic target for critics who wished to push towards real democracy

-Gorbachev repealed it in March 1990 and ended the Party's monopoly on power. Other political parties could now be established to contest elections

What was the state of the communist party by 1990?

-powerless

-elections to local soviets saw communist candiates defeated across the country

-Leningrad-opposition secured 60% seats

-In the non-Russian republics support for national groups grew, especially in the Baltic States

-Yeltsin had scored a victory for his newly formed grouping, Democratic Platform, in the elections for the Russian Congress of People's Deputies.

-Yeltsin in June dramatically resigned from the Communist Party, at last freeing himself from ties to the Party and to socialism

What do historians generally agree on about Gorbachev's reforms of the party?

They damaged his authority and the party's.

What do historians agree less on about Gorbachev's reforms of the party?

Whether this left him severely weakened

How do Western historians view Gorbachev's political reforms?

Well-meaning but unlikely to have ever brought success

What do essentialist historians say about Gorbachev's political reforms?

communism and the Communist Party were impossible to reform because they were, incapable of producing anything other than a totalitarian state, where freedom was not allowed and a one-party state could only be sustained through force.

How does recent research question the inevitability of failure of Gorbachev's political reforms?

View Gorbachev's political reforms as potentially workable, but undermined by both conservatives and liberals within the Party.

------WHAT IMPACT DID THE RESURGENCE OF NATIONALISM PLAY IN THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR?-----

How many different independent states was the Soviet Union split into when it collapsed?

15

What was the Brezhnev Doctrine?

-Policy that the Soviet Union had a right to intervene if communism was threatened in another communist nation.

-This Doctrine had been formulated after the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968 to prevent the Czech communist government introducing liberal reforms in response to popular protests

What did Gorbachev use the funeral of Chernenko as an opportunity for?

-to meet every leader of the communist regimes of Eastern Europe. Each in turn was informed by Gorbachev that he would not intervene in their internal affairs. They were free to choose their own path of socialism

Why did Gorbachev end the Brezhnev Doctrine?

1. supporting satellite states expensive-spent $40 billion annually-this money could be used to promote domestic reform

2. he hoped that many would follow his lead in economic reforms. He had a genuine belief that this was the way to rejuvenate socialism

3. refused to use force to keep the population under control. He believed the use of armed intervention was, in most cases, morally wrong.

What did the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine mean?

The people of Eastern Europe could choose their own governments. The consequences of this change were to be spectacular.

What did Gorbachev's reforms in the USSR lead to?

Attempts by some governments in Eastern Europe to reform in response to the new Soviet lead, as well as increasing the pressure for change from the public.

What did the ending of the Brezhnev doctrine mean for Eastern European leaders who wanted to resist reform?

-They could no longer rely on Soviet military intervention to buttress their regimes

What happened in Poland as a result of the ending of the Brezhnev Doctrine?

-the communist government yielded to pressure from the independent workers' organisation(called Solidarity)

-in 1989 decided to allow any political groups to stand in elections

-Solidarity won

-communist party collapsed

-Gorbachev seemed to approve of the Poles deciding on their own future

-The message was clear to all those pressing for change in other east European states: the USSR no longer had any wish to impose itself on the internal a airs of Eastern Europe

What happened in Hungary as a result of the ending of the Brezhnev Doctrine?

-in 1989 Hungary adopted a multiparty system

What happened in East Germany as a result of the ending of the Brezhnev Doctrine?

-As an artificial country, East Germany was more reliant on Soviet support than others

-Krenz, who became East German leader in October 1989,decided to open access across the Berlin Wall

-On 9 November, the Berlin Wall, the symbol of Cold War Europe, was dismantled by 'people power'

What happened in Czechoslovakia as a result of the ending of the Brezhnev Doctrine?

-An organisation called Civic Forum emerged to co-ordinate the campaign to get rid of the communist government. Under severe public pressure, the communists caved in, reforms were introduced, and in December 1989 Havel, a leading opponent of communism, was elected President

What happened in Romania as a result of the ending of the Brezhnev Doctrine?

-a discontented population tired of food shortages, a lack of consumer goods, a repressive government and a lack of real democracy

-When demonstrations against the communist government started at the end of 1989, support for the regime collapsed

-Ceaușescu, Romania's leader, used the army to open fi re on the demonstrators, but this merely increased the unpopularity of the regime. By December even the army was unwilling to support Ceaușescu and he was forced to flee Bucharest by helicopter

-His arrest and subsequent execution on Christmas Day sealed the end of communism in Romania

What was the impact of the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe?

