Mikhail Gorbachev and the End of Soviet Power

285 Pages·1993·26.83 MB·English

by  John Miller (auth.)

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV AND THE END OF
SOVIET POWER
Also by John Miller
GORBACHEV AT THE HELM: A New Era in Soviet Politics?
(edited with R. F. Miller and T. H. Rigby)
Mikhail Gorbachev and
the End of Soviet Power
John Miller
Senior Lecturer in Communist Politics
La Trobe University, Melbourne
M
St. Martin's Press
© John Miller 1993
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First published in Great Britain 1993 by
TIIE MACMILLAN PRESS L TD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge the support of the
Publications Committee of La Trobe University, Victoria, in the
production of this book.
A cataIogue record for this book is available
from the British Li brary.
ISBN 978-0-333-59194-9 ISBN 978-1-349-22459-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22459-3
First published in the United States of America 1993 by
Scholarly and Reference Division,
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-09080-7
Library of Congress CataIoging-in-Publication Data
Miller, John, 1940 Feb. 4-
Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of Soviet power / lohn Miller.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-09080-7
1. Soviet Union---Politics and govemment-1985-1991. 2. Soviet
Union---Politics and govemment-1953-1985. 3. Gorbachev, Mikhail
Sergeevich, 1931- . I. Title.
DK288.M55 1993
947.085'4--<lc20 92-29615
CIP
To Sue, Mary and Harold
Contents
Preface x
Glossary xiii
Chronology xv
1 An Outline of the Soviet System 1
Introduction I
The Russian Heritage 3
The Mono-Organisational System 10
Features of Soviet Politics 13
2 What went Wrong under Brezhnev? 21
The Climate of the Khruschev Regime 21
The Climate of the Brezhnev Regime 23
The Social Compact and its Decline 26
What was Happening to Soviet Society? 36
3 Events since Brezhnev 38
The Interregnum 38
Gorbachev's First Year: Consolidation of Power 40
The Glasnost' Programme 44
The Struggle for Reconstruction 46
Perestroika 49
Collapse 50
4 The Making of Gorbachev 53
Questions about a Humdrum Career 53
Temperament and Personality 54
Political Experience 57
Gorbachev's Rise to Power 60
The Impact of Office 64
Political Character 70
5 Objectives, Agenda, Strategy 75
The Initial Situation and its Implications 75
First Moves: Glasnost' and Informal Groups 79
vii
viii Contents
Perestroika and its Imp!ications 81
The Problem with the Party 84
Crash Through or Crash? 87
6 Glasnost' and Interest Groups 90
Glasnost': Mechanism and Obstacles 90
The Scope and Limits of Glasnost' 94
The Advent of Press Freedom 98
The New Interest Groups 100
Gorbachev's Social Policies 106
7 Perestroika and Political Institutions 109
The Nineteenth Party Conference 109
The Constitutional Amendments of December 1988 112
The General Elections of March-May 1989 114
The New Legislatures 116
The Presidency 120
Assessment 123
8 Gorbachev and the CPSU 127
The Problem 127
Gorbachev's Point of View 130
Options for the CPSU 131
Disestablishment 134
Re-equipping the Party 137
Two, Three or Four Parties? 144
The End of the CPSU 148
9 Society and Politics under the Presidency 151
Politics Unbound 151
The Descent Into Autarky 153
The Ethnic Revival 155
Developments in the RSFSR 157
The Army in Politics 160
The Coalitions Form 162
10 The August Coup 166
Under Siege 166
The Tum to the Right 169
Vilnius 171
N ovo-Ogarevo 174
'A Sort of Traitors' 175
The Coup Confounded 180
Contents ix
11 De Union Treaty 183
The Plan for a Renewed Union 183
Aspirations and Options 185
The Shape of Negotiations 189
The Union Treaty 192
Aftermath 198
12 Reflections: Gorbachev, Communism and Rdonn 201
The Legacy of Communism 201
Perestroika: A Balance Sheet 203
Gorbachev's Achievement 206
Notes and References 210
Bibliography 237
Index 254
Preface
This book is about the dramatic changes that brought an end to the
Soviet Union and its ruling Communist Party in 1991, and about the
leader who presided over this process between 1985 and 1991, Mikhail
Gorbachev. Its structure is as follows. Chapters 1 to 3 set the scene,
with treatment of Russia's long-term history and culture and the
Soviet system; the problems that set in after Stalin's death; and a
chronological framework for the Gorbachev period. Chapters 4 and 5
discuss Gorbachev, first as a person and then as a political leader.
There follow three chapters on the principal aspects of his reforms, in
the order in which they became prominent: the media and interest
groups; political institutions; and the problem of the Communist
Party. Chapters 9 and 10 survey Soviet society and politics in the
last two years of the Union's existence, and Chapter 11 analyses the
failed attempt to preserve it in a federal form. I seek to draw some
conclusions in Chapter 12.
My aim has been to provide a common sense interpretation of the
subject for the non-specialist and non-Soviet reader. It is not easy to
analyse and discern trends in events as they are happening, and next to
impossible to combine this task with that of capturing the chaos, flux
and sheer unpleasantness of revolutionary times, and I have not
attempted the latter. Rather I have tried to analyse and interpret, in
the hope that readers may be helped to make sense of a confusion of
reports and impressions. There is a risk in this of reducing people's
painful experience to insensitive and abstract formulae; if I seem guilty
of this, I ask the reader's forgiveness.
The book's focus is first on the domestic affairs and second on the
politics of the Soviet Union's final years. I have given little direct
treatment to foreign affairs or economic policy, for two reasons.
Although they are important, I do not think they are central to an
understanding of the Gorbachev experiment; and I am not at ease in
economic or international analysis. The focus on politics means
inevitably that a good deal of attention is paid to processes and
personalities 'at the top' and perhaps too little to social processes;
this is not an easy balance to strike, since social processes clearly affect
politics. Some readers may be sceptical of my emphasis on the figure
of M. S. Gorbachev, and when I embarked on the study I had not
x