Measures of Gorbachev's foreign policy. « Internal policy of M.S. Gorbachev". The main consequences of the collapse of the USSR

In domestic politics, Mikhail Gorbachev did a lot to put the country on a democratic path. So, the first scientific and technical center appeared under this policy. In the summer of 1985, Gorbachev took up the task of accelerating scientific and technological progress with an emphasis on the growth of mechanical engineering, holding a wide meeting on this topic in the Central Committee of the CPSU. However, here, too, the matter was limited to measures to create a number of organizational structures. However, progress from this did not go faster ... And where was the money to be taken? The issue of financing also came up against the implementation of the “active social policy” proclaimed in words, ranging from intentions to raise wages to promises to give each family an apartment or their own house by the year 2000.

In 1987-1988, important laws were adopted on the state enterprise and on cooperation in the USSR. However, these laws did not work well.

In an effort to improve the quality of products, the authorities in May 1986. entered the state reception. Technical control departments (OTC) of enterprises were previously subordinate to the administration. Yes, and the controllers themselves were unprofitable for "excessive" severity in identifying defects: they, along with workers and engineers, could lose their bonus due to non-fulfillment of the plan.

Gospriyomka became a separate department, its employees did not depend on the directorate and were not materially interested in the implementation of the plan. By the beginning of 1987 state acceptance acted at all large industrial enterprises. However, its effectiveness was significantly lower than expected. The implementation of plans has significantly decreased, earnings have fallen. The management of the enterprises hurried to find contact with the new controllers, who, moreover, were registered with the party at the enterprises. The state reception lasted only two years.

M.S. Gorbachev begins his reform activities with an anti-alcohol campaign, which exacerbated the negative aspects of the life of the population - drunkenness "gone into everyday life", the prices for alcoholic beverages increased (which, in turn, hit the budgets of families even more). Increased speculation in alcoholic beverages, home brewing. People faced the problem of "sugar boom". Vineyards were cut down. How can one assess the thoughtlessness of Gorbachev's steps?

M.S. Gorbachev, of course, did not foresee such negative processes that followed these initiatives, and the cutting down of vineyards showed the level of understanding of this problem by local leaders. It is clear that no such instructions were given to them. M.S. Gorbachev saw the main evil of society - drunkenness, which has a detrimental effect on morality. I believe that this is how society should have been prepared for reforms.

To some extent, this was indeed a miscalculation, but Gorbachev's accusation of short-sightedness is unfounded. One cannot foresee everything. And the results were: in the first year, alcohol consumption decreased, there was no such drunkenness. Drunkenness was declared a real war. Those guilty of "drinking" in public places were expelled from the party and the Komsomol, demoted, deprived of bonuses, pushed back in the queue for housing.

It was not so much drunkards who suffered, but people who wanted to buy a bottle of wine for a holiday or family celebration. Attempts to increase the production of juices only worsened the situation: this production was unprofitable and required subsidies. Due to the lack of alcohol, moonshine production increased. Sugar began to disappear from stores, although its production in 1985 - 1988. increased by 18%.

Often vodka was replaced by various surrogates (from cologne to solvent). Drug addiction and substance abuse began to spread among the youth. Sociological surveys showed that 80% of the country's citizens understood the need to combat drunkenness, but the methods used aroused unanimous rejection. Gorbachev earned the ironic nickname "mineral secretary".

Gorbachev cannot be justified by the fact that he did not know what would happen after the "Decree on the fight against drunkenness and alcoholism." Gorbachev grew up in a Russian family and had to understand that alcohol abuse is typical for her and problems cannot be solved “with a swoop”. In addition, it was the sale of alcohol that provided a significant part of the budget revenues. In my opinion, this was a bad move.

Starting perestroika, Gorbachev made the main emphasis on raising the spirituality of society in the sense in which he was brought up and served the socialist system. Unearned income, he considered everything that is produced in the non-state sphere.

Formally, it was directed against the businessmen of the shadow economy. In practice, however, its main victims were collective farmers and townspeople who grow fruits and vegetables for sale, handicraftsmen, and street vendors. In a number of places, the authorities enthusiastically destroyed greenhouses in household plots and summer cottages. And the bigwigs of the shadow economy, corrupt officials, remained untouched.

It was difficult to take the first steps, and they were most likely spontaneous. To fight the shadow economy, we need forces, supporters. During the period of the reforms, these forces were only still consolidating.

These were probably populist reforms. After stagnation, any innovations were perceived as significant actions aimed at changing society. This is how Gorbachev earned political authority.

Starting the reforms, Gorbachev did not set the task of changing the socio-economic system, he considered socialism to be a completely viable system. He even stressed that we should learn from Lenin to reevaluate values, theoretical guidelines, and political slogans in time. Therefore, it is not surprising that already in April 1985. a course was taken to accelerate, and then to improve the political structure of society. There was a normal evolution of views.

It is difficult to begin the transformation of only individual spheres of society; this, in the end, leads to a change in the whole society. Gorbachev did not take this into account. But he really was not only an ideologist, but also a foreman of perestroika, his reforms were not only a theoretical development, but also had (successful or not - another question) practical application. And the inconsistency continued by the fact that there were no ready-made recipes.

