H/W 29th November 2016
How far do you agree with the view that the collapse of the Soviet Union came about
because Gorbachev failed to reform the Communist Party?
The collapse of the Soviet Union due to Gorbachev’s failure to reform is something that could be
viewed in many ways; although it is obvious that Gorbachev has some infuence in this materr there
are a range of opinions that have been voiced regarding whether or not the collapse of the Soviet
Union was due to other factors. In extract 5r Figes talks about how Gorbachev reforms ‘brought
about the real crisis’r whilst in extract 6 Volkogonov claims that the communist system ‘was not
reformable’. It’s hard to fully agree with the view of Soviet Union’s collapse being Gorbachev’s fault
without placing it within the wider context of other faults and events which helped to contribute to
the government during this tme. I personally believe that whilst Gorbachev’s failure to reform the
communist party does have some impactr it was not too a great degree that it collapsed solely on
this idea – there were other factors that afected it with the same power.
Extract 5 highlights how Gorbachev is the main reason for failurer and how his reforms were the
reason for ‘the disintegraton of the Party’s power and authority’. It states that concept of the
revoluton – begun by glasnost – allowed people to oueston the regime whilst demanding for
alternatves. This sentence is somewhat validr because the focus and aim of glasnost was to shed
light onto the Soviet’s public regarding what Stalin had done. Gorbachev atempted to ensure the
public were listened to and was happy with the openness of the government when his policy of
glasnost has begunr however the conseouences spiralled out of the government’s controlr resultng
in the government losing control of mass media. Much like Figes statesr this saw the start of ‘the real
crisis’r referring to the once covered problems of poor housingr Soviet history revealing details of
Stalin’s mass terror – for exampler the purges of the secret policer the party itself; both to ensure
that the only people remaining were one hundred per cent communist supporters - and ecological
disasters. Volkogonov agrees to some extent with Figes by saying that Gorbachev’s aims of
restructuring everything without touching socialist foundatons of state ownershipr leading roles of
the partyr and the Communist goals were ‘not atainable’; this shows that even if the Soviet Union’s
collapse didn’t come about because of Gorbachev’s failure to reform the communist partyr it
certainly played a part in this. Those afected by this included the party itself: the unity of the party
started to divider as it alienated the ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatves’ in the party – those who were
either for or against reforms. This division and failure to reform led to the ‘liberals’ becoming
convinced that the soluton was moving towards Pluralism – where the politcal system has more
than one party contestng electons. Figes does acknowledge that the public lost confdence in the
Soviet system due to the problems it had previously covered becoming exposed. Gorbachev hoped
that it would bring transparency to the Soviet Unionr and break the hold of the conservatves that
followed Brezhnev and opposed his reforms.
In contrastr extract 6 Volkogonov ofers the opinion that the communist system was already
crumblingr before Gorbachev: it was something that he ‘could not or did not want to understand’.
Whilst Figes in extract 5 mentons why Gorbachev’s failure to reform did to the Soviet Unionr
Volkogonov in extract 6 suggests that this idea was already in motonr and Gorbachev just helped to
speed it up. He states simply that ‘to restructure everythingr and yet to leave intact the foundatons
laid by Leninr was a logical impossibility’. He also acknowledges that Gorbachev began a process of
democratc reforms which he couldn’t keep control of. The interpretaton could be suggestng that
the blame should be laid on the climax of Perestroikar which ended up being the disintegraton of
How far do you agree with the view that the collapse of the Soviet Union came about
because Gorbachev failed to reform the Communist Party?
The collapse of the Soviet Union due to Gorbachev’s failure to reform is something that could be
viewed in many ways; although it is obvious that Gorbachev has some infuence in this materr there
are a range of opinions that have been voiced regarding whether or not the collapse of the Soviet
Union was due to other factors. In extract 5r Figes talks about how Gorbachev reforms ‘brought
about the real crisis’r whilst in extract 6 Volkogonov claims that the communist system ‘was not
reformable’. It’s hard to fully agree with the view of Soviet Union’s collapse being Gorbachev’s fault
without placing it within the wider context of other faults and events which helped to contribute to
the government during this tme. I personally believe that whilst Gorbachev’s failure to reform the
communist party does have some impactr it was not too a great degree that it collapsed solely on
this idea – there were other factors that afected it with the same power.
Extract 5 highlights how Gorbachev is the main reason for failurer and how his reforms were the
reason for ‘the disintegraton of the Party’s power and authority’. It states that concept of the
revoluton – begun by glasnost – allowed people to oueston the regime whilst demanding for
alternatves. This sentence is somewhat validr because the focus and aim of glasnost was to shed
light onto the Soviet’s public regarding what Stalin had done. Gorbachev atempted to ensure the
public were listened to and was happy with the openness of the government when his policy of
glasnost has begunr however the conseouences spiralled out of the government’s controlr resultng
in the government losing control of mass media. Much like Figes statesr this saw the start of ‘the real
crisis’r referring to the once covered problems of poor housingr Soviet history revealing details of
Stalin’s mass terror – for exampler the purges of the secret policer the party itself; both to ensure
that the only people remaining were one hundred per cent communist supporters - and ecological
disasters. Volkogonov agrees to some extent with Figes by saying that Gorbachev’s aims of
restructuring everything without touching socialist foundatons of state ownershipr leading roles of
the partyr and the Communist goals were ‘not atainable’; this shows that even if the Soviet Union’s
collapse didn’t come about because of Gorbachev’s failure to reform the communist partyr it
certainly played a part in this. Those afected by this included the party itself: the unity of the party
started to divider as it alienated the ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatves’ in the party – those who were
either for or against reforms. This division and failure to reform led to the ‘liberals’ becoming
convinced that the soluton was moving towards Pluralism – where the politcal system has more
than one party contestng electons. Figes does acknowledge that the public lost confdence in the
Soviet system due to the problems it had previously covered becoming exposed. Gorbachev hoped
that it would bring transparency to the Soviet Unionr and break the hold of the conservatves that
followed Brezhnev and opposed his reforms.
In contrastr extract 6 Volkogonov ofers the opinion that the communist system was already
crumblingr before Gorbachev: it was something that he ‘could not or did not want to understand’.
Whilst Figes in extract 5 mentons why Gorbachev’s failure to reform did to the Soviet Unionr
Volkogonov in extract 6 suggests that this idea was already in motonr and Gorbachev just helped to
speed it up. He states simply that ‘to restructure everythingr and yet to leave intact the foundatons
laid by Leninr was a logical impossibility’. He also acknowledges that Gorbachev began a process of
democratc reforms which he couldn’t keep control of. The interpretaton could be suggestng that
the blame should be laid on the climax of Perestroikar which ended up being the disintegraton of