-By the end of 1989, every pro-Soviet communist government in Eastern Europe had disintegrated

-Gorbachev's foreign policy was, therefore, a key factor in encouraging the assertion of independence by the satellite states

What were the factors encouraging the growth of nationalism within the USSR?

1. Environmental concerns

-Soil erosion ravaged large parts of Central Asia; industrial pollution major concern in the Baltic republics. These issues led to local people to rally against the central government in Moscow

2.The insecurity of local Party leaders

-Gorbachev's economic and political reforms a threat to local communist leaders who gained power through corruption under Brezhnev's policy of 'trust in cadres.' These leaders, fearing the loss of their privileged positions, supported popular local concerns to maintain their status.

3.Culture and language

-by 1980s USSR=145 million Russians and 141 million non-russians

-slavic and nonn-slavic amongst non russians with a strong sense of their own identity through their native language and cultural heritage.

What was the significance of Nagorno-Karabakh?

Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region in Azerbaijan with a large Armenian population, experienced ethnic tensions and violence in 1988 over desires to join Armenia. An unofficial referendum showed a majority in favor of joining Armenia, leading Armenia to claim control over the region in November. The Soviet government's intervention and direct control inflamed the situation, showcasing its declining power over outlying republics. Ethnic clashes spread to Georgia in 1989 and Kirgizstan in 1990, further destabilizing central control. In Moldavia, rising nationalism among Moldavians caused tensions with Turkish-descended and ethnic Russian populations. These clashes weakened central control but did not necessarily threaten the Soviet Union as a whole.

What was a much more serious threat to the territorial integrity of the Soviet Union?

The growth of nationalism in the Baltic republics

Why did Estonia,Latvia and Lithuania/The Baltic Republics have a different history to the rest of the Soviet republics?

-They were independent states before their incorporation into the USSR in 1939 and there were people in the republics who remembered that. Many still viewed the Soviet Union as an occupying force

-higher levels of education than the Soviet average and this had helped promote an understanding of their language, culture and history

-among the more economically developed regions of the USSR

What 3 factors promoted a resurgence of nationalist identity in the three Baltic republics?

1. April-Oct 1988, popular fronts established and quickly became mass organisations

-they called for protection of native languages,traditions

-soon called for independence from USSR

2. Aug 1989, anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Pact was used to stage a mass demonstration for independence,A human chain of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians holding hands was organised that stretched across the three republics. It was a show of independence

3. In 1990, the Popular Fronts won a majority in elections to the Supreme Soviets in all three Baltic republics

-Lithuania first declared independence than other 2 joined

- this was illegal and a direct challenge to the Soviet gov

How did the Soviet government respond to the declarations of independence by the 3 Baltic states?

-refused to acknowledge it

-January 1991 pro-Soviet communists, supported by some Red Army troops, attempted to take over the television station in Vilnius, resulting in at least 13 deaths

-Gorbachev could have bowed to this pressure, but did not. He issued a statement that made it clear that calls for independence would not be prevented as long as the correct constitutional channels were taken

Why was there limited nationalism in other republics?

-only other republic that had a significant nationalist movement was Georgia

1. in Ukraine -limited support for the nationalist 'Rukh' organisation

2. The Soviet Union had allowed a degree of autonomous control by supporting countrie's languages in schools

3. The republics had been net gainers of Soviet economic investment , especially for the Central Asian republics. This was an advantage for them retaining the Union

4.Loyalty to local and tribal groupings was often stronger than nationalist sentiment, a feature that led to violence between di erent Muslim groups, such as Uzbeks and Kyrgyz and Uzbeks and Turkmens. Any wider national identity was superficial

5. 60 million ethnic Russians lived in other republics of the Soviet Union

What evidence is there to suggest the Soviet Union could survive without the Baltic republics and Georgia, and that the collapse of the Communist Party did not necessarily mean the collapse of the Soviet Union?

-A referendum held in March 1991 indicated popular support for maintaining the Soviet Union in all of the republics outside Georgia and the Baltic republics

-Gorbachev's new Union Treaty of 1991 contained enough concessions for preserving language and customs in each republic to keep support for a continued union alive

Why did Russian nationalism ultimately doom the Soviet Union?

