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Gorbachev and the collapse of the USSR
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Notes on Gorbachev's reforms and the collapse of the USSR. Higher History IB notes
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Gorbachev’s ReformsGorbachev- Revision Notes- Higher History IB
Glasnost- Gorbachev’s policy of Democratisation- An attempt, by Gorbachev to get
openness that encouraged the more people involved in the Communist Party and
population to put forward new political debate.
ideas and show initiative.
Key Features of Political
● Introduction of democratic ● Defining the functions of Party and State
Features
openness to allow criticism for
reform to improve the Soviet ⮚ Gorbachev sought to separate Party and State.
system. Attempted to do this at the Nineteenth
Conference of the Communist Party in June
● Organisations spoke out 1988, but little was done to get individual
against the government officials to choose one over the other. The
created openness and lines between the two had become blurred.
transparency. This was the result of nomenklatura system,
whereby appointments and promotions within
● General public dissatisfaction the state apparatus had relied on loyalty to
with government corruption. the party
● Gorbachoev realized that the ● Shifting power from the Party to the Soviets
whole system needed a
system of streamlining. ⮚ Allocating more finance tot eh Soviets in order
to give them the resources to support their
role. Deputies of the Soviets were to be
elected for five years rather than two, a move
that gave them greater security in their post.
● A clampdown on corruption
⮚ Attacks on corrupt Party officials were popular
with the public but caused a lot resentment
within the Party. This showed that Gorbachovs
reform came with a threat of potential
dangers as Dinmukhamed Kunayev being
removed from position of First Secretary of
the Party in Kazakhstan on the grounds of
corruption in 1986.
Consequences of The
● Complaints about poor ● In early 1987 at the meeting of the Central
Reform
housing were popular. Committee, Gorbachev discussed the idea of
secret ballots for multiple candidates.
● Investigations of Soviet history
, Gorbachev’s Reforms
revealed details of Stalin’s
● At the Nineteenth Party Conference of June 1988,
mass terror, the famine of the
1930s and the Katyn Gorbachev announced that the principle of multi-
Massacre. candidate elections would be extended to national
level with elections for the new Congress of
● Even the more sensitive issue People’s Deputies. The Congress was set up to
provide an independent, supervisory role over the
of Soviet victory in the Second
government and was part of Gorbachev’s attempts
World War was discussed. The
to separate the functions of the party from the
myth of the Great Patriotic
state. Members of the Congress were to be
War was undermined by
allocated to the Party and other organisations,
revelations of the reckless
such as trade unions and the union of Writers. The
waste of human lives.
Communist Party nominated 100 candidates for its
100 seats, but the trade unions and the union of
● Environmental issues were a
writers gave their members a choice. In some
popular topic, promoted by seats, voters could choose from 12 candidates.
exposes of the demanding The Communist Party was the only legal political
impact on the Aral Sea of party and, as such, could control the nomination
government irrigation process. However, it was enough to engage the
schemes. population in the process.
● Chernobyl, April 1986: reactor ● The elections for the new Congress of People’s
at the nuclear PowerStation Deputies, which took place in March 1989, gave
overheated, there was a the Soviet public a taste of democracy. The form
massive explosion- radioactive of democracy introduced in 1989 was very
particles were released into different to the Western Europe democracies, it
the air. represented a significant change in the context of
the Soviet Union. It had weakened irretrievably
⮚ Information about this the power of the Communist Party.
was kept a secret,
meaning not even Kremlin ● The failure of reforms to the Party left many
knew the extent of the reformers convinced that the solution was to
disaster move towards pluralism. Pluralism opened the
possibility of a multi-party system whereby the
⮚ Event was called a ‘turning Communist Party would have to earn its right to
point’ in the USSR- was govern.
symbolic of many
problems that the USSR ● Pluralism- A political system where there is more
faced than one political party contesting elections. This
would mean a change from the one-party system
● The Politburo wanted ‘a used in the USSR.
limitation of news’- while
Gorbachev wanted ‘correct ● The impact on the unity of the Communist Party-
information’ given to people. Increasing divisions within the Party. Gorbachev’s
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