Collapse of Communism in USSR
...ciety that included massive industrialization and urbanization. Collectivization and campaigns against the kulaks (the prosperous farmers) were carried out. Almost all of the country’s resources went into building heavy industry. This emphasis on heavy industry left almost nothing for the production of consumer goods. (Kort 84) The Soviet system under Stalin did transform Russia from a backwards country into a powerful nation. The Soviet Union now had education, medical services, and life expectancy. It shared power status with the United States for forty-five years. (http://www3.telus.net/EKaminski/collapse.htm) To countless Soviets, the Stalinist era symbolized social advancement and a great leap forward. The communist theory, altered by Stalin to suit his needs, improved the economy and made the large country more technologically advanced. Many were not aware that the progresses were made at the cost of millions of lives, producing enormous waste and social disorder. “Stalin achieved much of what he had wanted, but he did not deliver what Marxism had promised.” (Kort 85) Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the next top Soviet leader. His speeches and actions challenged both Stalin and Lenin. He modified the country’s foreign policy by passing a resolution calling for peaceful coexistence between the communist and capitalist worlds. He devoted the majority of his energy to raising the Soviet standard of living with mixed results. His virgin lands program produced some good harvests, but drought and bad weather soon swept the lands. Khrushchev also announced “that instead of a dictatorship of the proletariat, the Soviet Union would evolve into what the called a ‘state of the whole people’ and that the Communist Party would become a ‘party of the whole people.’” (Kort 101) This definition change did not change the people who were in control in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet citizens did not forget this fact. Khrushchev’s reform program had other problems as well. He often sought results quickly and cheaply at the expense of the planning and investment it took to do the job right. His attempt to reorganize the planning system by leaving the important decision making to local civilians was an example of this. Instead of reaching a good outcome, his reforms caused a lot of confusion and waste, threatening the jobs of top officials in Moscow. Khrushchev’s decision to have the Soviet Union back down in the Cuban Missile Crisis caused resentment among the Soviet military and party leaders. The party’s top decision making body voted Khrushchev out of office in 1964. Leonid Brezhnev attempted his own changes after Khrushchev, but the Soviet economy began running into trouble as inefficient central planning hampered attempts to modernize the economy. The economic problems during the early 1970s steadily worsened. Industrial production and agriculture showed slow growth. 40% of the grain harvest was either eaten by rats or left to rot. (http://websites.ntl.com/~wellclge/ ) By the 1980s, the economy ceased to grow, and the black market of consumer goods developed. (http://www3.telus.net/EKaminski/collapse.htm) Political corruption grew as well. Party officials lived a privileged life and did not pass reforms when they were most needed. Social problems worsened as people felt little motivation to work hard. Many turned to alcohol, drugs, and crime. Protests by non-Russian ethnic minorities troubled the country. The campaign by the Soviet Jews received the most attention. The Jews had endured centuries of anti-Semitism under both the czars and the Soviets, and they demanded change. By the time Brezhnev died in 1982, millions of Soviets no longer believed in their government. The corrupt government was unable to solve the growing problems of the nation. (Kort 153) After a year of rule by Konstantin Chernenko, a man who did little, the Soviet leadership turned to a younger man named Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev believed the problems of Soviet Union could be fixed. “Four Russian terms summed up his program: perestroika (restructuring), glasnost (openness), demokratizatsia (democratization), and novoye myshlenie (new thinking).” (Kort 154) Gorbachev believed at first that gradual changes would fix the Soviet Union’s problems, but after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion that spread radioactive poisons over large areas of Soviet territory, he realized that the pace of reform had to increase. (Kort 155) Gorbachev announced a series of major economic reforms in 1987. One allowed people to set up private businesses, while another decreased the power of central planners over the Soviet factories. A plan in 1989 allowed farmers to lease land for private use. Military spending consumed crucial resources from other needs, and Gorbachev willingly reached an agreement with the West to bring the Cold War to an end and lessen the costs of the arms race. The money spent into developing weapons was now put into improving the economy. The Soviet Union began converting military factories to civilian production. He stressed that no amount of arms could give his nation security, and took steps to improve relations with the West and neighboring countries. Glasnost, a major reduction in censorship, expanded quickly after 1987. It encouraged open debates on issues. Some of the new information exposed the lies the government had been telling the people for three generations. The public was now allowed to openly despise the politicians, and the exposed lies added to their discontentment and anger. Difficulties soon arose as Perestroika did not produce a more productive economy. Shortages of goods worsened and prices rose drastically. Food rationing had to be implemented, and the consumer goods that were available were inferior. Workers faced unemployment for the first time since the 1920s. “As a result, Gorbachev’s reforms caused the old centrally controlled economic system to collapse faster than a new market economy could take root.” (Kort 157) Powerful opposition from conservative party leaders and officials resisting chan...