Glasnost and the Political Context of Gorbachev's Reforms

The competition and increasing awareness on democratic rights did force the Soviets to stand back and make some major policy changes in 1980s. The Soviet Premier of the time Gorbachev tried to set some political and social reforms in the soviet society in order to ease the pressure and help Soviets to continue to survive in the international arena. Moreover, the Soviets did not only make shifts in their internal policies but also in their foreign policy understanding as well. For instance withdrawal from Afghanistan, signing of various nuclear deterrence agreements with multi parties including the US are some of the key changes that occurred in the 1980s. However, the reforms of Gorbachev did not prevent the Soviets to stop its collapse and eventually after a series of events in 1991 the Soviet Union formally announced its dissolution[7].

One can easily admit that the Party had failed to properly economically plan the needs of each state. The Soviet Union economy was complex and massive, it became an impossible task for the state planners to manage, as they did not want to grant and create more managerial levels that would proceed to the local level resulting in failed timely attempts to the constant changes the economy was going through. Since the Soviet economy was based on state planning, it failed in encouraging innovation and motivating productivity. Managers would also alter numbers in order to produce the quotas that they were required to meet. The growth of the Soviet economy had been in a constant decline since the 1950’s and this progressed to the 1980’s. This was a clear sign that the Soviet economy was in need of a complete economic overhaul. Gorbachev succeeded power in March, 1985 and became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. His main goal was to revive the Soviet economy, and he strongly believed that success was tied to loosening the governments control and creating a system that included less government intervention and more freedom to allow private initiatives. This new market economy would allow for private enterprise, which what Gorbachev believed would create more innovation. For the first time since 1920’s, individuals were able to own and create businesses.

When Mikhail Gorbachev became Secretary of the Communist Party, he had to deal with an ailing and frail Soviet Union. The country had entered a state of serious economic decline and the Soviet people, discontent with their political party, looked to Gorbachev to solve their problems. Spurred by patriotic duty, Gorbachev introduced democratic reforms known as perestroika and glasnost. These sought to free businesses and Soviet peoples from harsh government regulation and censorship, respectively. While Gorbachev believed these policies would strengthen the Soviet government, this was not the case. Perestroika did not do anything to

Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of a government that was set up to make reform impossible and a stagnant economy. Due to these two hurtles Gorbachev tried to improve the Soviet Union. But his improvements would only make the Soviet Union’s problems worse. He did this by introducing two knew polices. These polices were called Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost was a policy put into effect for political openness. Through Glasnost Gorbachev hoped to eliminate Stalinist repressions, such as banning books and the secret police. It gave new freedoms to the Soviet citizens. Through the Glasnost policy political prisoners were released. The Soviet Union newspapers were now allowed to print criticisms of the government, something had not been allowed under communism. Probably the most important change brought on by Glasnost was that other political parties, besides the communist party were now able to participate in

The collapse of the communist Soviet Union ultimately led to the end of the cold war. The dissolution of the USSR in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. Thus highlighting the inferiority of communism and the superiority of western capitalism. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, however, was a result of both domestic and international factors including policies established by both the US and the Soviet leaders, most importantly Gorbachev’s ‘New Thinking’ reforms combined with the hard-line approach of Ronald Reagan. It has also been argued that the collapse of communism in eastern Europe was inevitable due to its moral bankruptcy, as well as the growing economic pressures which ultimately forced the Soviet Union to

Russia began its reform with political liberalization, and many believe that Russia’s failure was partly due to focusing on political reform first and they should have begun with economic reforms which China had done. This lead to political turmoil so severe that in 1989-1993 workers were politically neutralized and unable to stop Yeltsin’s liberal market reforms. But, a small group of oligarchs helped to

The economy could not keep pace with the United States. The standard of living for Soviet citizens were steadily declining since the 1970s (Miller 2016, 17). The military was embroiled in the Afghanistan conflict which was producing massive causalities for the Soviet public and consuming scarce resources for its military that was needed for domestic consumption (Gaddis 2007). Secondly, the Soviet Union was plagued by appointing leaders who had fought in World War II, but with Gorbachev, they appointed a younger generation to take the mantle of leadership of the Soviet Union (Gaddis 2007). Gorbachev announce his economic restructure, Perestroika, and openness of the government, glasnost. Perestroika started the process of introducing market based principles into the operation of the state (Miller 2016, xii). State industries were allowed to determine output based on the will of the consumers as along as the orders from state bureau were fulfilled. Individuals would have the ability to own small-scale businesses and the property rights of those businesses would be respected (Miller 2016, 89). It also introduced competition in terms of foreign trade by allowing each ministry to pursue policies in their direct control when dealing with foreign companies and nations (Miller 2016, 71). The last major element of this would be allowing foreign investment by coupling Soviet resources such as

The many long-term internal causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union centralized around weaknesses in their economy. They had an inflexible central planning system, the inability to modernize, and the inefficiency in their agriculture production. Sometime around the 1970's the computer and automation revolution had emerged. This revolution took over the West, but practically missed the Soviet Union, except in the military sector (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev's goal in economic restructuring was to create a separation between the economic and the political. The major changes began with the legalization of private farming and business co-operatives, and the allowing of foreign company ownership over Soviet enterprises (Baylis &Smith, 2001) All of Gorbachev's ideas on economic restructuring backfired on him since the price levels were inconsistent, and a sense of social confusion about the future of their state was created.