Both supporters and opponents are right. It is not so easy to foresee the consequences of the chosen course in detail. Many leaders were accustomed to thinking within the framework of a command-administrative system that had been developing for decades, did not want changes, and were not able to act independently. There was opposition to the reform on their part. Gorbachev's reforms can be recognized as a truly courageous step.

At the 27th Party Congress held in February-March 1986, the reform strategy was approved.

1985 is a landmark year in the history of the state and the party. The Brezhnev era is over.
In March 1985 Gorbachev was elected as the new General Secretary. He consolidated his control in the Politburo, the secretariat and the state apparatus, removing several potential opponents from there and moving the influential Foreign Minister A. A. Gromyko to the honorary post of chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Many government ministers and first secretaries of regional party committees were replaced by younger people.

The time has begun for changes, attempts to reform the party-state body. This period in the country's history was called "perestroika" and was associated with the idea of ​​"improving socialism."
The 27th Congress of the CPSU was held in February-March 1986. It approved the reform strategy and adopted a new party program, which included accelerating economic growth and improving the living conditions of the population. Initially, Gorbachev leaned toward administrative politics, such as improved labor discipline and an anti-alcohol campaign. But later Gorbachev proclaimed a course of "perestroika" - the restructuring of the economy and, ultimately, the entire socio-political system. However, these reforms did not have sufficient economic justification, were not carefully worked out and were limited to the ideas of Lenin and Bukharin during the NEP (1921–1928).

The first noticeable change in society was the policy of publicity (freedom of speech and openness of information). Numerous social groups have emerged that are engaged in various types of cultural, sports, entrepreneurial and political activities.

Some members of the Politburo, headed by E.K. Ligachev, were wary of the reforms, considering them ill-conceived, hasty and harmful to the country. Gorbachev's actions caused a wave of growing criticism among the population as well. Some criticized him for slowness and inconsistency in the implementation of reforms, others for haste; everyone noted the inconsistency of his policy. So, laws were adopted on the development of cooperation and almost immediately - on the fight against "speculation"; laws on the democratization of enterprise management and, at the same time, on the strengthening of central planning; laws on the reform of the political system and free elections, and immediately on “strengthening the role of the party”, etc.

In the summer of 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a resolution "On the concept of transition to a regulated market economy." Several groups of economists have developed their programs, including S.N. Shatalin and G.A. Yavlinsky at the end of August 1990 proposed their radical reform program “500 days”. Under this program, it was supposed to decentralize the economy, then the subsequent privatization of enterprises, the abolition of state control over prices, and unemployment was allowed.

But the Ryzhkov-Abalkin program was adopted for implementation. It was a moderate concept, developed under the guidance of the director of the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences L.I. Abalkin, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N.I. Ryzhkov took part in the development. The public sector remained in the economy for a longer period with mandatory state control over the private sector. But the reforms of the economy did not lead to improvement, on the contrary, the incomes of the population decreased, production decreased, which in turn caused an increase in social discontent. The amount of external debt was approaching $70 billion, output was declining by almost 20% a year, and inflation rates exceeded 100% a year. The Soviet budget was highly dependent on world oil prices, so world oil prices were artificially brought down. In order to save the economy, the Soviet leadership, in addition to reforms, needed serious financial assistance from the Western powers. At a July meeting of the leaders of the seven leading industrialized countries, Gorbachev asked them for help, but no help was forthcoming. In such an environment, a new union treaty was being prepared for signing in the summer of 1991.

Foreign policy

Gorbachev called for "new thinking" in international relations, he tried at all costs to improve relations with the West in order to reduce high military spending.

The new thinking was to replace the practice of great power rivalry and argued that universal human values ​​should take precedence over the goals of the class struggle. Therefore, Soviet diplomacy began to acquire a more open character, but in essence this meant unilateral concessions on the part of the USSR. Gorbachev spoke of the Europeans and the European continent as "our common home," referring to the new peace-loving character of Soviet foreign policy. Thanks to the new approach, the public of the European NATO countries (especially the FRG), North America and other regions began to treat the USSR with great trust and goodwill.

The USSR tried to reach new agreements with the United States in the field of arms control. The new Soviet strategic doctrine emphasized its defensive intentions, declaring "reasonable sufficiency" rather than superiority in arms as the goal. At the same time, the new Soviet leader did not notice that, despite the softening of the positions of the USSR on major international problems, the position of Western leaders towards the Soviet Union did not become more compromise. All arms limitation treaties were signed on terms unfavorable for the USSR. Subsequently, it turned out that the West used the "new Gorbachev thinking" in order to move its military bases to the very borders of Russia.

In July 1985 Gorbachev announced a moratorium on the further deployment of medium-range missiles (SS-20) in Europe. In March 1987, Gorbachev adopted the Western "zero option" formula, i.e. complete dismantling of such missiles in Europe. In December 1987, Gorbachev and US President Reagan signed an agreement in Washington to eliminate all ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5500 km.

