Since the beginning of Communism in Russia (Soviet Union) the country
was always followed by  disorder.
Taking Carl Marx's ideas, Lenin began the years of Communism, which brought
terrible conditions to both the work place and their homes. The government
controlled the Soviet economy and they did it through central planning,
they decided how many goods and services were needed for the economy.
They assisted factories and farms with raw material and capital goods ;
expected them to come up with enough material and goods to distribute around
the country. This was one of the greatest problems that contributed
to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Expectations were not met and
about eleven to twelve percent of national wealth was spent on improving
the military because agriculture and industry were very backwards compared
to other countries. In1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev entered power a
debt of thirty billion dollars was already owed to Western countries.
The prices, which were set by the government, were unrealistic in the rest
of the world so there was great difficulty in trading with other countries.
In the mid-1980's Gorbachev formed perestroika, a program set up
to reform the economy. His plan was to improve and modernize the
economy not to abolish the communist system, yet nothing ever improved
under this system. Finding the most basic foods was almost
impossible, and for the people of the Soviet standing in line for hours,
to get any food at all became a way of life.
Living conditions weren't any better than their supply of food. Most people had to live in cramped and rundown apartments. Luxury goods imported from other countries were very scarce and expensive so people couldn't live in comfort. The great discontent of their life began social problems, like alcoholism which spread over the country. When the government introduced demokratizatsiya meaning democratization people were then allowed to protest about their government. Miners took advantage of that right and even though they were the highest paid workers in the country, they wanted better enviromental and working conditions. As time and conditions worsened, protests became more serious because they wanted simple comodities like soap. Meanwhile, Boris Yeltsin was taking away the revolution from below Gorbachev. Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian Federation in 1991. Yeltsin was the focus of the movement for reform since he was acheiving a faster reform than Gorbachev was promising. The Communist Party became more and more unpopular, Gorbachev where once he walked freely, now had to have 200 bodyguards. Later, in August 18,1991 the leaders of the army, the KGB, and the Interior Ministry had place Gorbachev under house arrest and taken over the government. Tanks were used to keep order in Moscow. However, the coup fell apart within four days because of the troops refusal to obey orders and they joined the people of the Soviet Union in protests. This lead to what the coup was trying to stop, an even faster revolution. The Communist Party was suspended in many republics, including the Russian Federation. A few days after the coup Gorbachev resigned called the armed forces and the security forces were quickly banned and Party property was handed over to local councils. All over the country signs of the Communist Party came down and republic after republic declared independence. On December 22, 1991, a revolutionary agreement was signed forming 10 of the Soviet Republics into the Commonwealth of Independent States.  |