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GORBACHEV AND REFORM
GORBACHEV AND REFORM
THE END OF BREZHNEV
 Brezhnev’s death long
anticipated
 Increasingly infirm
& senile
 Died Nov. 10,
1982
GORBACHEV AND REFORM
INTERREGNUM
 Succeeded by IURII ANDROVPOV, 1982
 Former head of KGB
 Attempted limited
reform
 But died after only 15
months in office
GORBACHEV AND REFORM
INTERREGNUM
 Next leader = KONSTANTIN
CHERNENKO, 1984
 Brezhnev protégé
 Even older & sicker
than Andropov
 In absence, MIKHAIL
GORBACHEV took on
many leadership duties
GORBACHEV AND REFORM
USSR UNDER GORBACHEV (1985-1991)
 A New Leadership Style
 Young, confident,
charismatic
 Good on TV
 Very popular in West
GORBACHEV AND REFORM
USSR UNDER GORBACHEV (1985-1991)
 First Reforms: The Economy
 Tightened labor
discipline
 Tried to combat poor
quality & corruption
 Restricted sale of vodka
GORBACHEV AND REFORM
USSR UNDER GORBACHEV (1985-1991)
 GLASNOST
 New “openness”
 Meant to bolster economic
reforms
 Challenged official
secrecy & Party monopoly
Chernobyl disaster
Andrei Sakharov
GORBACHEV AND REFORM
USSR UNDER GORBACHEV (1985-1991)
 PERESTROIKA
 “Restructuring”
 Some elements of market
economy
 Some measure of
democracy
GORBACHEV AND REFORM
SOVIET CULTURE
 Effects of Glasnost’
 Open discussion of everything
 End of dissident repression
 Reassessment of history
 End of Party interference with
art & literature
 Publication of previously
banned books