Since 1987, the collapse of the socialist system of Eastern Europe began, and by the fall of 1989 in all the countries of the Warsaw Pact (starting with the formation of a new government in Poland, which was headed by the Solidarity movement), there was a change of leadership. In some countries this happened without bloodshed, in others, like in Romania, the regime was overthrown by force of arms. There was a "velvet" revolution in Czechoslovakia, popular uprisings in the GDR, Bulgaria and Romania. The Berlin Wall was destroyed and the process of German unification began. The US and the FRG agreed to make serious concessions, in particular, to discuss the question of the neutrality of a united Germany, which meant its withdrawal from NATO. But Gorbachev agreed to the unification of Germany without leaving NATO.

In 1989, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the countries of the socialist bloc began. In February 1990, the military organs of the Warsaw Treaty Organization were abolished, and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe was intensified.

The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan ended on February 15, 1989. The volume of aid to allied countries began to decrease, the military presence of the USSR in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nicaragua ceased. The USSR stopped supporting Libya and Iraq. Relations with South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, and Israel have improved.
Gorbachev tried to normalize relations with China. With the assistance of the USSR, Vietnamese troops were withdrawn from Kampuchea, and Cuban troops from Angola. In July 1986, Gorbachev offered China cooperation in railway construction and the sharing of the water resources of the Amur River and agreed with the Chinese position on the main disputed border issues. The number of Soviet troops located along the Chinese border was reduced.

The consequences of the new thinking consisted in the fact that, on the one hand, its main result was the weakening of the threat of a world nuclear missile war. On the other hand, the Eastern bloc ceased to exist, the Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations was destroyed, which led to a unipolar world.

Domestic policy.

In late 1986, Gorbachev embarked on economic reforms. In a country that had not yet survived the shock of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, a large-scale anti-alcohol campaign was launched. Alcohol prices were raised and its sale was limited, vineyards were mostly destroyed, which gave rise to a whole range of new problems - the consumption of moonshine increased sharply (accordingly, sugar disappeared from stores) and all kinds of surrogates - the budget suffered significant losses. Drug use has increased. Food and consumer goods became "scarce" while the black market flourished.

By the autumn of 1987, it became clear that, despite attempts at reform, the country's economy was in deep crisis. The country's economic growth slowed down, and Gorbachev put forward the slogan "accelerate socio-economic development." To encourage the workers, wages were increased, but without increasing production, this money only contributed to the final disappearance of goods and increased inflation.
In order to secure the support of the intelligentsia, Gorbachev returned A.D. Sakharov from exile in Gorky. Sakharov's release was followed by the release of other dissidents, and Jewish "refuseniks" were allowed to emigrate to Israel. A campaign of "de-Stalinization" of society was launched. In late 1986 and early 1987, two iconic anti-totalitarian works appeared - an allegorical film by Tengiz Abuladze Repentance and a novel by Anatoly Rybakov Children of the Arbat.

Perestroika activated the growth of nationalism in the periphery. Thus, in the Baltic republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - nationalist-minded popular fronts were created, whose leadership demanded economic autonomy, the restoration of the rights of national languages ​​and cultures, and stated that their countries were forcibly included in the Soviet Union.

At the end of 1987, the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region held mass demonstrations, at which a demand was made for unification with Armenia. They were supported by a powerful popular movement in Armenia itself. The Armenian government formally demanded independence for Nagorno-Karabakh, but the Azerbaijani authorities categorically rejected these demands. In Georgia, a conflict broke out between Georgians and minorities of Abkhazians and Ossetians, who did not want to be part of the republic and demanded autonomy and inclusion in Russia.

Under these conditions, disagreements within the party leadership escalated. They were often simplistically portrayed as a clash between reformers and conservatives. But the conflict went much deeper. so-called. the so-called conservatives (which included Ligachev and Ryzhkov) believed that more order, discipline, and more efficiency were needed. They advocated the fight against corruption, but the basic parameters of the Soviet state and its economy were to be preserved. The radical wing (led by A. Yakovlev) called for the establishment of market relations in the country and the decentralization of production, for the radical democratization of the state and society, i.e. for drastic reforms. BN Yeltsin, secretary of the Moscow party organization, called for the elimination of "privileges". And although the conflict between Gorbachev and Yeltsin became more and more obvious, Gorbachev saw him as a potential ally in the fight against those who did not support his reform ideas.

The clash between the two groups reached a climax after the publication on March 13, 1988 in the main party newspaper Pravda of an article by Nina Andreeva, which argued that perestroika endangered socialism, and Stalin's achievements were unfairly downplayed. Many in the Politburo sympathized with Andreeva's theses. For some time it seemed that Gorbachev might lose control of the apparatus, but on April 5 Pravda published a "refutation" written by a group of authors headed by A.N. Yakovlev. Andreeva's letter was called an "anti-perestroika manifesto" and the course towards perestroika was confirmed.

political reform.

In an attempt to seize the initiative, Gorbachev called a party conference in June 1988. The conference approved proposals to democratize the political institutions of the Soviet Union and make perestroika irreversible. In October, the Supreme Soviet elected Gorbachev head of state.
In the autumn of 1988, Gorbachev stepped up the peace initiatives of the Soviet Union on a wide range of international issues.

