The rise of Gorbachev. Gorbachev's reforms

The rise of Gorbachev. The older generation of Soviet leaders, who had been trained under Stalin, had nearly died out by the mid-1980s. Kosygin resigned in 1980 because of ill health and died a few months later. Brezhnev died in 1982. He was succeeded as head of the Communist Party by Yuri V. Andropov. Andropov died in 1984. Konstantin U. Chernenko replaced Andropov, but he died in March 1985.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev then became head of the Communist Party. At age 54, Gorbachev became the first member of a new generation of Soviet leaders to head the country.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, is shown above after his televised resignation on Dec. 25,1991. The existence of the Soviet Union ended with the resignation

Gorbachev's reforms. Under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union changed rapidly. Gorbachev sought to improve economic performance by means of the policy of perestroika. He wanted to restructure the economy to stimulate growth and increase efficiency in Soviet industry. The reforms failed and even made things worse. Shortages increased. Inflation grew, and hoarding became widespread.

The most striking change was a new policy of openness called glasnost (pronounced GLAHS nawst). Gorbachev introduced glasnost to help win popular support for his policies and overcome resistance to perestroika in the Communist Party and the Soviet government Glasnost made it possible to discuss political and social issues critically and with more freedom than ever before in the Soviet Union. In addition, a new freedom of expression in literature and the arts developed, and books by opponents of Communism became available in stores.

The Soviet Communist Party resisted Gorbachev's reforms, and so he promoted a reduction in the role of the party. In March 1989, the Soviet Union held its first contested elections in history. These elections, to the newly created Congress of People's Deputies, resulted in the defeat of many top Communist Party officials and several top generals. The Communist Party's role was further reduced in March 1990, when the Soviet government voted to permit the creation of non-Communist political parties in the Soviet Union.

Under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's relations with the West improved. In 1987, Gorbachev and Reagan signed a treaty that was the first of a series of agreements to reduce the size of the nuclear forces of the United States and the Soviet Union. Between May 1988 and February 1989, Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan.

In March 1990, the Soviet government created the office of president of the U.S.S.R. The president became the head of the country's central government and the most powerful person in the Soviet Union. Previously, the head of the Communist Party had held the most power in the country. The Congress of People's Deputies elected Gorbachev to serve as the first president of the U.S.S.R.

Threats to unity. Soviet control over Eastern Europe ended in 1989. Popular support for reform unseated most of the Communist parties that had controlled Eastern European countries.

Powerful popular movements in many regions of the Soviet Union had long demanded greater freedom from the central government. Such movements began to gain strength during the late 1980's, particularly in the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In 1990, Lithuania declared independence, and Estonia and Latvia called for a gradual separation from the Soviet Union. By the end of 1990, all 15 republics had declared that laws passed by their legislatures took precedence over laws passed by the central government.

To prevent further disintegration, Gorbachev proposed a union treaty designed to satisfy demands by the republics for more control over their affairs. In July 1991, Gorbachev and the leaders of 10 republics reached agreement on a treaty that would give the republics a large amount of independence. The treaty was to be signed by five of the republics on August 20.

On August 19, before the treaty could be signed, conservative officials of the Communist Party staged a coup (attempted overthrow) against Gorbachev's government. The coup leaders imprisoned Gorbachev and his family in their vacation home. The president of the Russian republic, Boris N. Yeltsin, led opposition to the coup, which collapsed on August 21. Yeltsin's role in defying the coup increased his power and prestige both at home and abroad.

After the coup, Gorbachev returned to the office of president but never regained full power. He then resigned as head of the Communist Party. Also, the Supreme Soviet suspended all Communist Party activities for an indefinite period.