Instead of increasing economic growth, Mikhail Gorbachev’s economic reform policies created the adverse effect, paving the road to economic crisis and series of events that would end with the Soviet Union dissolving. After attaining power in 1985, Gorbachev instituted, “perestroika, or “restructuring,” efforts to force the pace of growth combined with minor steps to redesign the administrative system” (Treisman, p. 16). The goal was to

Khrushchev wanted to reform three central elements that sharply contrasted with Stalin’s preferences. These were aimed at political, economic, and social reforms. First Khrushchev aimed to change the Soviet Union politically. He did this through two major ways: first, through power decentralization, and second was creating the new party program. Khrushchev pursued decentralization by giving more powers to oblasts and local regions. He also reduced military spending during his rule, which made many hardliners angry. (Hosking 261) An example that exemplifies the rollback effect was the recreation of the local ‘comrade courts’ (Hosking 351). These comrade courts had the ability to try minor offenses and fine people. Stalin had banned these courts under his rule to centralize power. Thus, this policy actively challenged Stalin’s vision by limiting Moscow’s power. Another way Khrushchev undermined Stalin politically was through the new party program. This is an example of the rollback effect because this was Khrushchev’s attempt to redefine the problem and the rules of the system. The new party program asserted that socialism had already been achieved, and said that it was time to set the groundwork for communism. Claiming socialism had already been achieved changed the definition of socialism. (Hosking 348) This program also encouraged the ‘… participation of all citizens in

By the time of the 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev take over control of Soviet Union. He was the Soviet Union’s last leader. “ This split the scientific community up into factions and promoted conflict. It permitted him to intervene and take sides whenever deemed necessary” (Martin McCauley. The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union). The country was in a state of serious inactivity, with severe economic and political dispute, which were required to be fix and conquered. Knowing this deep in mind, Gorbachev initiated a policy of reform. First ,he proposed a policy of freedom of speech. Next, he started a plan of economic reform known as perestroika, rebuilding. However, Gorbachev did not noticed that by offering people complete freedom of speech, he was unintentionally released emotions and political feelings that had been hold up for decades. Also, it seemed to be exceedingly powerful when brought out into the open. Moreover, his policy of economic reform did not have the obvious results he had anticipated for and had publicly conjectured. The Soviet people eventually utilized their recently granted freedom of speech to criticize Gorbachev for his deficiency to boost the economy.

Since he first came into power, Mikhail Gorbachev had set into motion the most aggressive economic agenda since the Khrushchev era; 1. A modernization of the country’s stock and equipment, and a revitalization of management and planning to rid the Soviet bureaucracy of incompetence and put more operational control of enterprises in the hands of managers on the scene. All of Gorbachev’s agendas were aimed to raise productivity and efficiency throughout the economy by matching more and better equipment with a motivated work force. However, Gorbachev came to realize that his early economic and disciplinary measures offered no basic solution. In Lenn’s Tomb, David Remnick delivers a captivating story of different episodes pertaining to Gorbachev’s

A continuous trend of decline in the economy in the 1980’s threatened an even worse economic performance in the future, shown by example of the continued decline in capital and labour productivity (Bunce, 223). Consequentially, Mikhail Gorbachev’s ‘new thinking’ focus was on reforming Soviet agriculture and the domestic economy (Suri, 78). Gorbachev instituted two programs: ‘perestroika’ (‘restructuring’ of economic management) and ‘glasnost’ (‘openness’) early in his time as leader, which aimed to put the Soviet Union on par with the economies of the capitalist countries such as Germany and the United States by decentralizing economic controls, and to allow open discussions relating to social and political issues (Encyclopædia Britannica). However, ‘perestroika’ “generally lacked precise goals and any coherent framework of application” (Shearman, 129). Through the ‘glasnost’ program, the power of the Communist Party was reduced paving the way for an elected form of government. Gorbachev began to democratize the Soviet economy, initiated competition and profit incentives as well as linking wages to productivity (van der Veen, 122). At the time of Gorbachev’s ‘new thinking’ approach, many Western observers were divided on whether Gorbachev was instituting genuine change, or

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, came into power in 1985. The economy that he acquired made further damage just about impossible. Because of this problematic economy and the growing political fever, he introduced two new reforms. One of these reforms was glasnost, or political openness, which made such effects as banishing ever present secret police. The second reform was perestroika, or economic reconstruction, which permitted individuals and cooperatives to own businesses and other allowances such as this. However, these reforms didn’t make the Soviet Union stronger, because the old system was quick to

In the late 1980’s, the Soviet Union had a struggling economy. Gorbachev did attempt reforms as he felt the government losing legitimacy with the people and even the party as people lost confidence in the communism. Two reforms are glasnost (the openness of public debate) and perestroika (institution reforms). However, they went snowballed, moving faster and expanding more than planned as people used these reforms to weaken communist control.