Elections and revolution.

On March 26, 1989, elections were held for delegates to the First Congress of People's Deputies. The campaign aroused great interest among the population and was marked by heated discussions. In the Baltic republics, the popular fronts won. Yeltsin was elected a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (initially he did not get the votes; the seat in the Supreme Soviet was ceded to Yeltsin by Alexei Kazannik), although in Moscow he received a majority of the votes.

Against this background, the growth of nationalism continued in the country and numerous inter-ethnic clashes took place in Kyrgyzstan (Osh), Uzbekistan (Fergana), Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, the Baltic states, etc.
At the end of March 1989, Abkhazia announced its secession from Georgia. In Tbilisi, informal organizations began multi-day unauthorized protests. In April, the political situation sharply escalated, the rally took on an anti-Soviet orientation, and a demand was made for Georgia to withdraw from the USSR. On April 8, 1989, the Criminal Code was supplemented with a new article 11.1 on criminal liability for public calls for the overthrow or change of the Soviet state system. But the processes could no longer be stopped. On April 9, the troops of the USSR Ministry of Defense dispersed the demonstrators, using tear gas and sapper shovels; about 20 people died as a result of the stampede.

At a meeting of the Central Committee of the party on April 25, Gorbachev postponed the elections to local councils from autumn 1989 to early 1990, so that the apparatus would not face a new defeat.

I Congress of People's Deputies was convened at the end of May 1989. He elected a new Supreme Soviet and approved Gorbachev as its chairman. The radical reformers won a political victory at the congress: Article 11.1 was repealed; a commission was set up to investigate the events in Tbilisi, and some prominent conservatives were accused of corruption. The discussions, which lasted two weeks, were broadcast live on television and riveted the attention of the entire country.

At the same time, more than 300 delegates to the Congress of People's Deputies formed an opposition bloc called the Interregional Deputy Group. This group, whose leadership included Yeltsin and Sakharov, worked out a platform that included demands for political and economic reforms, freedom of the press, and the dissolution of the Communist Party.

In July 1989, hundreds of thousands of miners in the Kuzbass and Donbass went on strike, demanding higher wages, better working conditions, and the economic independence of enterprises. Faced with the threat of a general strike, Gorbachev agreed to the miners' demands. They returned to work, but retained their strike committees.

In domestic politics, especially in the economy, there are signs of a serious crisis. The shortage of food and consumer goods has increased. Since 1989, the process of disintegration of the political system of the Soviet Union has been in full swing.

As a result of the elections in February-March 1990, coalitions of radical democrats came to power in Moscow and Leningrad. Yeltsin was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

By 1990 the economy was in a severe recession. The demands for economic and political autonomy from the republics and the weakening of the power of the center were growing. The output of vital types of products decreased, the harvest was harvested with great losses; there was a shortage even of such everyday goods as bread and cigarettes.

Gorbachev was unable to overcome these difficulties. In February 1990, the Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power. In March, the Supreme Soviet amended the constitution to introduce the post of president, and then elected Gorbachev president of the USSR for a five-year term. The July 28th Congress of the CPSU was held in discussions, but did not adopt a serious program of reforms. Losing real power, Gorbachev began to irritate the population more and more with endless empty arguments about perestroika against the backdrop of a rapidly collapsing economy and the union state. Yeltsin and other members of the opposition defiantly left the ranks of the party.

In early 1991, new banknotes of 50 and 100 rubles were put into circulation without prior notice to replace the old banknotes, prices in state stores were doubled. These measures undermined the last confidence of the population in the state.

In a referendum on March 17, 76% of the votes were cast for the preservation of the USSR. However, the governments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova, instead of an all-Union referendum, held their own referendum on secession from the Union.

In June, direct presidential elections were held in the Russian Federation, in which Yeltsin won. By the end of June, Gorbachev and the presidents of the nine republics where an all-Union referendum was held developed a draft union treaty that provided for the transfer of most of the powers to the republics. The official signing of the treaty was scheduled for August 20, 1991.

On August 19, Gorbachev, who was in Crimea, was placed under house arrest at his residence in Faros. The Vice President, Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, leaders of the army and the KGB, and some other top party and state officials announced that, due to Gorbachev's "illness", a State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) was being introduced.

The population of the capital supported Yeltsin, some units of the army and the KGB also went over to his side. On the third day the coup failed and the conspirators were arrested.

After the collapse of the putsch, Yeltsin issued a decree dissolving the Communist Party, confiscating its property, and placing the main state functions in Russia in the hands of the president. Taking advantage of the putsch, most of the presidents of other republics did the same and announced their withdrawal from the Union.

In the autumn of 1991, the last period in the history of the Soviet Union began. Production was virtually paralyzed, and Republican parties and governments fell into factions, none of which had a credible political or economic agenda. Ethnic conflicts began. The country's leadership has lost all the levers of government. The Soviet Union ceased to exist on December 8, 1991.

