V.

Domestic Policies

After taking office, Gorbachev promptly moved young, energetic politicians into key positions, including Nikolay Ryzhkov as prime minister, Eduard Shevardnadze as foreign minister, and Aleksandr Yakovlev as coordinator of ideological affairs for the Central Committee. Gorbachev also carried out numerous changes at lower levels of the power structure. Along with the personnel changes, Gorbachev pursued a crackdown on corruption and incompetence within the Communist Party organization (an effort begun by his mentor Yuri Andropov), announced a campaign against alcohol consumption, and undertook a review of the USSR’s declining economic situation.

Then in 1986 Gorbachev’s policies took a radical turn. Gorbachev was frustrated by bureaucratic resistance to the measures he had introduced, by popular apathy, and by the poor quality of the information he and the rest of the Soviet leadership were receiving—dramatically illustrated by the belated official reaction to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in April of that year (see Chernobyl Accident). He recast his reform programme as one of comprehensive perestroika (restructuring) of society and economy and declared that glasnost (candour or openness) had to be fostered in the mass media and in governmental and party organizations. In January 1987 Gorbachev came out in favour of demokratizatsiia (democratization) of the Soviet regime, a process that took on an increasingly sweeping character with the passage of time. In October 1987 Gorbachev had a dispute with Boris Yeltsin, CPSU leader for the city of Moscow, who was pushing for an acceleration of reform. The dispute had a chilling effect on Gorbachev for several months; however, in 1988 he renewed his efforts, initiating a critical re-evaluation of Joseph Stalin’s totalitarian rule and pushing for further liberalization of major Soviet institutions. These changes were approved by a national conference of the CPSU, held in June and July of that year.

In September 1988 Gorbachev became chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet (national legislature), a post equivalent to head of state. Despite his success in consolidating his power, Gorbachev felt his efforts to reform the Soviet system were being obstructed by the Communist Party organization. Under his leadership, the Soviet constitution was amended to provide for the election of a new 2,250-member Congress of People’s Deputies to replace the Supreme Soviet. Elections to the congress were held throughout the Soviet Union in March and April 1989—the first competitive elections held in the USSR since its founding in 1922. After taking office, the Congress of People’s Deputies elected from its ranks a new Supreme Soviet, which, unlike its predecessor, had real and substantial legislative powers. The Supreme Soviet elected Gorbachev to be its chairman in May.

Considerably more democratic elections were held in 1990 in the 15 constituent republics of the USSR and in the regions and localities within them. The elections greatly diluted the power of the CPSU apparatus, and the party lost the right to issue binding directives to departments in the government apparatus. Meanwhile, Gorbachev implemented various other political reforms, including eliminating censorship of the press, lifting the prohibition on independent organizations and associations, and easing restrictions on foreign travel and emigration. Numerous opposition parties sprang into existence in the USSR, although they were not at first recognized by the Soviet authorities. In March 1990, at Gorbachev’s insistence, the Congress of People’s Deputies amended the Soviet constitution to allow non-Communist parties to register. Believing that he needed more authority to keep the country together, Gorbachev also persuaded the congress to pass a constitutional amendment separating the executive branch from the legislative branch and to elect him as president, making him the first—and, it would turn out, the only—president of the USSR.

Gorbachev’s economic reforms lagged far behind his political reforms. In 1987 the CPSU Central Committee voted to move gradually towards a market economy, but little progress was made on this front. The most significant change was the committee’s decision in 1988 to allow for small private businesses and cooperatives, which could exist either inside state enterprises or separate from them. However, disagreement among the Soviet leaders and their economic advisers, and between Russia and the other Soviet republics, prevented the adoption of a realistic reform programme for the Soviet economy as a whole. This deadlock, as well as the drift of control away from state planners, led to a severe economic crisis by 1990. The effects of this crisis included declining production, growing inflation, pervasive shortages of consumer goods, labour unrest, and, most importantly, a widespread loss of confidence in Gorbachev’s ability to handle economic issues.