Unit 1E - Russia, 1917-91: from Lenin to Yeltsin
A* Detailed Notes for Topic 5, Fall of the USSR,
INTRODUCTION:
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev had been elected General Secretary of the Communist Party.
The course details 5 major reasons for the collapse of the USSR:
- Long term economic weaknesses
- Gorbachev economic policies
- Gorbachev political policies
- Nationalist Resurgence
- The work of Boris Yeltsin
In your interpretation style question eg “In the light of differing interpretations, how
convincing do you find the view that the USSR collapsed in 1991 because of the
consequences of Gorbachev's political reforms?” , There will be a stated factor which
would be focused heavily by Extract A and another factor by a differing extract eg Extract B.
- Your role is to assess and understand what the historians in both extracts are trying
to say the biggest factor was. You must use them to drive your argument through
quotes + own knowledge to assess validity (how convincing you find it) which
eventually you will form a judgement assessing your opinion on what the most
significant factor was using the historians viewpoints to support yours.
Brief summary of each of these causes and their impact
- The economic and political reformation by Gorbachev weakened the capacity of the
Communist Party.
- Resurgence of nationalist forces in Eastern Europe threatened social peace.
- The power over the central government over the Soviet republics weakened,
producing a power-play between the Soviet Leader Gorbachev and the politician
Yeltsin.
In August 1991, Gorbachev position was undermined due to attempted coups, Gorbachev
was in power but in very little control.
- Gorbachev imposed the new Union Treaty but political power had drained away from
the centre to the leaders of the republics within the USSR.
In December 1991, the republics dissolved the Soviet Union as a sovereign state. On
Christmas Day, Gorbachev gave a farewell message in televised broadcast and left the
Kremlin for good…. The USSR was finally over.
FACTOR 1: LONG TERM ECONOMIC WEAKNESSES OF THE USSR
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,Fundamental economic weaknesses:
Soviet economy flawed
Failed to create incentives for hard work or innovation
From 1945-1980, egalitarian state
Difference between rich and poor much smaller than the difference
in the west.
Therefore, less incentive to improve
Labour productivity much lower in the West.
Since 1985 the soviet economy was in decline and the weakness of the
Soviet economic system had been highlighted in the Novosibirsk report of
1983.
Tatyana Zaslavskaya produced a report from the growing criticism
agriculture caused by state inefficiency and inflexibility.
Many ignored these reports and didn't understand it in the politburo
however Gorbachev realised reform was needed therefore through a period
of trial and error continued. Ended in the ending of the Soviet Union and put
the economy in chaos.
Waste in the USSR’s economy:
Gosplan state planning committee who measured and rewarded
production.
Quality of production was irrelevant
As well as the proportion of the goods being used on whether they
were even being used.
Although large amount of goods were produced, they were often wasted.
For example: Gosplan demanded 400,000 tractors,
At least 20% went unused due to shortages of tractor drivers.
Waste was a big issue:
Estimated of 12% of machinery went unused
Modernisation of the USSR’s economy:
Never fully modernised
Too many tractors, Soviet agriculture lacked sophisticated machinery.
Required a lot more labour than the West.
In 1960’s, 25.4% of Soviet workers were in farms, in comparison to the West
where just 4.6% worked in farms.
Transportation system never fully modernised.
Therefore transporting food was difficult
Lack of modern storage system led to crops like grain rotting away due to
inadequate storage facilities before it would be used.
Therefore. whilst a greater percentage of Soviet workers were in farms than
America, they still managed six times more production than the USSR.
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,Arms race:
Production of expensive missiles, nuclear bombs, tanks and fighter planes.
Between 1965-1985, proportion of GDP spent on defence went from 12% to
17%
Compared to America at 6% average over this period.
Soviet defence spending starved other areas of the economy that actually
needed it.
Centralisation:
Economy controlled by government administrators.
In farming, the government set timetables for planning and harvesting
But they did not account for local initiatives.
Farmers, who had expertise, could not interfere to adjust the
schedule to account for weather.
Central planners set schedules for delivery of fertilisers.
Often delivered late or were the wrong kind for the crop planted.
This explains why the production of important crops improved very slowly.
Centralisation caused significant issues because it limited production.
FACTOR 2: GORBACHEV ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THESE
WEAKNESSES AND HIS ECONOMIC REFORMS
Initial economic reforms:
Positioning like-minded individuals into key positions.
Removing his main rivals in the Politburo such as Grigory
Romanov July of 1985.
Key reformers: Yegor Ligachev ,Nikolai Ryzhov, Boris Yeltsin,
Alexander Yakovlev(first secretary of the party in Moscow)
brought in. Leaders pushing for reforms was promoted.
Rationalisation 1985-1986:
Led fully by the Communist party.
Designed to stimulate economic modernisation, higher rates
of economic growth, and for production levels to increase.
Reform 1987-1990:
Initiated reforms intended to introduced market forces into
the Soviet economy.
At the same time, he initiated Political reform designed to
build support for economic change.
Transformation 1990-1991:
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, Gorbachev began to abandon the fundamental aspects of the
system such as the single party rule and the command
economy.
As a result, the Communist Party, lost control of the process.
Gorbachev’s reforms consistently failed to increase economic
growth, economy in fact stopped growing.
By 1985, the Soviet economy wasn’t just weaker than the
West, but was even being overtaken by developing countries
in Asia.
Alcohol:
Echoed that of his mentor Andropov. Campaign launched to
target the rampant alcoholism as well as improving the
health of the Soviet population.
This hopefully improve the productivity of the Soviet
Populaltion.
By mid-1980s, alcohol amounted for 15 th percent of all
household spending.
"We cant built communism on vodka".
Government imposed a series of measures:
Legal age for the consumption of alcohol was raised to 21
Retail outlets permission to sell alcohol was reduced
Vineyards was destroyed and distilleries was closed
Tax revenues the government gained from alcohol
fell casuing shortfall in budget
Illegal moonshine liquor was produced in large quantities and often
in unhygienic conditions.
Relying on the workforce to become more disciplined and
sober would not solve the population problems.
Gorbachev’s first initiative continued Andropov’s anti-alcohol
campaign
In may 1985, Gorbachev limited alcohol production at state run
factories by 50%
55,000 party members assigned to a new task force to stop
illegal production.
Successes and failures of Anti-Alcohol campaign:
Generally, the policy failed.
Initially drop in alcohol consumption amongst moderate
drinkers.
However consumption in 1987, consumption was still double
that of 1960.
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