Only incorrigible romantic idealists could dream of the victory of the world Marxist revolution in the second half of the eighties. With the naked eye, one could be convinced of the inefficiency of the command-administrative economy and the absurdity of its results. The whole world, including countries at much lower stages of development, experienced the problem of selling surplus goods, while the so-called "socialist camp" suffered from their shortage. The USSR, theoretically the richest state, in practice could not feed its own population. At this critical moment, a man who did not look like the previous party leaders came to power. Gorbachev's foreign and domestic policy led in a historically short period of time (only six years) to the destruction of almost everything that was created by three generations of Soviet people. Is the Secretary General to blame for this, or is it just the circumstances?

What kind of man is Gorbachev

For he was young. Accustomed to the slurred speeches of elderly leaders, the citizens of the USSR at first listened with interest to the newly elected General Secretary, marveling, in general, at the usual thing - the ability to speak Russian and without a piece of paper. In 1985, M. S. Gorbachev was only 54 years old, according to party and nomenklatura standards, he was a “Komsomol member”. During the time preceding mastering the highest leadership position, Mikhail Sergeevich managed a lot: to finish school (1950), work as a combine operator, enter the law faculty of Moscow State University, get married (1953), become a member of the CPSU and take the post of secretary of the city committee in Stavropol (1955). It is the last point of the biography that raises questions: many Soviet people did everything previous, but sitting in such a high chair just two years after receiving a diploma is already a Houdini-style trick. Well, okay, maybe the young man (22 years old) really grabbed stars from the sky. In addition, he was not the first secretary, and in order to continue his career, he had to graduate from another university - an agricultural one - and work in the Komsomol.

The choice of a new General Secretary

Mikhail Sergeevich has always "correctly understood" the party's foreign and domestic policy. Gorbachev was noticed, in 1978 he was "taken" to Moscow, where his serious party career began. He becomes the secretary of the Central Committee, so far also not the first and not the general one. Since 1982, the notorious "carriage races" began. Behind the Mausoleum (Brezhnev was taken to the necropolis, then Andropov, then Chernenko, and the question arose of who to put in a responsible post in order to interrupt this mourning marathon. And they chose Gorbachev. He was the youngest applicant.

Early years

Of course, the appointment happened for a reason. They always fight for power, even standing with one foot in the grave. The young and seemingly promising party member was noticed by prominent communist leaders, he was supported by Gromyko himself, and Ligachev and Ryzhkov saw in him the savior of the ideas of the founders.

At first, Mikhail Sergeevich did not disappoint his protégés. He acted within the given framework, strengthened self-supporting relations, agitated for acceleration, in general, for the first two years, both foreign and domestic policy of Gorbachev remained within acceptable deviations from the constantly fluctuating line of the party. In 1987, some changes took place, at first glance insignificant, but in reality they threaten with tectonic shifts. The party allowed some types of private enterprise, limiting it for the time being to the cooperative movement. In fact, it was an undermining of socialist foundations, pure revisionism, a kind of NEP, but the results achieved in the 20s could not be repeated in the 80s. Such an internal policy of Gorbachev did not lead to an improvement in the life of the main part of the population and did not improve economic indicators, but caused a ferment of minds, which led to the undermining of the ideological foundations of the existence of Soviet society.

Instead of filling the market with cheap consumer goods and improving service in public catering, a certain disgrace occurred. Cooperative cafes turned out to be accessible only to the same "cooperatives" and their economic opponents - racketeers (more simply: extortionists). There were no more goods, a relatively small stratum of people with an adventurous temperament managed to adapt to the new conditions. But it was all just flowers...

And in the fight with a green serpent snake wins

Gorbachev dealt the first truly serious blow to Soviet power by issuing an anti-alcohol decree. The stratification into the haves and not, the poverty of the store assortment, rising prices and much more, the population could forgive the talkative general secretary. But he encroached on the habitual way of life for the broad masses, on the natural way of escaping from the gray Soviet reality. Such an internal policy of Gorbachev turned a significant part of the population away from him. There is no doubt that it is necessary to fight drunkenness, but the methods turned out to be completely unacceptable, and there were no more alternative ways of leisure. Of course, video salons (again, cooperative) appeared, in which all sorts of Emmanuels were played for a moderate fee, “Tender May” sounded from the windows of private “recording studios”, but all this could not compensate for the lack of strong drinks in the store. But moonshiners and sellers of rectified products managed.

Economic situation and its consequences

The West fought communism for a long time, seeing it as a threat to its existence. Actually, in the 80s it was not about ideological confrontation - it was not necessary to hope that the theoretical research of the leaders of the USSR, published in huge circulation, could shake the foundations of a market economy. They were afraid of less refined threats - nuclear missiles, for example, or submarines. At the same time, their leaders did not act very logically: they undermined the economic foundations of the Soviet Union, playing to lower the price of oil and gas. This led to and, as a result, to an increase in the risk of accidents at nuclear facilities. The Chernobyl disaster happened, the war continued in Afghanistan, bleeding the already poor budget. Gorbachev's domestic and foreign policy was briefly characterized during this period as pro-Western. Dissidents were released and received with honor in the Kremlin. Short-range and medium-range missiles, which are so troubling Western Europe, were destroyed (1987 treaty). All this was done involuntarily, but passed off as gestures of goodwill.

