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The fall of the USSR - Coggle Diagram

- - - - opposition in the party was growing to his policies so he wanted support from writers and intellectuals
      - He invited them to criticise the hardliners and support his reforms
    - - There was far greater expression in the media and he allowed radical editors to be in charge of news channels and newspapers
      - Far more critical stories about about Stalin's terror and other anti-communist publications were allowed
      - Dissidents were also freed
    - - 1988 Aleksandr Tsipko criticised Marx and Lenin and that attacked the foundation o f Svoiet Communism
      - Citizens were allowed to listen to foreign radio and read foreign newspapers
      - In 19th party conference the party officials revealed the scale of the problems facing the USSR
    - - Disaster caused by fundamental problems in the Soviet system
      - the reactor's design was flawed and these flaws were hidden from the operator and plant was poorly constructed and these were hidden
      - When the disaster happened the problem was reported for 2 days and the media was slow to acknowledge it and reports downplayed the significance
  - - - Limited in that only 1500 of the congress of people's deputies would be elected and the other 750 were chosen by communist party
      - Supreme Soviet would be elected by the Congress of people's deputies and would meet for two three month sessions every year
    - - Communists won 80% of vote and Yeltsin won 89% of vote in Moscow
      - The Inter-Regional Deputies group formed which embraced radical anti-communist agenda
      - Consequences
        
        Weakened the moderates but allowed nationalists who wanted independance to campaign for it
        
        Yeltsin emerged as a popular figure and as a rival to Gorbachev
        
        His idea of a loose confederation of truly independent states became extremely popular with nationalists across USSR
    - - Major increase in nationalism and many groups with nationalism elected
- - - - There was very little incentives for workers to work hard as they were unable to make lots of money
    - - The targets set by Gosplan were flawed as they set amounts for production however they did not take into account the quality of the materials produced and the amount that was used used such as tractors
    - - The USSR was not properly modernised and so sectors suffered such as agriculture was inefficient because it did not have proper machinery
    - - The USSR was stuck spending lots of money on weapons with 17% of GDP being spent
    - - The plans came from the central agency and so there were problems with amount of production and the consumer goods
      - Agriculture was suffering because farmers were unable to properly address the climate and farmers could not use their expertise
    - - The economy was slowly stagnating over time
  - - - Acceleration
        
        Involved large scale investment into the economy to modernise it properly
        
        Failed because:
        
        The price of oil dropped which meant that the revenue of the country was seriously impacted and so forced to borrow from western countries
        
        Investment into energy production which was against the plans of the advisors failed and meant the government had to keep up with interest payments and so the less money for modernisation and consumer goods
      - Partial Market Reform
        
        Three main laws
        
        The Law of individual of Economic Activity 1986
        
        Made it legal for individuals and families to make money from samll-scale work such as private teaching or repair
        
        The 1987 Law on State Enterprise
        
        Devolved power from central government to factory management to allow them to set prices fro their products
        
        The 1988 Law on cooperatives
        
        made it legal to create large-scale private companies and many of these were successful and the profits from the first year went from 29.2 million roubles to 1.04 billion roubles
        
        He also restricted the power of Gosplan
        
        Failed becasue
        
        Gosplan found way to regain central control of the economy
        
        Co-operative prices were more expensive than state-subsidised and so a price cap was introduced on co-operatives which meant production was uneconomic
      - Transformation (to a market economy)
        
        Introduced because he believed that a market economy was superior to a planned economy
        
        The 500 Day program
        
        The plan was for the transition from the planned economy to a market economy
        
        It proposed complete marketisation and widespread privatisation
        
        It was not put into action because he was forced to back down by hardline communists
        
        January 1991
        
        The Supreme Soviet introduce private property and allows people to own land and factories
        
        The economic response
        
        There was continued decline and production for steel, tractors and oil fell
        
        By the end the Soviet economy was in a catastrophe and by Summer of 1991 the government was bankrupt and didn't have the economic power to govern.
- - - - He believed that reforms could save the USSR but instead created a crisis
      - Glasnost exposed the acts of the party against the people which he underestimated the impact of
      - His policies undermined him for example the political choice to not stand for election for the presidency despite advocating for democracy. Many policies were conflicting and led to nothing being truly realised
      - He did not win over the communist party which was the only institution capable of creating change without creating a crisis
  - - - He gained popularity for a number of reason early on
      - He attacked party leadership and criticised them for not supporting reform
      - He was elected as chair of congress of the people's deputies which gave him a voice
    - - he supported nationalism and called for it and he was elected as president of Russia which gave him major power and meant Gorbachev was the weaker party and could not talk from a position of strength
      - he also supported nationalism in other states
    - - He was prepared for a long protracted battle with Gorbachev but the Coup gave him the opportunity for a counter coup where he shut communist party, seized its assets and oil and gold
      - He did not save the USSR as he would be able to built democracy and the economy in Russia far easier and it destroyed Gorbachev's power