Chapter 9: the End of the Cold War (Break-Up of the Soviet Empire)

Chapter 9: The End of the Cold War (Break-up of the Soviet Empire)

Why wasn’t the Communist System Working?

This portion of the content deals with the Soviet Union that Mikhail Gorbachev inherited from the leaders who ruled the Soviet Union since the death of Joseph Stalin

Internal Reasons / External Reasons
An Inefficient Command Economy:

Lack of basic consumer goods because the state command economy decided to produce other goods like iron and steel
Decisions were also made without considering the conditions faced by factories in different parts of Russia. As a result, decisions sometimes did not benefit everyone
Factory Managers could not make any decisions and therefore goods took a long time to be produced and delivered to stores, contributing too to a lack of consumer goods
The central government usually set targets for production but not for quality. As a result, most Soviet goods were poorly made compared to their Western European counterparts

An Inefficient Workforce:

With equal benefits, there was no reward or incentive for Soviet workers to work any harder. Furthermore, Soviet workers also had jobs for life, subsidised health care, housing and education. Many of them eventually became less efficient than their Western European counterparts
Due to the easy availability of alcohol, many production workers went to work drunk and produced low quality products.

Money Spent on the Military:

Since most of the government budget was spent on the military, little was left to produce consumer goods, creating a huge shortage

Farms and Factories not Improved:

Farms and factories were not improved over the years with the latest technology and eventually fell behind the more productive Western farms and factories

Inefficient Transport and Distribution System:

Transport and distribution was not efficiently organised resulting in delays in getting raw materials to factories and products to markets
Farms were also inefficiently organised. As a result, food from bumper harvests would rot because the transport system was too inefficient to move food quickly to villages which needed it most

Basic Needs of the People Not Met:

Unable to get consumer goods, many people turned to “Black Markets” – as these “Black Markets” did not pay taxes, the government lost out a lot of revenue
Black marketers also received their supply from corrupt officials making it harder to get consumer goods because they hoarded the goods for sale and refused to give them out to the people, creating more shortage

Ineffective Government:

The central government (politburo) were hardliners who did not want change and saw new ideas as a challenge to their power and to Communism. They made it difficult for any Soviet leader who wanted to introduce change that may have improved the USSR
Communist leaders were usually conservative and corrupted and leadership choices based on friendships, favouritism and length of service in the Party
Due to many years of tight and strict control, most Soviet people felt that they could not do anything to improve their country and thus did not bother getting involved in politics, denying the country feedback that may have helped it work

In short, to understand this portion and to craft out a very good explanation, what happened during the years before Gorbachev took over was that due to an inefficient economic system that retarded rather than advance Soviet production capabilities, many Russians were denied basic consumer goods that their Western counterparts enjoyed. In addition to contributing to delays, the inefficient production system also contributed to unmotivated, unchallenged and unproductive workers who further caused a delay in the production and a dip in quality. If that were not enough, the Soviet transport and distribution network was so inefficient that delays caused by it only made the situation worse. The Black Market would make things worse because revenue generated from sales never made it to the USSR Treasury, incurring billions of roubles in losses. Heavy military spending and having to support Eastern European expenses only made things worse.
Gorbachev inherited:

An almost bankrupt Soviet economy still heavily burdened by the need to keep on playing “superpower”, lost revenue from Black Market sales, a non-existent export economy because its goods were of so bad quality no one wanted to buy them, Eastern European expenses, a war in Afghanistan and corrupt officials
A Soviet Union full of corrupt officials who saw no motivation in changing the country

/ Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars Programme:

US deliberately increased spending on defence to weaken the USSR economy as it would not be able to keep up with the cost of a new arms race
Reagan created a Star Wars programme that would protect the USA from Soviet missiles
Worried, the USSR improved relations with the USA in order to defuse national tension

Anti-Soviet Feelings in the Republics:

15 created Soviet Socialist Republics were made up of ethnically different peoples who harboured resentment against the USSR because of the harsh control of the politburo and the Red Army. Governing the entire area also cost the USSR a lot of money

Increased Spending:

USSR spent a lot of money on troops to support the Warsaw Pact Allies – Eastern European nations
Spent more on COMECON help to the Eastern European nations
Spent more on a war with Afghanistan to prevent the spread of radical Islam to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

In short, the USSR was spending more money than it had on playing “Superpower” by increased military spending and supporting other nations

How did Gorbachev try to get the Communist System to Work Again?