Separatism

The expectation of a friendly understanding of the West and its help did not materialize. Gorbachev's domestic politics looked even more pitiful. It can be summed up in one word: helplessness. Separatist sentiments, fueled by foreign intelligence services, have reached their apogee. A series of inter-ethnic conflicts (Tbilisi, Baku, the Baltic States) did not meet with a worthy rebuff - neither ideological, nor, in extreme cases, forceful. Society, exhausted in the fight against poverty, was demoralized. Gorbachev's domestic policy could not be based on internal resources, and it did not receive external material support. As luck would have it, the Soviet Union, which had recently seemed unshakable, was cracking at the seams. Nationalist movements developed rapidly in Ukraine, Moldova, the Central Asian republics and within the RSFSR. The leadership of the country limply looked at all this bacchanalia, shrugging and commenting verbosely on the ongoing bloodshed.

perestroika

Gorbachev's domestic policy was briefly defined by himself with the words "perestroika" and "democratization". Any foreman knows that it is impossible to change the load-bearing structures of a building if people live in it, but the general secretary thought otherwise. And bricks flew on their heads ... Enterprises that had been working for decades suddenly turned out to be unprofitable. The state even managed to extract gold at the mines at a loss. The ominous specter of unemployment loomed over the country. Calls "to do his job in good faith to everyone in his place" sounded too abstract. The dissatisfaction of the population grew and seized more and more broad masses of the public - from staunch supporters of socialism, indignant at unprecedented ideological concessions, to adherents of liberal values, who complained about the lack of freedoms. By the end of the eighties, a systemic crisis had matured, in which Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev himself was largely to blame. The internal policy pursued by him turned out to be ineffective and contradictory.

Successes in foreign policy

In 1989, there is a unification of power in one person. The General Secretary also heads the Supreme Council, trying to somehow take control of the activities of the people's deputies, who are too "naughty". This action was not crowned with success, the strong-willed qualities of the leader, who became the next year the President of the USSR (actually self-named), were clearly not enough.

Both domestic and foreign policy of Gorbachev suffered from illogicality and inconsistency. Briefly, it can be defined as the maintenance of claims to superpower status without the means of actually confirming this status.

Soviet troops are leaving Afghanistan, but the backbone of the economy has already been broken, and this does not save the situation. Nevertheless, Mikhail Sergeyevich has a lot of foreign friends - presidents, prime ministers and persons of royal blood. They find the Soviet president a pleasant conversationalist, a nice person, at least that's how they characterize him during interviews. Such is Gorbachev's domestic and foreign policy; briefly, it can be defined as the desire to be pleasant in all respects.

Concessions to the West

The authority of the USSR in the world is rapidly declining, not only the United States, but also small countries that border the Soviet Union and have recently treated the great neighbor, at least with caution, are no longer taking into account the opinion of the Soviet leader.

Notorious to the East began in the late Gorbachev years. The weakening of the positions of the Union in the international arena turned away from it former satellites around the world, and especially Eastern European ones. The lack of resources forced the Soviet leadership to first cut and then completely stop aid to regimes pursuing an anti-imperialist (or anti-American) policy. There was even a new term: "new thinking", with an emphasis on the first syllable, as if it were a question of some kind of mouse. At least that's how Gorbachev himself pronounced it. Domestic and foreign policy (a table of events preceding the collapse of the world socialist system is presented below) is bursting at the seams ...

Such was (as Gorbachev understood it) domestic and foreign policy. The table of achievements in the field of state reforms looks no less depressing:

There are few examples in the history of the USSR that led to such devastating consequences as Gorbachev's domestic policy. The table clearly shows that in all three main areas of reform, the result was unsuccessful.

The final

The attempted coup d'état, called the putsch, undertaken in August 1991, demonstrated the complete impotence of the supreme power in the face of the formidable realities of the end of the millennium. The domestic policy of MS Gorbachev, weak and inconsistent, soon led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union into fifteen fragments, most of them suffering from the "phantom pains" of the post-communist period. The consequences of concessions in the international arena are still felt today.

Good day, dear friends!

Today, in order to repeat the material on the perestroika period, I present to you our systematic table for this period. Recommendations for working with it, respectively, are as follows: If you take the exam in the near future, then I recommend printing the material and hanging it in a conspicuous place. For teachers, there is an option to create working materials according to the table. In the assignment, you just need to erase some of the information, print it out, and give it to the students to fill in the gaps.

SYSTEMATIC TABLE - RESTRUCTURING PERIOD:

During the period of Gorbachev's activity as head of state and head of the CPSU in the Soviet Union, there were serious changes that affected the whole world, which were the result of the following events:

• a large-scale attempt to reform the Soviet system (“perestroika”),
• the introduction in the USSR of a policy of glasnost, freedom of speech and the press, democratic elections,
• rejection of the communist ideology as a state priority status and an end to the persecution of dissidents,
• the transition of most socialist countries to a market economy and democracy.

Regarding foreign policy, significant events are:

• withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan (1989)
• end of the cold war
• the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw bloc.

April - At the April Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Gorbachev puts forward the slogan "acceleration".

May 7 - Resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism - the beginning of Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign.

