Gorbachev and Perestroika and the Collapse of the Socialist Experiment in the Soviet -union- 1990

The word Russian perestroika means restructuring, a program of economic reforms initiated by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet -union- and refers to the reconstruction of the Soviet -union- s economy. Perestroika includes a policy of transparency (glasnost). Some argue that Gorbachev s policies and program led to the collapse of the Soviet -union- and the collapse of the socialist experiment in 1990.

Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the most exiled political figures of the twentieth century, the leader of the second most important country in the world. He contributed to the process of dismantling the Soviet -union- that lasted more than 70 years and dominated large swaths of Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa.
Gorbachev was born in the Stavropol region, in southwestern Russia in 1931, Gorbachev s parents worked on collective farms, the young Gorbachev worked in the reaper as a teenager, he graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 and was an active member of the Soviet Communist Party, Gorbachev during his time in power introduced important democratic reforms known as perestroika (restructuring) needlesnost (transparency) that brought him great popularity in the West.
Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet -union- in 1985 and began a series of political and economic reforms aimed at modernizing the crisis-ridden Soviet -union-. Gorbachev was a proponent of rapprochement with the West. Gorbachev was forced to resign on December 25, 1991, leading to the collapse of the socialist experiment in the Soviet -union- and Eastern European countries.
When Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet -union- in 1985, at the age of only 54, he set out to revive the regime by introducing-limit-ed political and economic freedoms, but his reforms spiraled out of control.
For many Russians, Gorbachev is ultimately responsible for the collapse of the Soviet -union-, which followed a failed coup d état by Soviet conservatives opposed to Gorbachev s reforms.

Perestroika program:
Mikhail Gorbachev is the last leader of the Soviet -union-, one of the most influential political figures of the twentieth century. Gorbachev witnessed the collapse of the Soviet -union-, which had existed for nearly 70 years and controlled large swaths of Asia and Eastern Europe.
In the first period of his rule, Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1987) talked about modifying central planning, but he did not make any really radical changes (acceleration). Gorbachev and his team of economic advisers then introduced more radical reforms, known as perestroika (restructuring).
In June 1987, at a plenary session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet -union-, Gorbachev presented his basic thesis, which laid the political foundations for economic reforms for the rest of the Soviet -union- s existence.
In July 1987, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Soviet, the supreme Soviet legislature, approved the draft of the "State Obligation"´-or-"State Contract." The law stated that the "state obligation" was free to determine production levels based on individual consumer demand and other obligations. Debtors had to fulfill state orders, but they were free to decide the fate of the remaining product. The commitments purchased materials and supplies from suppliers on the basis of contracts at mutually agreed prices. According to the law, state-owned enterprises have become self-generating For its income, it must cover costs (salaries, taxes, basic materials, loans and interest) from its revenues. The government no longer intervenes to rescue liabilities that were unprofitable and faced bankruptcy. Finally, the new law shifted control of businesses from ministries to selected groups of workers. The responsibilities of the Government Planning Committee were-limit-ed to defining outlines, general guidelines and priorities for national investments, rather than formulating detailed production plans.
The law on cooperatives, passed in May 1988, was perhaps the most radical reform of the first period of Gorbachev s rule. For the first time since Lenin s economic policies, the law allowed private ownership of shares in the service, manufacturing, and foreign trade sectors. The law initially imposed high taxes and employment quotas, but these were later changed to avoid discouraging private sector activity. By virtue of this decree, cooperative restaurants, shops and producers became legally Soviet!
When Gorbachev presented his reform program in 1985, his goal may have been to revive the stagnant Soviet economy and reform the country s political system. However, his efforts in this area became the catalyst for a series of events that led to the end of communist rule only in the Soviet -union- and in all the Warsaw Pact countries that were in his orbit.
(Vladimir Shevchenko, who headed the Protocol Bureau under the Soviet leader, said: "The age of Gorbachev is the age of perestroika, the age of hope, the era of our entry into a world free of missiles... But there was one mistake in the calculation: we did not know our country well. RIA quoted him as saying: "Our relationship has collapsed. It was a tragedy, a tragedy for him.
Gorbachev tried to restructure the international economy in the Soviet -union- with preparations that seemed bold to Soviet economists at the time. His program abolished the Ministry of Foreign Trade s monopoly on commercial operations. This allowed the ministries of the various branches of the economy and agriculture to carry out foreign trade operations in their respective sectors instead of in-dir-ect communication through bureaucracy. Institutions of the Ministry of Commerce. In addition, state-owned entities from regional and local entities and even individuals can conduct foreign trade operations. This change was an attempt to mitigate the shortcomings of the Soviet foreign trade system: the lack of communication between the Soviet consumer and the supplier and their foreign partner.
(Gorbachev s most influential adaptation to the foreign economy sector allowed foreigners to invest in the Soviet -union- in the form of joint ventures with Soviet ministries, state debtors, and cooperatives. The original version of the Soviet Enterprise Law, which went into effect in June 1987, set the participation rate of foreigners at no more than 49 percent and required Soviet citizens to hold positions of president and general administration of these projects. But the complaints of potential Western partners about these conditions prompted the government to revise the conditions and allow majority participation in the project and control over foreign entities. Under the terms of the Joint Venture Act, Soviet partners provided manpower, infrastructure, and large potential domestic markets. Foreign partners have provided capital, technology, expertise and, in many cases, globally competitive products and services.
Gorbachev s economic changes were not enough to reactivate the collapsed national economy in the late 1980s. The reforms-limit-ed centralization to some extent, but price controls remained, as did the inability to -convert- the ruble, and government control remained over most of the means of production.
(By 1990, the government had lost control of economic conditions. State spending increased sharply as the number of loss-making businesses in need of state aid increased and goods continued to be subsidised to consumers. Tax revenues fell due to the reluctance of republican and local governments to hand them over to the central government due to the growing spirit of regional autonomy. Due to the end of centralized control over production decisions, especially in the consumer goods sector, the traditional supply-demand relationship has been broken, not contributing to the construction of the supply-demand relationship. New! Thus, instead of smoothing out the economic system, Gorbachev s policy of decentralization created new production constraints.
When pro-democracy protests swept through the socialist bloc countries in Eastern Europe in 1989, Gorbachev refrained from using force, unlike former Kremlin leaders who sent tanks to quell uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.
(But the protests fueled aspirations for autonomy in the Soviet -union- s 15 republics, which disintegrated in chaotic fashion over the next two years.
Gorbachev, who was briefly overthrown by Communist Party hardliners in an August 1991 coup, tried to prevent the fall but his efforts failed. On December 8, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus declared in Minsk that the Soviet -union- "no longer exists."
Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 as a result of negotiating a historic nuclear arms control agreement with then-President Ronald Reagan, and his decision to prevent the Soviet army from intervening to prevent the fall of the Berlin Wall a year earlier was key to keeping the peace. Gorbachev also played a role in the reunification of Germany.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader who destroyed the socialist system and helped end the Cold War, died on August 30, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Moustafa El-Abdallah Al Kafry
Faculty of Economics – University of Damascus

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