Gorbachev's Early Political Reforms, 1985-86

Question 1

1. What was Gorbachev’s first priority as General Secretary? (1)
2. Why did he want to do this? (2)
3. What was Gorbachev’s problem with the Soviet economy? (1)
4. Why was accurate information difficult to obtain? (1)

Answer 1

1. To replace the senior officials who had been close to Brezhnev.
2. To end the stagnation of the Brezhnev era.
   To heighten his own authority through patronage.
3. Too highly centralised.
4. Due to the official manipulation of economic data

Question 2

1. What was Gorbachev’s first political reform, and between which years did this take place? (2)
2. Why did this become an increasingly important initiative from 1986? (1)
3. Who did Gorbachev invite to criticise hardliners and support his reforms? (2)

Answer 2

1. Glasnost, 1986-88.
2. Due to opposition within the CP from Communist hardliners.
3. Writers and intellectuals.

Question 3

1. What event was held in Feb and March 1986?
2. What did the new programme commit the CP to? (2)
3. What did Gorbachev link to Glasnost? (1)
4. What were the issues with this new programme? (2)

Answer 3

1. 27th Party Congress.
2. A systematic & all-round improvement of Socialism, including genuine democracy.
3. Democratisation.
4. Few signs of genuine openness, and no detailed proposals for reaching new goals.

Question 4

1. What was the second way Gorbachev tried to achieve Glasnost? (1)
2. What did newspapers start to publish? (2)
3. What did Yakovlev permit the publication of? (1)
   - Give an example of this (2)
4. What did Gorbachev also authorise? (1)
   - What was this a signal of? (1)

Answer 4

1. Liberalisation of the media.
2. Accounts that showed scale of Stalin’s atrocities.
   Stories that admitted problems in Soviet economy.
3. Books, plays and films by anti-communist intellectuals.
   - 1986 film Repentance, which was highly critical of Stalin’s terror.
4. The release of dissidents from prison.
   - Wanted to work with intellectuals outside of CP to promote reform.

Question 5

1. What happened to Glasnost in 1987-88? (1)
2. What/who did Aleksandr Tsipko attack in his furthered criticisms in 1988? (2)
3. What did senior party officials admit at the 19th Party Congress of June 1988? (3)
4. What was the effect of this? (1)

Answer 5

1. It was extended.
2. The foundations of Soviet communism, including Marx and Lenin.
3. The scale of problems facing USSR, including inadequacies in healthcare & education, and poverty in rural populations.
4. It shook the public’s faith in communist rule.

Question 6

1. What did Gorbachev hope Glasnost would do? (1)
2. What did Glasnost allow Gorbachev and others like him to do? (2)
3. What was Gorbachev criticised of doing?
4. What did revelations of Stalin’s terror lead some people to do? (1)
   - What did groups in Soviet republics begin to demand? (1)
5. Fundamentally, what did Glasnost do? (1)
   - Why? (1)

Answer 6

1. Benefit him at expense of opponents.
2. Allowed them to criticise CP moderates and aspect of govt which weren’t working.
3. Reforming too slowly or too little.
4. Question the foundations of the communist system.
   - Independence from the Soviet Union.
5. Destabilised party rule.
   - Because it permitted profound criticism of the Party that Gorbachev had not anticipated.