What did Gorby do wrong?

Question

He opened up the country to the rest of the world. People no longer had to limit their criticism to hushed words said at the kitchen table. He introduced economic reform so people could start their own businesses. Understanding that vodka and productivity hardly go hand in hand, he even tried to combat alcoholism by restricting its sale.

So what did he do wrong? Why did the Soviet economy collapse when reforms were introduced -- but "communist" China's reforming economy is growing?

This question should probably go under History, but I am more interested in hearing opinions of people who come from or have a deep understanding of former Soviet countries. Best answer to the most convincing argument.

Beni: Nice answer but two points -- China also is not monocultural, with Tibet being China's "Baltic states" and as I understand, much of the western part of the country does not speak Mandarin Chinese. Dates: From the 1922 victory of the red army over the whites till, say, 1987, when glasnost and perestroyka were household words, 65 years elapsed. Since China's 1947 revolution 60 years have elapsed. Not a large difference here.

Javornik: You have perfectly described the situation in the country where I live, the Czech Republic (and we always look up to Slovenia as being one step ahead!). But I think I've missed the answer to the question.

Cossak: I understand what you are sauying but can't believe the USSR was an anarchist state in the 1980s and early 90s.

Answer 1

I'll give you unscientific answer. It's more like an answer from my personal experience (I lived through this period) - he alienated his support base.

His started from minor cosmetic reforms which eventually grew into more serious political reforms, which were supported by "democratic intelligentsia". By 1989-1990 it was more or less obvious that more political reforms and major economic were necessary (contrary to what you have said, his economic reforms were not as radical as in China).

And then probably he got scared. He never really had a public mandate - he was a party leader first and only then a president (never elected by a popular vote). And he started moving between two camps - his own party and communists, but instead he lost the support of both. Eltsin saw the opportunity to position himself as a democrat (cynically, I am not sure he was more of a democrat than Gorbachev), Baltic republic started rowing the boat, communists wanted to turn everything back. Then comes August 1991 and the rest is a history.

Answer 2

While visiting Russia a couple of years ago, I actually posed a similar question to my guide. I mentioned how popular Gorbachev was in Europe and the U.S., but I was aware he was far less popular in his own country.

Based upon my conversation with her and some of my own personal observations, I think the failure of the former Soviet Union has less to do with Gorbachev than the fundamental culture and political climate in which the reforms were instituted.

The Soviet Union was comprised of numerous states which were acquired either by force or as a post war agreement with Stalin. Many of these countries were suppressed and treated as subordinate to Russia. For example, the Baltic states were required to speak Russian, not their native tongue. This was bound to foster resentments. The era of openness (glasnost) became a floodgate that could not be controlled. The impact was previously squelched political and ethnic resentments came to the surface and nationalists of the various Soviet-bloc countries sought independence. When they achieved independence, their natural resources, factories, workers, tax base, etc. went with them.

Additional factors may be the relative longevity of living under a Communist economic model. Russia in 1922 versus China in 1947. This disparity means there are Chinese who are currently living and can remember life pre-Communism. In contrast, generations of people in the Soviet Union didn't know any other way to exist - the concept of competition, dog-eat-dog, customer service, etc. was completely foreign to them. Whereas, despite being technically "Communist", the Chinese have been very active trading partners with the West (athletic shoes, electronics, etc.) - so they would have a better understanding of Capitalist ideals.

I am sure there are a multitude of reasons/differences, but these are a few factors. I am interested to see other responses.

Answer 3

I'm not from Russia, but our country ( Slovenia ) also meets with undergoing changes which are more or less finished, as the matter of fact, we live in new born capitalism quite for some time now, being members of EU and NATO...
I must say, living under communist regime of former Yugoslavia had its god sides...If you were poorly talented for
"real"job, you could have pretended you're working, nobody
actually cared...Everybody was "employed", there were not
such terms as "unemployment" or poverty, folks that weren't
"working" were placed in some kind of mental institution or in
best cases were retired with small pension...Everyone had
enough to live, but country was of course living on credits given by "rich" countries...I am not saying everyone is lazy
in our country, but times, they're really getting hard for all those,
who lose their jobs, and them being mostly elderly workers without much education, become homeless. The young, they all tend to go to university, but not to study what they're interested in...They all study economy in order to become new
capitalists, no one is interested in physical work anymore, we
have to get those workers from Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and
other less developed and less "rich" countries...I believe this
kind of "social clime" is sick, don't you ? I also believe something similar happened in all former communistic countries in Europe including Soviet Union !

Answer 4

Clever question ! Well done, my dear. I visited Soviet Union 3 times during Gorby's "time"(1985, 1988, 1990) and you are right:" he opened up the country to the rest of the world". So, why it's difficult to understand that a powerful Soviet Union was no desired?

Answer 5

BECOUSE....HE WANT TO DO IT SO FAST,THAT IT CANT TO DO......BECOUSE HE WAS GAVE A LOT OF POWERS TO RUSSIAN REPABLICS,WICH after few years *** him....laws,bad economy everythings was crash us.....