However the economic views outlined above were just in the years preceding the collapse of the USSR, in the era of Stalin the rate of industrialisation and the economic state of the country was very strong, so why the sudden turn around. Well this was in part due to the in-built flaws in the USSR, which became evident with the sudden industrialisation.
Gorbachev began his campaign for reforms of the Soviet Union based around decentralisation. Gorbachev legalised entrepreneurship and small co-operative businesses but this just managed to slow the economy down even more. However it did go some way to Gorbachev’s aims of a free market since it did achieve this in part but again it meant less state control, which was not embraced by all. The legalisation of small businesses had a more important side effect though, this was strikes. The lack of a free market meant tgat there was little incentive for the Soviet people to work beyond what was asked of them so when small businesses were legalised production slowed down even more. This led to a shortage of consumer goods which in turn led to the strikes. Eventually the people were persuaded to return to work but only on the proviso of wage increases, where this money would come from was anybody’s guess.
This decentralisation not only had knock on effects for the economy but also ideological ideas. The country had been based on Marxist - Lenin theories of a centralised communist government and when Gorbachev ended this he failed to put any coherent ideology in its place. This compounded the feeling of disillusionment for the Soviet people, since the communist ideology had changed so frequently during the seventy-five years of communist rule. Leading many of the Soviet Satellites to question the Kremlin and to lose the strong bond, which had always been maintained rigorously with the Kremlin. In turn this allowed the soviet satellites to begin to question the constantly suppressed idea of nationalism. Many communist countries such as Nagorono adopted the idea of nationalism and nationalist riots occurred in Karabakh in 1988. However, Soviet satellite uprisings had occurred as early as 1956 in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Kremlin responded to these uprisings with violence and suppression, which created an environment in which the smaller Soviet satellites felt hatred towards the Kremlin and USSR. Nationalism was becoming a vital political issue and could ultimately lose the USSR any credibility it had as a superpower if it did not handle the situation correctly.
It was these ideas of nationalism, which caused Gorbachev the most problems since he had no background on ethnic matters and was more concerned with economic and political reforms. This can be clearly seen in his case by case approach, never actually establishing a coherent ethnic strategy to allow the Soviet satellites as to how far these new political reforms reached in regards to national identity.
Gorbachev also came up against problems with his policies of glasnost meaning openness and perestroika meaning restructuring. At the heart of his ideas he wanted to retain the fundamentals of the old order but strengthen the USSR with a more open Kremlin allowing the USSR to voice its own opinions helping the Kremlin realised what changes were needed to retain its power and status.
Gorbachev’s policies divided the Kremlin and satisfied neither. The USSR hard liners thought he was deserting the party’s cause while reformers felt they were never allowed to go far enough with the reformist policies. The USSR was crumbling and with the announcement of competitive elections in 1987 and in 1990 when non communist parties were able to participate in these elections, it could be seen that the USSR was now moving as far away from its communist roots as ever before.
In establishing why the USSR collapsed in 1991 the external pressures also have to be looked at, since this contributed a great deal to the USSR’s economic problems. The Cold War placed the USSR in an expensive war, which it could not afford, spending up to twenty five percent of the countries gross national product on defense, money which was desperately needed to maintain the Soviet economy. The USSR also had the strain of the war in Afghanistan, which cost around $5 billion and ended in humiliation and defeat.
In conclusion the collapse of the USSR can be mainly attributed to the economy. The internal pressure such as ideological conflict was a reason but its impact can be again linked back to the economy since people are more willing to follow a government if they are financially secure. The external pressure also mainly put strain on the economy. The Cold War did place the USSR in a strong position politically, since they were deemed to be politically equal however, the war in Afghanistan discredited the Soviets somewhat since the war was prolonged and no victory could ever have been achieved.