This portion of the content deals with Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies (Glasnost and Perestroika) and how he used them to try to get the Soviet Union working again

Perestroika (Restructuring or Change) / Glasnost (Openness)
End of Central Planning:

Introduction of the Law of State Enterprise – Managers of farms and factories could make decisions on production and could work for profit
However, the central government was still powerful and remained in charge of the Soviet economy

Market Economy Introduced:

Encouraged small groups of workers to set up small business to reduce dependence on the state
Foreign ownership of Soviet businesses was also allowed
All this was done to reduce dependence on the state and encourage others to be in a better position to decide how best to use the country’s resources efficiently

Reduction of Military Spending:

In 1988, troops were removed from Eastern Europe and Afghanistan
He also promised not to interfere in Eastern Europe and reduced their subsidies
Relations with the West were improved and the arms race (and military spending on arms) was significantly slowed down

/ Open to New Ideas:

Encouraged openness in the USSR in order to get ideas and suggestions from ordinary Russians to help him change the Communist Party and encourage it to accept new ideas

Less Censorship:

The media was allowed to report on problems within the USSR and Gorbachev loosened government control on media censorship
He hoped that he could embarrass officials who refused to support perestroika and win popular support for his plan
KGB disbanded and the notorious Lubyanka prison was closed down

More Freedom:

Corrupt officials were put on trial
Legalised previously banned books, plays and films
Dissidents were released
Historians were allowed to re-examine Soviet history and tell people the truth behind the famines and Stalin’s atrocities
Religious freedom was allowed

What effect did Gorbachev’s changes have on Eastern Europe?

This portion of the content deals with Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies (Glasnost and Perestroika) and how they eventually allowed the Eastern European states to break away from the USSR

Perestroika & Glasnost:

Gorbachev loosened Soviet control over Eastern Europe. As a result, Communist governments in Eastern Europe were weakened because they once relied on Soviet troops and the KGB to keep them in power

Glasnost also made people less afraid to speak up against their leaders. Eventually, they started to organise protests which grew in scale and intensity. Without the backing of the Soviet troops, the Communist governments could not hold on to power. Furthermore, Gorbachev held on to his promise not to interfere, allowing the Eastern European countries the chance to overthrow their leaders

As a result, Communism came to an end in Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact and COMECON also ended at the same time. Germany was re-unified with the breaking down of the Berlin Wall. In all the countries, new leaders were elected to power and the market economy was adopted

Why did the Soviet Union break up?

This portion of the content deals with why the Soviet Union eventually broke up despite Mikhail Gorbachev’s revolutionary policy changes

Gorbachev’s changes failed to solve problems:

While the 2 policies of Perestroika and Glasnost raised hopes for a better life, the 2 policies did not improve life per se. Communist officials did not want to implement the reforms or at most, implemented part of them. Changes were difficult to put into practice because Gorbachev was unable to rule the USSR the Communist way while trying to rule it the Capitalist way.

Unfortunately, life did not get any better. Due to Perestroika, factory managers switched to the production of expensive luxury goods and no basic consumer goods were produced. Due to the shortages, the price of food and other basic goods grew more expensive and protests against the government began to form. They were not stopped because that would go against Glasnost.

Due to reduce costs in the new market economy, many workers were retrenched by state-owned companies. They took to the street to protest and prevented business from being carried out.

Loss of Communist Party’s authority:

Glasnost allowed people to criticise the government, go on strike and to vote politicians from opposition parties. These changes weakened the power of the Communist party. At the same time, these changes made Russians feel less secure because their old way of life was gone and their new lives were undergoing constant change. They soon lost confidence in the Communist Party and used Glasnost to criticise the central government.

Years of Cold War competition bankrupted the Soviet Union:

40 years of competing with the USA in an arms race was taking its toll on the USSR and from the late 1970s onwards, it struggled to pay for this arms race. While the USSR seemed to have pioneered space technologies, by the 1970s, it was losing out to the West in computers and other non-military related technology.

The USA also tried to weaken the Soviet economy by preventing the sale of computers and other technologies to the USSR and also worked with Saudi Arabia to keep to keep the price of oil low. This move deprived the Russians of billions of dollars in oil revenue. The USA also pressured its European allies to cancel or delay a project to build a pipeline from the USSR to Europe that would bring Russian natural gas to Europe. These actions prevented the USSR from earning much currency during the 1980s.

The USSR also spent too much money on keeping up with the USA in “Star Wars” and during the war in Afganistan. Although Gorbachev tried to reduce military spending when he came into power, it was too late to help.

Rise of Nationalism:

When the Communist Party loosened its control on the USSR, many states wanted independence and this was an open call for the break-up of the Soviet Union.

In the 1980s, Estonia, Lithuanaia, Latvia, Armeninia, Azerbaijan, Georia and the Ukraine called for independence. As Gorbachev was not willing to let these republics leave the USSR, Soviet troops were sent to these republics to prevent them from declaring their independence. He tried giving them more power through the Union Treaty where the USSR would make decisions about foreign policy and national security but where the republics would decide in other areas of government.

Immediate Cause: 19 to 21 August 1991 Coup

Communist hardliners feared the Union Treaty because they believed it would lead to the break-up of the Soviet Union. Many people in Gorbachev’s government wanted to overthrow him before the signing of the Union Treaty. Coup was done when Gorbachev was on holiday in the Crimea.

Yeltsin condemned the coup and banned the Communist Party in Russia. Most of the soldiers joined the protestors who protested against the coup and the hardliners had failed and became seriously weakened.

Gorbachev resigned on 25 December 1991. He has been blamed for breaking up the Soviet Union and at the same time blamed for not making changes fast enough.

The Soviet Union broke up and became the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The CIS included the countries of the former Soviet Union except for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which became independent countries.

Members of the CIS include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Moldavia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.