PERESTROIKA: ANTECEDENTS, INTERNAL REFORMS AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The perestroika were a series of reforms undertaken in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in order to reorganize the economy and the socialist system. It consisted of a reform process aimed at preserving socialism as a production system, which had serious consequences for the economy and society.

Like China, Gorvachev was trying to rescue the economy and the country from backwardness. The reforms he introduced democratized the political and economic system. However, the consequences that this reform movement would bring to the Soviet Union were not foreseen; among these, the nationalist outbreak in most of the republics.

Mikhail Gorvachev, promoter of perestroika

Perestroika is a Russian word for reform. Perestroika is considered to be the fundamental factor accelerating the collapse of the Soviet socialist system. At the same time, the glásnot -which means transparency- was carried out, a process of political opening and freedom of expression and press in the USSR.

Background and history

The collapse of the USSR came as a consequence of the costly arms race and Soviet military development. To this must be added the poor performance of the socialist economy and the drastic fall in oil prices at that time.

Between 1969 and 1887 the thinking of the younger Communist leaders began to take shape in the Soviet Union, but economic and political reforms had been delayed for several decades.

On the death of the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party (CPSU) Konstantin Chernenko, the Party Politburo elected Mikhail Gorbachev to replace him in 1985. The new communist thought thus assumed power.

Gorvachev as general secretary

The new ruling elite under the Gorvachev era consisted of young technocrats with pro-reform thinking. This new political class had been climbing positions within the CPSU, since the period of Nikita Khrushchev.

The Soviet economy revolved around oil activity and mineral exploitation. Oil prices plummeted during 1985 and 1986, a situation that produced a dramatic shortage of foreign exchange needed to buy grain in the following years.

The situation of the Soviet economy at that time profoundly influenced the decisions that Gorvachev would make shortly after assuming power.

Launch of perestroika

In April 1985, the central committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) endorsed the reforms that Gorvachev would carry out. These political and economic reforms were previously designed upon his arrival at the Kremlin.

A month after taking power, Mikhail Gorbachev began the reform process with the aim of bringing the Soviet Empire out of its serious crisis and promoting development. The nuclear and arms superpower was mired in backwardness and the worst corruption.

In June 1987, during a plenary session of the CPSU central committee, the Soviet general secretary presented the bases of perestroika. It consisted of a series of economic reforms with which it tried to avoid the collapse of the USSR.

Objectives of perestroika

- The main objective was to decentralize decision-making to make the State and the economy more functional. He sought to adapt the system to the modern market.

- Regions were allowed to have some local autonomy. A special program was also developed to modernize industry and economic management models that were lagging behind.

- Fight against corruption.

- Reduce alcoholism and absenteeism. Various campaigns were carried out during the first phase of the implementation of perestroika and moral measures were adopted to reduce alcoholic intake and avoid alcoholism. The result was that in 1986 consumption was reduced by 36%.

- Through perestroika also began economic liberalization. Thus, companies could make decisions without having to consult the authorities.

- 40% of Soviet industry had decreased its production and agriculture had been degrading. To attract investment and increase production, the creation of private companies is encouraged, as well as the creation of partnerships with foreign companies, although in limited numbers.

Collapse of the USSR

The reforms tried to give more autonomy to companies. These measures sought to improve work performance and raise the quality of products.

But the Soviet nomenclature wanted to create its own reform model and did not take into account the experiences of other socialist countries. They were measured without any kind of analysis on the impact they would cause.

By allowing foreign private investment, the country began to turn toward capitalism. Private economic activities increased and labor relations with individual contracts in factories and collective farms changed.

A good number of state-owned companies were sold, currency reforms took place, and a new banking system was introduced. With these reforms the USSR was heading towards a high level of economic development in the early 1990s.

Attempted modernization

Gorbachev attempted the modernization of the Soviet economy in order to give the population a better quality of life. I wanted to equalize it to that of countries with capitalist regimes, such as the United States or other countries in Europe.

The Soviet leader also attempted the decentralization of the political system and granted greater independence to the ministries of the Soviet government.

