Gorbachev's mistakes

Gorbachev's personal mistakes

• He changed his aims 
  • Initially, he promised economic reforms
  • Then embraced political reform
  • Then he tried to reform the nature of the Union
• His reforms
  • ​​​​​​​New thinking --> used "perestroika" because it implied scientific restructuring which allowed him to reform without scaring people and put "socialist" in front of policy names to make them less daunting
  • New leadership --> replacement of local leaders with predominantly Russian officials was viewed as a takeover
  • Perestroika --> described his reforms as "restructuring"
    • acceleration (1985-86) led to decline in economic growth and undermined faith in the Party --> led him to be more radical
    • glasnost exposed the crimes of previous Soviet leaders so undermined faith in the Party
    • democratisation weakened the Party because alternative candidates could stand
    • market reform weakened the Party as it destabilised the economy
  • Renouncing violence meant that the main way of holding the USSR and Eastern Bloc together was gone
  • Embracing rights weakened the power of the Party to remove opposition
• Fundamental mistakes
  • believing that reform could save the Soviet Union
  • failed to anticipate the effects of glasnost or how it would undermine the Party
  • failed to see the fragility of the commitment to the USSR
  • his reforms created the crisis 
• Policy mistakes
  • Uskorenie was designed to restructure and increase output which wasn't possible
  • he continually renewed the reforms without giving them a chance to work
  • attempted economic and political reforms at once
  • continually weakened the Party
• Tactical mistakes
  • failed to win over the whole Communist Party
  • having embraced democracy, he refused to stand for election
  • having survived the coup, he didn't part from the Party

• His mistakes and inability to foresee the consequences of his policies undermined the authority of the Party and his own position