Perestroika

Program of economic, political, and social retooling unveiled by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986. Thereafter, the word perestroika, or restructuring, was added to the modern lexicon. Perestroika, along with Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, or openness, became the unintended catalyst for the dismantling of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

For much of its 70-year existence, the Marxist–Leninist–Stalinist totalitarian state known as the Soviet Union had towered over the majority of nations in military and industrial might. In its waning decades, however, the USSR was swaying and heaving under the strain of an outmoded economic system and industrial infrastructure. The Soviet economy had been stagnating since the 1960s. In order to continue competing with its political rivals in the West, the Soviet economy would need drastic restructuring. Hoping to make his nation's economy more efficient, Gorbachev [Page 580]put his faith in his program of reform and adjustment known as perestroika.

The main aim of perestroika was to gradually transform the old state-managed command economy into a demand economy that heeded market signals and vested more authority in managers at the enterprise level. The program encouraged limited private ownership and profitability. Reactions to the new policies were contentious and, at times, violent.

In the conflict between the old order and emerging market forces, the communist system of centralized power and privilege continued to hold on. As a result, the new policies produced no economic miracles. Instead, shortages of goods developed, civic order declined, and ethnic rivalries erupted. Perestroika ultimately failed because its measures were too timid, its timing was too late, and its hopes were too grand. Moreover, when more radical changes were made, they often had adverse effects.

After much early hope, Gorbachev failed to bring significant change and lost the support of the Soviet people. His belief that the system could be gradually reformed, as well as his attempt to straddle the line between conservatives and radicals, cost him his political base.

On August 19, 1991, conservative elements in the government launched an abortive coup d'état to prevent the signing of a new union treaty. In the aftermath of the coup, Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian republic, ascended to power as head of the nation. Under his leadership, Russia embarked on even more far-reaching reforms: The Soviet Union broke up into its constituent republics, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose federation of former Soviet republics, arose to take its place.