-Yeltsin elected Chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet March 1990-able to undermine Gorbachev's Union Treaty

-Russian nationalism not a popular mass movement and largely confined to intellectuals/intelligentsia

-Yeltsin and his fellow reformers were happy to encourage Russian nationalism as a method of undermining the Soviet leader and the Communist Party

-Yeltsin leveraged Russian nationalism to challenge Gorbachev's Union Treaty, advocating for a looser Commonwealth of Independent States. The August 1991 coup ultimately ended any prospects for the Union Treaty and led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union

What developments do historians in the West tend to neglect ?

Western historians have often prioritized studying developments in Moscow and the actions of Soviet leaders, neglecting the unique events in individual Soviet republics. This focus has created an unbalanced perspective. When examining the collapse of the Soviet Union, many historians have linked it to the rise of nationalist movements in Eastern Europe, viewing it as part of the Cold War's end. However, this approach is flawed because the experiences of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were different. Recent research has begun to explore the specific developments within individual Soviet republics, recognizing their unique experiences and often highlighting the Soviet Union's ability to maintain unity for an extended period.

----HOW FAR WERE GORBACHEV AND YELTSIN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR IN 1991?-----

What approach to intentionalist historians take on the blame on Gorbachev and Yeltsin?

-emphasize the influence of individual actions in shaping events

- prevalent in Western historiography due to its alignment with liberal values that prioritize individualism and freedom

- commonly adopted by both biographers and historians

-regarding the fall of the USSR, much of the historical analysis focuses on the roles and actions of key figures like Gorbachev and Yeltsin

What approach to structuralist historians take on the blame on Gorbachev and Yeltsin?

-emphasize the political, economic, and social structures that limit individual leaders' actions

-argue that Gorbachev and Yeltsin were constrained by their respective organizations and movements, suggesting that even without these leaders, history would have unfolded similarly with other individuals in their roles

What approach to social historians take on the blame on Gorbachev and Yeltsin?

-focus on the experiences of the general population rather than the rulers, highlighting the pressures they placed on leaders

-shifts attention from Gorbachev and Yeltsin to the people supporting or opposing them. Social historians emphasize the desperation of Soviet elites to retain power and the rise of nationalism

Why was Gorbachev loved abroad but hated in USSR?

-to the West, Gorbachev was the Soviet leader who had the courage to end the Cold War and make the world a much safer place. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990

-despised within the USSR as either a failed reformer or the person who destroyed the Soviet Union and, with it, Russia's importance as a superpower in world affairs

What have Interpretations of Gorbachev been like?

-influenced by passions he generated and stir strong feelings

-not always positive

-Historians who see Gorbachev in a negative light point to Gorbachev's limitations as a leader

What were Gorbachev's many failings as a leader?

1. Lack of vision

-lacked a clear solution for the USSR's economic problems, despite understanding its weaknesses, especially in agriculture.

-As General Secretary in 1985, implemented various uncoordinated policies to boost productivity and economic growth. When these failed, he continued experimenting with new methods

2. Naivety

-launched glasnost as an attempt to encourage support for his reforms from outside the Party, but it seems he did not consider the possibility that glasnost would lead to attacks on the central position of the Party and himself as General Secretary

3. Powerbase

-efforts to diminish the Communist Party's power left him vulnerable

-role as president weak

-contrast to the approach of Yeltsin, who used popular support and elections to buttress his growing power against Gorbachev

4.Expectations

-Gorbachev's reforms had the effect of raising people's expectations, both materially and politically, but failed to satisfy them.

5.Foreign policy

-end Brezhnev doctrine detrimental

6. Insensitive handling of national minorities

-Replacing Kunayev with Kolbin in Kazakhstan in 1986 heightened tensions.

-His hesitant response to ethnic clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh and the imposition of direct control from Moscow in 1988 worsened the situation

7. Inconsistency

-inconsistency in his speeches and actions alienated both conservatives and reformers

-In his 1987 speech, he praised Stalin while condemning his crimes, trying to appeal to Stalinists but alienating liberal reformers

-nemies on both sides, contributing to the August Coup of 1991 and making it impossible for him to work with Yeltsin

8. Indecision

-Chernobyl nuclear accident, he hesitated for several days before releasing information to the Soviet public and foreign press

How do some defend Gorbachev and claim that he faced many difficult challenges, many of which were not of his own making?

