Mikhail Gorbachev Change the Soviet Union - Essay Sample

Introduction

Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931, and was both a Russian and a Ukrainian. His exact place of birth was in Privolnoye, Stavropol Krai (Tikkanen, 2019). He was born in a peasant family, and he operated combined harvesters in the collective farm before he joined the Communist party which was the only party that governed the state during that time. He studied at Moscow State University and married Raisa Titarenko in 1955 before graduating with a degree in law in 1955. Mikhail Gorbachev was the Soviet politician and the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union. He headed the Communist Party from 1985 to 1991as the General Secretary.

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Additionally, he headed the state from 1988 to 1991 and from 1988 to 1989 he was the Chair of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. He served in the capacity of the Supreme Soviet Chairman from 1989 to 1990. He led the Soviet Union as the President from 1990 to 1991. His leadership in the Soviet Union helped in ending the cold war and his reforms led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1980s the Soviet Union was experiencing stagnation in both domestic development and economic growth (Coldwar.org, 2010). Since the 1970's the Soviet Union had been importing grains from the United States of America. Mikhail Gorbachev was dedicated to reviving the economy of the Soviet Union through reforms such as perestroika and Glasnost which did not succeed for various reasons. Perestroika refers to the reconstruction in the economic and political system. Politically this reform helped in allowing the citizens to raise their opinions on government undertakings. Economically the reform sought to terminate monopolization and government control of prices which had been in existence for the past seven decades.

Glasnost, on the other hand, referred to openness and transparency in social and political areas to make the Soviet people have the rights and freedom (Coldwar.org, 2010). Through this reform, more people could be incorporated into the political process to allow freedom of expression. This had an impact on the government because the media had the freedom to expose the condition of the Union and corruption. The reforms, however, were not successful in dealing with the challenges of the Soviet Union as anticipated by Mikhail Gorbachev's.

Gorbachev's believed that a shift to a hybrid Communist- Capitalism system would work as it had it China (Coldwar.org, 2010). The Politburo could still influence the way the economy was run, but the difference would be that the government would let the market forces take charge in of the decisions especially in the production and development. To spearhead these reforms the Party had to be reorganized to bring on board younger voices.

The second reform glasnost was not successful because the freedom given to the people made the government weak and vulnerable (Coldwar.org, 2010). Gorbachev had introduced this reform to enable the people to have freedom of expression, press as well as religion. The Soviet people used the new found freedom to spread the negative aspects of the union such as economic depression and corruption. The citizens were not used to absence of regulation and command from the government. By encouraging criticisms from the citizens the information about crimes committed by the government increased. This caused panic and protests were conducted in every corner of the nation that had previously been under strict regulation and command from the government. Gorbachev thought that the reforms would benefit the citizens as well as the State but instead led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union faced challenges where countries wanted to be disintegrated to different countries that would manage their affairs. They believed that some of the members of the Soviet Union were taking advantage of the union to exploit them. They thought that they were superior in their capitalism and socialism; hence they deserved better than others (Tikkanen, 2019) The Soviet Union finally fell in 1991, and each country becomes independent, and the Soviet Union was no more. There was mistrust among the countries that formed the union, and therefore they opted to be independent. Some countries become successful when they become independent while others become poorer because they inherited bad leadership from the Soviet Union. Countries such as Russia become successful after the fall of the Soviet Union because they inherited good leaders that wanted to make the country better for all its citizens.

A military coup was organized in 1991 when few oppositions of President Gorbachev wanted him out of power. The leader of the team that was involved in the coup was Gennady Yanayev, and he wanted to become the president by force (Tikkanen, 2019). The coup was organized by several people including the major political members, the military officials that facilitated the taking power from President Gorbachev. The coup members declared themselves as the government and hence President Gorbachev was not a valid president. The leaders of the coup claimed that they were tired of seeing the people suffering because of poor leadership of the president. They wanted to come up with policies that would help in improving the economy to make people live comfortable lives.

Some members of the public supported the coup because they also believed that the Soviet Union required leadership change that could transform the union and make it great. The reforms that the people wanted in order to transform their lives and the challenges that the people faced due to poor policies. The poor were the most affected by the policies because they did not have a livelihood that they could rely on when times become tough.

Gorbachev did many different things while in office that he will be remembered for, many people view him as a tragic figure while other people believe that he contributed positively to the growth of the country (Tikkanen, 2019). However, the majority of the people have the view that he never wanted to solve many conflicts affecting the people, wanted to remain in power and continue enjoying the leadership position without contributing in any way in the development of the country. He was a communist, and therefore he believed that reforms could only be done by all the people coming together to develop the country.

Gorbachev failed to transform the economy of Russia, and he tried to improve the economy using various strategies such as restructuring the economy. H made people suffer such as reduced employment rate. People suffered greatly from the collapsed economy, and they wanted a new leader that could transform their lives for the better. There were also food shortages, and the people did not have the finances to purchase the foods. The people regarded him as a traitor because he failed to keep his promise of transforming the people live. The only achievement of Gorbachev is that he granted freedom to the people such as the freedom to religion, speech, and assembly.

References

Coldwar.org. (2010). Cold War Museum. [Online] Available at http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/GlasnostandPerestroika.asp [Accessed 11 Apr. 2019].

Tikkanen, A. (2019). Mikhail Gorbachev | Biography & Facts. [Online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mikhail-Gorbachev [Accessed 11 Apr. 2019].