3-GORBACHEV+Brown,+Claire

The Soviet Government "Yet another failure of Gorbachev was his inability to represent the hundred-plus diverse nationalities constituting the USSR. His Politburo, the de facto ruling body of the country, should have included nonRussian voices to guide his decision-making, but instead it was populated mainly by Slavs, except for Eduard Shevardnadze, a Georgian. Moreover, Gorbachev believed that the multinational state, which had evolved over centuries as the Russian Empire and now the USSR, was a legitimate political entity, whereas the non-Russians—half of the population—believed differently: the Soviet Union was a political façade that Russia used to dominate them. Finally, Gorbachev's repeated poor choices of aides and associates, people who could not see the wisdom of his policies and would not try to implement them, may make him the only twentieth-century leader who handpicked all the men who later betrayed and tried to oust him. Gorbachev's uninspired moves opened a Pandora's box of forces he did not always understand, could not always control, and whose consequences he could not anticipate. In 1991, after six years as head of the USSR, Gorbachev was a man alone, disliked by virtually everyone in the country. Consumers could not find the food and clothing they wanted in state stores. The republics had distanced themselves from the Union by declaring their sovereignty in 1990. CPSU members were abandoning their Party. Given the extreme situation, something had to change, and so the leading government officials, all communists, tried to oust Gorbachev in an August 1991 coup. Though the putsch failed, Gorbachev was virtually finished. In one of the most ironic turns of events in modern history, the coup attempt accomplished the opposite of what it set out to do. Instead of augmenting the power of the Party in government and strengthening the Union, it precipitated the demise of MarxismLeninism as the ruling party and dominant ideology and accelerated the dissolution of the USSR, as the republics, one after the other, declared their independence from the Union. Gorbachev, now a man with no country to lead, resigned the presidency of parliament on December 25, 1991, and slipped quietly into retirement. He never became the leader of a new generation of communists. Instead, Gorbachev will be known as a committed communist whose policies so stressed the USSR and CPSU that they suffered deadly strokes." Lenin to Gorbachev: Three Generations of Soviet Communists; By Joan Frances Crowley and Dan Vaillancourt  Works Cited  "Biography." ГорбачевФонд. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2014. <[]>.  Crowley, Joan F., and Dan Vaillancourt. Lenin to Gorbachev: Three Generations of Soviet Communists. Arlington Heights: Harlan Davidson, 1994. Questia. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. <[]>.  The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Mikhail Gorbachev (president of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. <[]>. Medvedkov, Yuri V. "The Brezhnev Era (1964-82)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014. <[]>. "Timeline: Soviet Union." BBC News. BBC, 03 Mar. 2006. Web. 01 Mar. 2014. <[]>.
 * What was the situation for that group/institution before Gorbachev became Premier?
 * Before Gorbachev became president, Russia was in the Brezhnev era. The state gradually lost its monopoly on information control and with the spread of counterculture was the spread of ideas. By the end of the era, the Russian intelligentsia had rejected Communist Party values. The party's way of dealing with uncomfortable critics was to deport them, and they then became the voice of Russian culture in other countries. The income from the sale of Russia's natural resources allowed for the Soviets to evade undertaking necessary but potentially politically dangerous structural economic reforms. Lastly, the Soviet Union and United States had signed the SALT-2 agreements and invaded Afghanistan, ending the period of détente with the West.
 * How did that group/institution interpret the application of those policies to it?
 * Gorbachev became president of the Soviet Union in 1990-1991 and made an effort to democratize his country's political system and decentralize the economy. Gorbachev was less willing to release the Soviet economy from the grip of centralized state direction and resisted any decisive shift to private ownership and the use of free-market mechanisms. By putting in reforms, he was able to put an end to the totalitarian regime in the USSR. He quit the Communist Party and disbanded its Central Committee and supported measures to remove its control over the KGB and armed forces. A new parliament, the Congress of People's Deputies, was convened in the spring of 1989, with Gorbachev presiding. It was the first parliament in Soviet history, made on the basis of free, democratic and contested election. After he became president however, the CPSU was slowly losing power and prestige with the rise of democratic political procedures. Gorbachev accelerated the transfer of power from the elected party to government institutions in 1990 in order to speed up the process. The Congress of People's Deputies elected him to the new post of president in March of 1990, giving him extensive executive powers. Under his leadership, the Congress abolished the Communist Party's constitutionally guaranteed monopoly of political power in the Soviet Union, paving the way for the legalization of other political parties. Also, a big shift in international affairs was effected. He launched an active policy of détente based on new thinking associated with his name, and he also became a key figure in global politics.
 * Perestroika (restructuring): Gorbachev originally believed that the basic economic structure of the U.S.S.R. was sound and only minor reforms were needed. He then pursued an economic policy to increase economic growth and capital investment. The increase in capital investment was to improve the technological basis of the Soviet economy and promote structural changes as well. Essentially he wanted to bring the Soviet Union up to the same level was the West. He then pushed reforms that went less than halfway to the creation of a semi-free market system. It eventually brought chaos to the country and great unpopularity of Gorbachev.
 * Glasnot (openness): Gorbachev believed that the opening up of the political system (creating a democracy) was the only way to overcome the political and bureaucratic apparatus. He also believed that the way for the Soviet Union to recover was the inclusion of people into the political process. This also allowed for more freedom of expression in the media and editorials complaining of depressed conditions and the government's inability to correct them.
 * How did the Soviet state apply those policies to that group/institution, and what were the effects?
 * Gorbachev dismantled all of the totalitarian aspects of the Soviet state and moved the country forward toward a true representative democracy. The political and economic situation began to deteriorate and Gorbachev concentrated on increasing his authority. He theoretically became a constitutional dictator, his policies were simply not put into practice. Gorbachev radically changed the political life when he removed the constitutional article that stated the only legal political organization was the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
 * What was the significance of Gorbachev’s reforms as it pertained to that group/institution?
 * Gorbachev's implementations within the Soviet government, eventually led to the downfall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin, who was elected after Gorbachev was able to promote Russian sovereignty and to advocate radical economic reform. Although Gorbachev was not able to successfully transfer the country into a democracy, he set the stage for a more fair political system. His efforts to bring down the Soviet Communist Party were ultimately allowed for the Soviet Union to commence repair from its poor economy and impoverished cities.