1. Historian Suny says G's error was to attempt economic reform, democratisation and decolonising the republics all at the same time, which put enormous strain on gov.The three policies were interconnected: economic reform needed political reform, which required reducing the Communist Party's power. Political reform weakened central government control over the republics, threatening their elites. Successfully navigating these changes demanded a highly talented leader.

2. G was intelligent and had personal charm-no denying his skills as a leader

3. To his credit that he didn't use force

4. There were international factors that could not be foreseen

- Soviet war in Afghanistan was not of his doing

-The fall of world oil prices had a severe impact on the Soviet economy, which resulted in economic reforms being carried out in a highly unfavourable situation

-The US Star Wars policy kept the pressure on the Soviet Union to continue to divert much-needed resources away from consumer goods and social welfare spending

-Luck was not on his side

Why did Boris Yeltsin have popular support that Gorbachev never had?

-presented an image of a politician in touch with the wishes of the people

-reputation as a reformer

When was Yeltsin removed from the Politburo?

Feb 1988

How did Yeltsin challenge Gorbachev's leadership?

1. used his time out of the spotlight to establish fi rmer links with other reformers and critics of Gorbachev

2. expert at using opportunities to appeal to the public for sympathy and support

- March 1991, 200,000 people gathered in Moscow to support Yeltsin

3. Gorbachev's decision to hold elections for the Congress of People's Deputies in 1989 gave Yeltsin an opportunity to launch his comeback

-used position as mayor of Moscow to organise demonstrations and secured 89 percent of the vote in the city

-gave him a claim to legitimacy that Gorbachev never had

4. he realised that his e orts would not bring change until the hold of the Communist Party over the central Soviet government was broken

- Yeltsin's Democratic Russia movement led to him elected chairman of the Congress in May 1990-direct threat to Gorbachev

5. undermined Gorbachev by resigning from the Communist Party in July 1990. The Russian Congress then declared its sovereignty over the Soviet Union, challenging Soviet authority. Gorbachev deemed this illegal, leading to ongoing conflict between the Soviet and Russian governments

6. encouraged the nationalist movements of the non-Russian republics to further reduce the infl uence of the central government

Why was it a surprise when in spring of 1991, G and Y decided to work together to pursue reform and joined forces to negotiate and support the Novo-Ogarevo Agreement, which formed the basis of Gorbachev's Union Treaty of 1991?

-As they loathed eachother

-debated whether Yeltsin was genuine

-some say it was a cynical manoeuvre to keep a weak Gorbachev in power until he was ready to destroy him(which he did in the aftermath of the August Coup 1991)

What happened in the the August Coup of 1991?

Conservatives within the Communist Party attempted a coup to preserve the Soviet Union and Communist rule. While Gorbachev was on holiday, a State Emergency Committee, including Gorbachev's vice-president Gennady Yanaev, KGB head Vladimir Kryuchkov, and Defence Minister Dmitri Yazov, took control. They falsely claimed Gorbachev was ill and imposed a state of emergency, banning strikes and demonstrations, and deploying tanks in Moscow. The coup lasted four days but failed due to poor planning and lack of full military support.

What were the key impacts of the August Coup on developments?

1. Yeltsin's opposition to the coup enhanced his reputation as a defender of freedom and reform. He demanded Gorbachev's release, appearing less self-serving.

2. After the coup's failure, Yeltsin accelerated the Soviet Union's collapse by introducing market reforms, ending the Communist Party's monopoly, and banning the communist party in Russia

3. undermined the new Union Treaty.An opportunity to fi nally kill the Treaty was presented when Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk refused to sign it and asked for further negotiations. Yeltsin decided to follow suit in November. In its place, Yeltsin organised the Commonwealth of Independent States, a much looser arrangement that required no central Soviet government. When this was implemented in December 1991, the Soviet Union was no more.

How have Interpretations of Yeltsin's role in the collapse of the Soviet Union varied?

-varied depending on the personal view of the writer towards the more liberal reforms Yeltsin put forward

-His supporters saw him as the leader who had the solutions to the problems of his time

-Yet as leader of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin was unable to deal effectively with the economic problems that faced Gorbachev

-As the years have passed, interpretations of Yeltsin have been less kind to him

-Yeltsin's actions raise questions about whether he prioritized his own power over principles and if he was willing to sacrifice the Soviet Union to boost his political position. While divisions between conservatives and reformers and nationalist movements in non-Russian republics existed independently of Yeltsin, he was well-positioned to exploit Gorbachev's weaknesses and the Soviet Union's fragility to deliver the final blow.