Mikhail Gorbachev

1986

February 25 - March 6 - The XXVII Congress of the CPSU changes the party program, proclaiming a course towards "improving socialism" (and not towards "building communism", as before); planning to double the economic potential of the USSR by the year 2000 and provide each family with a separate apartment or house (the Housing-2000 program). The Brezhnev period is called here "the era of stagnation". Gorbachev's call for the development of "glasnost".

April 8 - Gorbachev's visit to the VAZ in Togliatti. Here, for the first time, the slogan about the necessity of "perestroika" of socialism is loudly proclaimed.

26 April - Chernobyl disaster. Despite it, crowded May Day demonstrations are held in the cities affected by radiation on May 1st.

December - Return A. Sakharova from Gorky's exile to Moscow.

December 17-18 - Nationalist unrest of Kazakh youth in a predominantly ethnically Russian Alma-Ata ("Zheltoksan").

1987

January - Plenum of the Central Committee "on personnel issues." Gorbachev declares the need for "alternative" elections (from several candidates) for party and Soviet posts.

January 13 - Resolution of the Council of Ministers allows the creation of joint Soviet-foreign enterprises.

February - Resolutions of the Council of Ministers allow the creation of cooperatives for consumer services and the production of consumer goods.

May 6 - The first unauthorized demonstration by a non-governmental and non-communist organization (the Pamyat Society) in Moscow.

June 11 - Decree of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On the transfer of enterprises and organizations of sectors of the national economy to full self-financing and self-financing."

June 30 - Adoption of the law "On the state enterprise (association)" (came into force on January 1, 1988). (Products produced by enterprises after fulfilling the state order can now be sold at free prices. The number of ministries and departments has been reduced. The labor collectives of enterprises are given the right to choose directors and regulate wages.)

August 23 - Rallies in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius on the anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

October 21 - Performance B. Yeltsin at the plenum of the Central Committee with criticism of the "slow pace of perestroika" and "the emerging cult of Gorbachev."

November 11 - Yeltsin was removed from the post of First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU (February 18, 1988 was expelled from the Politburo).

1988

February - The session of people's deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region requests the withdrawal of the region from Azerbaijan and its annexation to Armenia. (February 22 - a shootout between Armenians and Azerbaijanis near Askeran with the death of two people. February 26 - a million-strong rally in Yerevan. February 27-29 - an Armenian pogrom in Sumgayit.)

March 1 - Politburo resolution allowing Komsomol bodies to establish commercial organizations.

April 5 - Official response to Nina Andreeva: A. Yakovlev's article "Principles of perestroika, revolutionary thinking and actions" in Pravda. Andreeva's article is called here "the manifesto of anti-perestroika forces."

June 5-18 - All-Union ceremonial events in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Russia.

June 28 - July 1 - XIX Party Conference of the CPSU. Towards the end of it, Gorbachev is pushing through the decision to submit to the next session of the Supreme Council a plan for constitutional reform with the establishment of a new supreme state body - the Congress of People's Deputies. (At the same conference, the famous address E. Ligacheva to Yeltsin: "Boris, you're wrong!")

September 11 - Three hundred thousand "Song of Estonia" rally in Tallinn calling for the independence of Estonia.

September 30 - At the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the largest "purge" of the Politburo since Stalin's times takes place.

October 1 - In addition to the head of the party, Gorbachev was also elected head of state - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (instead of the deposed A. Gromyko).

November 16 - Proclamation of "sovereignty" (the supremacy of local laws over the laws of the USSR) of one of the union republics - Estonia. (The first such example. Then Lithuania will do the same in May 1989, Latvia in July 1989, Azerbaijan in September 1989, Georgia in May 1990, Russia, Uzbekistan and Moldova in June 1990, Ukraine and Belarus in July 1990, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Tajikistan in August 1990, Kazakhstan in October 1990, Kyrgyzstan in December 1990.)

December 1 - The adoption by the Supreme Council of the law "On the Election of People's Deputies of the USSR", which amends the 1977 Constitution of the USSR. (Two-thirds of people's deputies should be elected by the population, a third - by "public organizations". The upcoming Congress of People's Deputies should elect a new Supreme Soviet of the USSR.)

November - December - Massive Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani in Armenia.

1989

March - The first elections to the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.

March 18 - The 30,000th gathering of the Abkhaz people in the village of Lykhny demands the withdrawal of Abkhazia from Georgia and its restoration in the status of a union republic.

Night of April 9 - Troops disperse a rally in Tbilisi, gathered in protest against the Abkhazian events.

May 25 - June 9 - The First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. Election of Gorbachev Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Creation at the congress of the "Interregional Group" under the slogans of the struggle for democracy. Booing by the majority of the congress speaker A. Sakharov.

May - June - Fights between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks in the Fergana region.

Summer - Miners' strikes cover most of the country's coal regions.

August 11 - The creation in Tiraspol of the "Joint Council of Labor Collectives" in order to prevent the adoption of a law on the official status of only the Moldovan language in Moldova - the beginning of the Transnistrian conflict.

August - The magazine "New World" begins the publication of "The Gulag Archipelago" by A. I. Solzhenitsyn.

