http://english.pravda.ru/russia/history/05-10-2009/109665-soviet_union-0
05.10.2009
The Year 1989: The Beginning of the End
No one could imagine in 1989 that the German Democratic Republic would stop
existing in a year, that the USSR would collapse in two, and Czechoslovakia
would split into two states in three years. The pullout of Soviet troops from
Afghanistan started in February 1989. Over 100,000 scientists and specialists
left the country in three years. In return, all Soviet citizens obtained the
right to travel abroad freely, the press was given the ultimate freedom,
whereas the authorities were turning a blind eye on everything.
The year 1989 was the period which marked the last stage of the collapse of the
USSR. The process started at the end of 1973, against the background of the
Arab-Israeli war, when Arabs blocked oil shipments to the West. Oil became four
times as expensive in a week.
The USSR was executing the program of economic reforms since 1965. Afterwards,
the Soviet government decided to scrap the program and close the holes in the
economy with stacks of petrodollars. The initiative continued for about a
decade. Western countries were developing speedily, which allowed them to
reduce the consumption of oil three times. The price on oil began to slide. The
situation changed in 1980 because of the war between Iran and Iraq.
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR when the nation was going through a
very difficult time in its economic and political development. He made a number
of attempts to improve the economic position of the country, but they yielded
no results.
The point of those economic measures was about the transition from intensive
economy to the mixed system of state-run and market-oriented economy. Deng
Xiaoping launched such a reform in China during the 1980s. It was supposed that
all enterprise would be given an opportunity to cooperate with each other with
the help of market mechanisms under the control of the state, which would have
the right to regulate the prices on strategically important goods and services.
It just so happened that new enterprises and technologies, which were strongly
dependent on imported spare parts, could not be launched, while the financial
resources were exhausted. Whole chains of inter - dependent productions would
be stopped . The USSR was raising many loans, one after another, and turned
into a huge debtor in 1988.
A friend is a good friend until he turns poor. The GDR was looking towards the
FRG, other creditors wanted the USSR to pull out its troops from Afghanistan,
color revolutions were shaking the countries of the socialist camp, whereas
union republics were tormenting the impoverished nation. It was the grand
finale of the Cold War.
The living standard in the country was worsening speedily. Gorbachev was losing
his popularity nationwide. Everyone was looking for a way out, desperately
clinging even to absurd ideas. Yeltsin and Yakovlev appeared on the wave of
national protests. Yeltsin was the voice of other people, the majority of whom
was looking for a way to the top. The illness of politics dominating over
economy has developed into the acute form.
The collapse of the Berlin Wall triggered the collapse of the Soviet Union
politically and economically.
Anatoly Vasserman for
Express Gazeta
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