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Impact of stalinism on society
Impact of stalinism on society
Impact of stalinism on society
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An investigation of the Soviet Union collapse: To what extent did Gorbachev’s policies of Perestroika and Glasnost lead to the internal collapse of the Soviet Union?
Jason Less
History Internal Assessment (HL)
February 21, 2014
Word Count:
To what extent did Gorbachev’s policies of perestroika and glasnost lead to the internal collapse of the Soviet Union?
Section A: Plan of Investigation
The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate Gorbachev’s two main policies of reformation, glasnost and perestroika, in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and to assess if the policies were significant or vital to the internal collapse of the Soviet Union.
This investigation was completed by a:
• Reading from an online internet article in an encyclopedia
• Use of internet articles about Gorbachev and his policies of reformation, as well as a book source: The Rise and Fall of Communism by Archie Brown
• Use of a primary source: “The Collapse of the Soviet Union” by James Graham
The following section will present factual materials from sources used with references as well. The next section will evaluate the two most important sources used in this investigation with the origin, purpose, value, and limitations stated for each source. This section will be followed by an analysis of the issues regarding Gorbachev’s policies of reformation and an awareness of the topic. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn stating how important the policies of glasnost and perestroika were to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Section B: Summary of Evidence
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev held this position from 1985 to 1991. Gorbachev’s influence and l...
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Gorbachev’s policies of perestroika and glasnost were very important in bringing about the collapse of the Soviet Union. These policies led to many internal problems and social unrest of the Soviet people. These policies led to the increase in nationalism and the freedom that led the people to openly criticize the Soviet government.
Section F: Bibliography
Internet
“The Gorbachev Era: Perestroika and Glasnost.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 03 Dec. 2013 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/513251/Russia/38564/The-Gorbachev-era-perestroika-and-glasnost
Graham, James. “The Collapse of the Soviet Union.” Today in History, Birthdays & History Articles. 03 December. 2013 http://www.historyorb.com/referencing.php
“Perestroika: The Word That Changed the World.” RT News. 27 Jan. 2012. 03 Dec. 2013 http://rt.com/news/soviet-union-gorbachev-perestroika-799/
the downfall of communism, as it were, took so long was the veto power of
1. Research for bibliography about the influence of the Tsar during the Bolshevik Revolutions. Instruments used: History Reference books. Three main books were particularly helpful:
The first underlying cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union was the deterioration of the Soviets regimes moral standing. There was a growth of important dissident movements. For example, many key Soviet people, such as Andrei Sakharov, the father of the Russian nuclear bomb, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who is arguably the greatest writer that Russia produced in the 20th century, both became dissidents. Sakharov was banned to a closed town in the Soviet Union and Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the country. Although, Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn were not the only dissidents in Russia, as there many more prominent Russian figures. For example, the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, became a dissident. Other prominent figures, such as Svetlana Alliluyeva, Joseph Stalin’s only daughter even became a dissident and left the country. Nikita Khrushchev’s son Sergei even left the country. There were a distressingly large number of people like Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov, Kasparov, Khrushchev and Alliluyeva that were either kicked out or snuck out. All of the dissidents concluded that they could not live in the Soviet society any more. However, this wa...
...ould change Russia’s relationship with the rest of the world. The first policy was “Glasnost” which meant political openness and the second was “Perestroika” which meant economic reform. It was not long that the hold that the USSR had over Eastern Europe was starting to fade. Each country replaced its government with a noncommunist one. In 1989 the Berlin Wall, which was the symbol of the cold war, was destroyed. The wall physically came down after Ronald Reagan challenged Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”. In 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolve and the cold war was over.
The Fall of Communism The fall of communism can be linked to several reasons. Some of these reasons were internal, while others were the results of outside influence. For a form of any type of government to work, the people must support it, true a government can use force to make their populace submit to the will of the government as with China in Tiananmem Square. In that case, the government used armed military force to put down student demonstrators demanding democracy reform.
In order to conclude the extent to which the Great Terror strengthened or weakened the USSR, the question is essentially whether totalitarianism strengthened or weakened the Soviet Union? Perhaps under the circumstances of the 1930s in the approach to war a dictatorship may have benefited the country in some way through strong leadership, the unifying effect of reintroducing Russian nationalism and increased party obedience. The effects of the purges on the political structure and community of the USSR can be described (as Peter Kenez asserts) as an overall change from a party led dictatorship to the dictatorship of a single individual; Stalin. Overall power was centred on Stalin, under whom an increasingly bureaucratic hierarchy of party officials worked. During the purges Stalin's personal power can be seen to increase at the cost of the party.