October 29 - The Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR adopts amendments to the Constitution of Russia, which establishes the republican Congress of People's Deputies (900 deputies from territorial districts in proportion to the population and 168 from individual regions and national entities).

November 10 - The South Ossetian Autonomous Region proclaims itself an autonomous republic within Georgia.

December 12-24 - II Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. The democratic minority demands the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR on the "leading and guiding role of the CPSU" in the state.

1990

January 13-20 - Armenian pogrom in Baku. Entering the city of army units to stop it ("Black January").

February - Mass rallies in Moscow demanding the repeal of Article 6 of the constitution.

March 11 - Lithuania proclaims its secession from the USSR. (The first such example. On May 4 and 8, 1990, Latvia and Estonia do the same, on April 9, 1991 - Georgia. The rest of the republics, except for Belarus, leave the USSR after the August coup.)

March 15 - The 3rd Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR cancels the 6th article of the constitution and elects Gorbachev as President of the USSR. (Gorbachev also retains the post of General Secretary of the CPSU. A. Lukyanov becomes Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.)

March - Elections of people's deputies of the Union republics of the USSR.

April 3 - Law "On the procedure for resolving issues related to the withdrawal of a union republic from the USSR." It requires holding a referendum in the republic before the release - and a transitional period to consider all contentious issues.

May 24 - Speech by the head of government, N. Ryzhkov, in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a report on the concept of transition to a regulated market economy, including the forthcoming price reform. Listening to his speech on TV, people immediately rush to the shops, sweeping food off the shelves.

August 30 - Declaration on the state sovereignty of Tatarstan (the first such example from not a union, but already an autonomous republic?).

September 18 - in "Komsomolskaya Pravda" and "Literaturnaya Gazeta" published an article by A. I. Solzhenitsyn "How can we equip Russia? » It foreshadows the imminent collapse of communism and suggests ways for the further development of the country.

October 9 - Adoption of the law "On public associations", giving the right to create political parties.

October - The Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopts the "Basic Directions for the Stabilization of the National Economy and the Transition to a Market Economy."

November 7 - A. Shmonov's assassination attempt on Gorbachev during a demonstration in honor of the anniversary of the October Revolution.

December - The IV Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR calls a referendum on the preservation of the USSR as a "renewed federation of equal sovereign republics." Introduction of the post of vice-president of the USSR (G. Yanaev was elected to him). December 20 - E. Shevardnadze's statement at the congress about the "impending dictatorship" and his resignation from the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

December 26 - Replacement of the former Council of Ministers (subordinate to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR) by the Cabinet of Ministers (subordinate to the President of the USSR).

Gorbachev at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, 1992

1991

January 22 - "Pavlov's Monetary Reform": withdrawal of 50 and 100-ruble bills from circulation and replacing them with smaller or new ones, but not more than 1000 rubles per person and only for three days (January 23-25). Ban on withdrawing from bank accounts more than 500 rubles a month per person. With the help of this reform, 14 billion rubles were withdrawn from circulation.

March 17 - Referendum "on the preservation of the USSR as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics." (Gived an ambiguous result: on the one hand, more than three-quarters of the participants were in favor of preserving the USSR in an updated form, but, on the other hand, in a number of republics, additional questions about their sovereignty were submitted for the same vote - and the majority of participants supported it. Six union republics: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova - refused the referendum altogether.)

April 23 - The first meeting of representatives of the nine union republics in Novo-Ogaryovo on the reform of the USSR. Beginning of the development of the Union of Sovereign States (USS) project.

June 12 - Yeltsin is elected president of the RSFSR. (For the establishment of the post of republican president, the majority of the inhabitants of Russia voted in a referendum on March 17, 1991.)

September 5 - Law of the USSR "On the organs of state power and administration of the USSR in the transitional period." Creation on its basis of the State Council of the USSR consisting of the President of the USSR and senior officials of the ten union republics. At its first meeting, on September 6, it recognizes the independence of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

October - Based on the law of September 5, 1991, a new Supreme Soviet of the USSR is created from deputies from 7 union republics and observers from 3 union republics. (Former SC ceased meetings on 31 August 1991.)

November - Gorbachev leaves the CPSU, banned by Yeltsin.

November 14 - The leaders of seven of the twelve union republics (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev declare their intention to conclude an agreement on the creation of the SSG on December 9.

December 1 - Presidential elections and a referendum in Ukraine, during which more than 90% of voters are in favor of independence.

December 5 - Yeltsin's meeting with Gorbachev to discuss the prospects for the SSG in connection with the proclamation of Ukraine's independence. Yeltsin's statement that "without Ukraine, the union treaty loses all meaning."

December 8 - Belovezhskaya treaty on the dissolution of the USSR and the creation of the CIS from three states: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

December 21 - Alma-Ata Declaration on the accession of seven more republics to the CIS. Decree of the Council of CIS Heads of State on lifelong benefits to Gorbachev in the event of his resignation.

December 25 - In a televised address to the population, Gorbachev announces his voluntary resignation from the post of President of the USSR. The next day, the end of the existence of the USSR is announced.