5.1.9

Gorbachev & Yeltsin's Responsibility

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Gorbachev's Responsibility for the Collapse of the USSR

In assessing Gorbachev's actions, it is clear he lost control.

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Gorbachev's reforms

  • Gorbachev’s reforms changed the very nature of the Soviet Union by 1990.
  • A key way to frame Gorbachev’s reforms is through the idea of ‘new thinking’.
    • Gorbachev introduced the terms ‘pluralism’ and ‘markets’ into the language of Soviet politics. He added the word ‘socialist’ in front of them to suggest a union between Communism and elements of the free market.
    • ‘Perestroika’ meant ‘restructuring’. Gorbachev used the word to characterise his reforms.
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Relaxing control

  • Gorbachev stated publicly that he would not use violence to hold together the Soviet Union or the Eastern Bloc countries.
  • Previous leaders had used violence frequently to deal with opposition. This approach weakened the Party’s grip on the country.
  • Instead, Gorbachev placed more of an emphasis on respecting the rights of individuals.
  • He did not want to repeat the terror Stalin had used, which had been revealed through the policy of glasnost.
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Gorbachev's errors

  • Some people have argued that the fact that Gorbachev thought reform of the USSR was possible was enough to set the country on a collision course.
  • He had not realised that the Soviet people could still be tempted by ideas such as nationalism.
  • It was not possible to restructure industry and increase output simultaneously. As such, the policy of ‘uskorenie’ (acceleration) could never work because restructuring typically leads to lower output in the short term.
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Economic and political reform

  • When economic and political reform were combined, this made the problem even worse.
  • Gorbachev constantly changed his approach and tried to introduce too many reforms too quickly.
  • He did not replace the Communist Party with a new power base, and this also fueled the collapse.
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Gorbachev's tactics

  • Certain historians argue that it was Gorbachev’s tactics, and not his policies themselves, which caused the end of the Soviet Union.
  • Gorbachev was not able to win support from the Communist Party for his ideas. Internal resistance meant that his new ideas would never take hold in the country at large.
  • Gorbachev tried to introduce democracy but refused to stand for election himself to be President.
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Comparison with China

  • Historians sometimes look to communist China in the same period to compare with Gorbachev’s failed reforms.
  • China embraced free market solutions more quickly and with less reservation. The Chinese economy kept growing during the reform years. Gorbachev’s reforms were slower, and the Communists lost authority because they could not show people that their reforms were effective in improving living standards. China did not allow any political freedom.

Yeltsin's Responsibility for the Collapse of the USSR

Gorbachev certainly played a role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. But certain historians have argued that Yeltsin’s role was more important.

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Yeltsin's role

  • Yeltsin had initially supported Gorbachev. But, as an electable and popular politician himself, he wanted Gorbachev to go further.
  • Yeltsin was popular for addressing the corruption and privileges of the Communist Party in a public way. He was able to win 89% of the votes in Moscow in 1989.
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Yeltsin's resignation

  • Yeltsin actually resigned from the Communist Party in July 1990. This led to a fall in the Communist Party’s popularity, but not in his own. General party membership dropped by three million people that year.
  • Yeltsin went as far as positioning himself as a direct rival to Gorbachev. He proposed a non-Communist government.
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Yeltsin and nationalism

  • Unlike Gorbachev, Yeltsin was a supporter of nationalist movements. This was the case for both Russian nationalists and those in the other republics.
  • In 1990 Yeltsin went to a number of different republics around the USSR. He told the leaders of those regions to take a much sovereignty (power) from Moscow as they could.
  • When the republics declared independence, Yeltsin supported them.
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Yeltsin's power

  • Yeltsin was able to develop a more powerful base of support by winning the election for the Russian presidency and the elections to the Russian parliament.
  • By contrast, Gorbachev had never faced an election. Gorbachev became increasingly illegitimate.
  • After the coup, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party and seized its wealth.
  • Yeltsin and the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus decided to form the CIS, in opposition to Gorbachev’s Union Treaty.

Historical Assessment of Gorbachev and Yeltsin

Historians disagree over Gorbachev and Yeltsin's responsibility for the collapse of the USSR.

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Marsh's view of Gorbachev

  • ‘The first real phase of the collapse began between March and December 1989, from the initial elections to the Congress of People’s Deputies to the collapse of Communist rule in Eastern Europe. By this time ‘perestroika’ had run into trouble... During the second phase of collapse, from January 1990 to August 1991, collapse of the system became an increasingly possible outcome of reform.’
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Beissinger's view of Gorbachev

  • ‘Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost and the political liberalisation that it produced were obviously the critical institutional conditions that allowed the collapse of communism to occur. Without glasnost, the forces that most directly brought about the collapse could never have materialised or been able to act.’
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Suny's view of Gorbachev

  • 'The death of the Soviet Union represented a failure of Gorbachev’s triple revolution. The system fell because the leadership tried simultaneously to dismantle the old practices of the command economy and Communist Party dominance.’
Illustrative background for Brown's view of YeltsinIllustrative background for Brown's view of Yeltsin ?? "content

Brown's view of Yeltsin

  • 'Although Gorbachev’s reforms had sown the seeds of destruction, the most immediate causes of the breakup were, however, Yeltsin’s playing of the Russian nationalist card against the Union.’
Illustrative background for Breslauer's view of YeltsinIllustrative background for Breslauer's view of Yeltsin ?? "content

Breslauer's view of Yeltsin

  • ‘Yeltsin polarized politics during these last two to three years of Gorbachev’s leadership. No matter what Gorbachev proposed in domestic policy, Yeltsin criticized the Party leader for conservatism and half-measures. He supported centrifugal forces in the union republics at a time when Gorbachev was trying to contain.’

Jump to other topics

1Communist Government in the USSR, 1917-85

2Industrial & Agricultural Changes

3Control of the People, 1917-85

4Social Developments, 1917-35

5Historical Interpretations

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