Concept in Definition ABC

Little can we imagine that the world has been a few times on the edge of the abyss in the form of a Third World War, but that Tension eased somewhat with the fall of the Berlin Wall, an achievement that has its roots in the Perestroika carried out in the USSR for a few years before.

The call Perestroika (Russian term that means "restructuring") is, strictly speaking, the set of political and economic changes applied by Mikhail Gorbachev to adapt the Soviet economy to the new times, although in practice it also encompasses political and social changes of the Glásnost.

Although the latter, the Glásnost ("Transparency" in Russian) can be taken independently and parallel to Perestroika, but it is common to use the latter word to encompass both, and that is what we will do in this post.

Perestroika is inextricably linked to Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in the USSR

This, surprisingly, took over the reins of the CPSU in 1985, and although he was not the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (equivalent to the head of state), his position equivalent to that of Prime Minister in other countries, and Andrei Gromyko's merely "decorative" position, allowed him to deploy a series of measures dedicated to adapting the

economy Soviet to the new times.

This was anchored in the communism Leninist, and on methods of production, distribution and market regulation based exclusively on organization by the state, which had long been proven not only as inefficient, but, and worse still, incapable of supplying the market with products basic.

The rationing, the famine and an increasingly low standard of living for the population in general compared to Western countries, together with a growing gap between the ruling elites and the common people, these were situations that Gorbachev wanted to correct.

You cannot talk about Perestroika before 1985, although there were already plans in this regard; the Central Committee of the CPSU had already seen that the USSR could not maintain the communist economic system in its purity for much longer.

This crisis situation was due in large part to the enormous costs that the Soviets were forced to pay in the arms race with the United States and the rest of the NATO allies, a race that was also beginning to to lose.

The main axis that should govern Perestroika was the passage of a pure socialist economy in which all planning and production was in the hands of the state, to a mixed economy in which various minor aspects were left to the initiative private.

Said plan, over a period of approximately two years, envisaged opening the market to self-employed entrepreneurs and small businesses, and generating a market economy in certain areas, although with state control still in most important sectors, such as food production or building.

At the same time, the Glásnost had to provide openness politics, greater transparency to the action of government, and a greater participation of the ordinary citizen.

What Gorbachev did not foresee is that the invention would get out of hand since, as it gave citizens greater freedom, they still asked for more.

The Chernobyl nuclear accident was a turning point in this development; Soviet citizens found out even later than Westerners what had happened at the Ukraine nuclear power plant.

This led to a discredit not only by the authorities, but also by Perestroika and Glásnost's own policies and, ultimately, by Gorbachev himself.

Perestroika's policies began to be undermined by the emergence on the scene of politicians who changed orthodoxy communist for liberalism, like Borís Yeltsin, as well as the tensions between the different nationalities that made up the Union Soviet.

Among these, mainly the Baltic republics, but also the Caucasian states, which would give rise to future states after the disintegration of the USSR in 1991.

Between its beginning, in 1986, and its completion, we can consider that beyond 1991, Perestroika had a good intention, but it left the former USSR in deep economic crisis and Social.

It is also true that its application was highly subordinated to particular interests, in such a way that it gave way to a savage liberalization of the economy, to a status politician that has never been clearly democratic, and to a fertile field for mafia and criminal formations to roam freely.

It is still painful that now, and with the proliferation of armed conflicts and threats between countries, the world has returned to a level of bellicosity similar to that existing before Perestroika and the fall of the Iron Curtain, but higher.

Photos: Fotolia - Nakimori / Alex Whiten

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