A comparison of these two are Both leaders saw that changes were essential, they knew that without reforms, the Soviet Union would grow weaker and weaker. Khrushchev’s and Gorbachev’s reforms were wide and touched almost all important aspects of the government. One important aspect is how Khrushchev and Gorbachev saw the past and future. When Khrushchev came to power he had a big problem how to replace Stalin and how to rule the country after him. Stalin ruled through a cult of personality and many people thought that he was irreplaceable. At “the Twentieth Congress of the Khrushchev attacks Stalinism and the Cult of Personality in the secret speech, he denounced Stalin and the terror of his regime, everything Stalin did or said was incorrect,
Following the death of Josef Stalin in 1953, the harsh policies he implemented in not only the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, but also its many satellite nations began to break down. There was a movement to distance all of the socialist nations from Stalin?s sadistic rule. In the Peoples? Republic of Hungary, there was much disillusionment with this Stalinist absolutism (Felkay 50). This disillusionment with the Soviet ideal of socialism lead the people of the fledgeling socialist state of Hungary to rise up in revolt, but ill-preparedness and the strength of the Soviet Red Army put down the insurrection within several days.
In the early 1980s prior to Gorbachev’s presidency, the soviet economy was wracked by chronic shortages of food and consumer items. These shortages were in part due because of Leonid Brezhnev leadership being inefficient at directing the soviet economy. It was against this backdrop of economic decline and political instability that Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. Gorbachev came from a peasant family and this humble background played a large role in his political thinking and gave him a strong humanitarian sympathy. His separation from the old regime gave him greater freedoms to move away from old thinking and enact policies grounded in a new way of thinking. Gorbachev was under different circumstances than past leaders because people at around this time wanted the country to move in different directions and at the same time, this led to Gorb...
happened ? What did the Soviet Union do wrong to cause a breakdown of their
to assume the role of dictator. This was a phenomenon which was to become a
... In conclusion, the chaos that was encountered by the Soviet Union together with the ideas the new leaders brought to enlighten Eastern Europe about communism. This made the countries understand their freedom and rights through the Glasnot. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the freedom and independence of many Soviet states. They were no longer a world super power and with the difficulties it faced economically, politically and socially, led to its own downfall.
The cold war was failed by the Soviet Union for many reasons, including the sudden collapse of communism (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) This sudden collapse of communism was brought on ultimately by internal factors. The soviet unions president Gorbachev’s reforms: glasnost (openness) and perestroika (political reconstructering) ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Gorbachev’s basics for glasnost were the promotion of principles of freedom to criticize; the loosening of controls on media and publishing; and the freedom of worship. His essentials of perestroika were, a new legislature; creation of an executive presidency; ending of the ‘leading role’ of the communist party; allowing state enterprises to sell part of their product on the open market; lastly, allowing foreign companies to own Soviet enterprises (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev believed his reforms would benefit his country, but the Soviet Union was ultimately held together by the soviet tradition he was trying to change. The Soviet Union was none the less held together by “…powerful central institutions, pressure for ideological conformity, and the threat of force.
The collapse of the Berlin Wall changed Western Europe as we know it today. The Iron Curtain which had split Europe had ascended and the once divided germans were reunited under one common nation. The causal factors which resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall were internal — communism imploded upon itself—. Gorbachev attempted to reform communism through Glasnost and Perestroika, which were supposed to incorporate economic reforms and transparency, however, history illustrates that increased liberty is incompatible with communism. Dr. Schmidtke argued that structural deficiencies led along with poor economic growth which led to the collapse of communism in Europe, and consequently the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The alienation of intellectuals and the authoritative nature of communist regimes further contributed to the failure of communism in Europe. However, the collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred had it not been for Gorbachev’s Glasnost, Perestroika, and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine. Along with German official Schabowski whose actions were the catalyst for the mass exodus of persons from the GDR into West Germany. The Collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred so swiftly had Gorbachev not tried to implement reforms to communism.
The Causes of the Collapse of the USSR Works Cited Not Included Although its demise occurred in the very latter part of the 20th