Obstruction of the communist oligarchy

However, the communist oligarchy was threatened and obstructed the reforms. The economy was on the verge of collapse, and nationalist outbreaks arose in a large part of the republics that made up the Soviet Union.

Faced with such a picture, the future of perestroika was sentenced to death. This movement is considered one of the most important elements that precipitated the imminent collapse of the USSR.

Perestroika and glásnost: internal reforms

The reform plan that Mikhail Gorvachev undertook also included glásnot, which means "transparency" in Russian. He busied himself with liberalizing the hermetic Soviet political system. However, the term glásnost was not new; It was minted in 1920 during the Russian Revolution.

Glásnost: openness and progress

This openness allowed greater freedom of expression and information. The media could report, even criticize the government, without the strict censorship that was imposed for 70 years.

The release of political prisoners and the participation in the political debate of the internal and external opposition were authorized. Basically, the glásnot sought to generate a great internal debate among citizens to enthusiastically face the reforms and support them.

Economic crisis

The policy of openness ended up crashing against the Soviet leader himself. The growing economic crisis, fueled by a lack of foreign exchange and stagnation, increased political problems.

The social convulsion stimulated by the reforms themselves turned against the leadership of the CPSU. During this time, what until then were state secrets were revealed, such as the bloody political repression during the Stalin period.

Gorbachev's goal with this transparency move was to pressure the old conservative leadership of the Communist Party, opposed to perestroika.

Coup attempt

The so-called hard line of the party tried to overthrow Gorvachev in August 1991 with a coup. Conservative Communists sought to reverse economic and political reforms; they saw Gorvachev's plan as simply destroying the socialist state in order to return to capitalism.

The failure of the coup d'état increased the rejection and unpopularity of the old Soviet leadership. The 15 republics of the USSR began to demand their independence and successively proclaim themselves sovereign.

Dissolution of the USSR

Moscow could not cope with the collapse: on December 24, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev officially dissolved the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and left power. The USSR was created on December 28, 1922.

It was a simple act of no more than 30 minutes. Boris Yeltsin, who was one of Gorvachev's opponents and was the linchpin of the counterattack, immediately became president of the Russian Federation.

Consequences

Policies

- The processes of perestroika and glásnot were characterized by being a voluntarist movement of Gorvachev, rather than a solid plan of change. The new Soviet leadership did not take into account the analyzes and opinions that warned about the consequences of this policy.

- The errors and horrors of Stalinism were made known.

- With the freedom of the press, it would not take long for questions to the party leadership to appear.

- Freedom of the press also allowed the population to better perceive the Western way of life.

- Opponents of the communist regime began to gain ground. For example, nationalist groups quickly conquered political space in regional elections in the Soviet republics.

Social

- In the opinion of some analysts, the destruction of the USSR was planned. Before Gorvachev came to power, political and economic reforms were already designed.

- People learned about the poor quality of the houses being built, the shortage of food and public services, as well as the serious problems of alcoholism and environmental pollution that the population suffered.

- The Soviet people began to obtain information that was previously denied. The serious economic and political problems that the USSR was going through were revealed.

Economical

- Gorvachev's economic reform suffered a serious setback when it was hampered by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in April 1986. This tragic event caused serious environmental damage and exposed the deficiencies of the Soviet nuclear program.

- Stripping the State of control of the media, to leave it in the hands of national and international public opinion, had serious consequences.

- The effects of perestroika on the economy were felt with the increase in salaries. The subsidies caused inflation and shortages, which diminished the availability of public funds.

- This period coincided with low oil prices, which began between 1985 and 1986, drastically decreasing the income of the USSR.

References

1. Boris Kagarlistky. Farewell Perestroika. Retrieved on February 20, 2018 from books.google.es
2. Perestroika. Consulted of ecured.cu
3. La Perestroika and La Glásnot. Consulted of laguia2000.com
4. Gorbachev: "I blame Putin for the slowness of the democratic process." Consulted of elpais.com
5. History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991). Consulted of es.wikipedia.org
6. Gaidar, Yegor (April 2007). "The Soviet Collapse: Grain and Oil" (PDF). Recovered from web.archive.org