Transcription
[Music] On the 25th of December 1991, the world watched as the most powerful communist country in history collapsed, following the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, dissolved into 15 independent states, marking the Federation's downfall and ending the Cold War, which had lasted 44 years between the East and the West.
The reasons for the collapse are subject to much debate; however, many place blame on the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1985, Gorbachev was elected general secretary of the communist party. For many, this was a relief and sign of hope, and he promised a program of reform and fundamental change.
The Soviet economy had come to a halt after a 20-year period known as the era of stagnation. This time of political and economic stagnation came under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, the fifth leader of the USSR. Stagnation thrived under Brezhnev, as the leaders of the Soviet Union were comfortable in their positions and did not feel they needed to implement change. This meant innovation was scarce, and the USSR, both politically and economically, was lagging far behind the Western world. The Soviet Union was also in the midst of the Cold War with the West, and the nuclear arms race was draining a lot of its resources.
Gorbachev tried to de-escalate the Cold War, proposing a 50% reduction in nuclear weapons; however, his proposal was rejected in 1986. Stagnation, coupled with a high military budget, led to a crippled Soviet Union, which Gorbachev attempted to fix with his reforms. These modifications came in the form of perestroika and glasnost.
Perestroika, or restructuring, allowed parts of the centrally planned economy to be opened up to private enterprise by introducing market mechanisms. Gorbachev hoped the economy would be revitalized, as the centrally planned economy could not meet the demands of the population, from production to the prices of goods. Part of perestroika was the encouragement of joint ventures, which allowed foreign firms to establish businesses in the USSR. This later saw the first McDonald's opened in Moscow in 1990. In 1988, cooperatives were also legalized, allowing small-scale businesses to be established. These businesses could set their own prices and keep their own profits, resulting in a thriving sector of small shops, restaurants, and cafes. However, within just a few years, the reforms so many had hoped for had not become a reality. Price control still remained in most businesses, as did most government controls over the means of production. Gorbachev's reforms, therefore, amounted to nothing more than half measures, incapable of creating the favored economic results so many had expected.
Another reform was known as glasnost, or transparency. The communist party had become rife with corruption and nepotism, resembling a power block of inefficient and self-serving politicians. Realizing this, Gorbachev introduced glasnost, which encouraged open discussion and began the process of democratization. This resulted in a wave of criticism against the party, with many leading reformers resigning. Streamlining of the party also took place, whereby departments of the Central Committee were reduced from twenty to nine, with further clamp downs on corruption also being implemented.
Perhaps the most significant of his reforms were seen at the 19th Party conference in June 1988, whereby Gorbachev extended the principle of multi-candidate elections, later resulting in the abolition of Article 6 in March 1990, ending the Communist Party's monopoly of power. By the end of the year, the Communist Party was powerless. Local elections had seen communist candidates defeated across the country, with Leningrad seeing the opposition gain 60 percent of the seats.
Russian nationalist Boris Yeltsin also played a significant role. Gorbachev's main opponent, Yeltsin won the Moscow mayoral election and used the position as a platform to encourage nationalist movements, both in the non-Russian republics and within Russia itself. Nationalists saw the removal of the Brezhnev Doctrine as a signal that a declaration of independence might be accepted. The Brezhnev Doctrine was the policy of military intervention whenever a satellite state tried to move away from communism. By ending this, Gorbachev removed his control over the satellite states without replacing the policy with anything that would retain his control. So, on the 11th of March 1990, Lithuania declared itself an independent nation—the first of the Soviet republics to do so. Independence movements quickly grew in the non-Russian satellite states, many holding free elections as a result of the glasnost reforms. Soviet regimes quickly collapsed without military back-up from the USSR, seen in the destruction of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 1989, and many other Soviet leadership failings elsewhere.
Multiple factors played a role in the collapse of the Soviet Union, with many placing blame on Gorbachev and his failed reforms, and others viewing the event as inevitable due to the negative legacy of Brezhnev. The downfall of the USSR can be attributed to a combination of factors, from high military spending and a foreign policy that bred nationalist sentiment to an economy crippled by years of stagnation and neglect. It is impossible to place the fall of the Union on one factor alone.
Whatever the cause may be, the downfall of the Soviet Union was a pivotal event in recent history, marking the end of a massive economic and political superpower that helped shape the events of the 20th century.
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