How accurate is it to say that Yeltsin’s election as President of Russia in June 1991 was the most significant development in the weakening of Soviet government in the years 1982-91?

Shahd Mohammed


How accurate is it to say that Yeltsin’s election as President of Russia in June 1991 was the

most significant development in the weakening of Soviet government in the years 1982-91?

There are a multitude of reasons that led to the gradual weakening of the Soviet Government

overtime and its eventual collapse in December of 1991. One could define the weakening of

the Soviet government as the destabilisation of communist control over its people and

territory as a result of the disintegration of the Soviet system- as well as the inability to solve

its own political or economic problems and the possibility of being overthrown due to

political unrest. Factors that contributed to the weakening of government range from

economic weaknesses, Gorbachev’s reforms, the reemergence of nationalism, and the

election of Yeltsin as President of Russia.



One factor that contributed significantly to the weakening of the soviet government was the

decline in the economy. In 1983, the Novosibirsk report “For internal use only” highlighted

the agricultural crisis and was distributed to the Politburo. However- its ageing members

could not comprehend the conclusions of the report, while others chose to ignore it. This

allowed the situation to escalate and Gorbachev, who was elected as general secretary in

1985, decided that reform was needed. His decision for reform actually plunged the economy

into chaos and disruption and placed the government in a weak and vulnerable position due to

a period of trial and error. In April 1985, rampant alcoholism spread through Russia and

Gorbachev claimed that “we can’t build communism on vodka”; campaigning against

alcoholism to improve the health and productivity of the workers. By the mid-80s, alcohol

accounted for 15% of household spending due to the lack of other goods in shops, causing

people to become reliant on it. Consequently, people began to turn up to work drunk which

decreased productivity, output and therefore profit. In attempt to manage this problem,

Gorbachev implemented a series of measures to suppress the issue, such as increasing the

, Shahd Mohammed


drinking age to 21 and above, reducing the number of retail outlets where alcohol could be

bought and destroying vineyards. However, these measures only exacerbated the situation

and the tax revenues gained from alcohol fell significantly; resulting in a shortfall in the

budget. The drinking levels were not contained but increased as people began to produce

liquor in large and illegal quantities. Gorbachev’s reliance on the workforce to become more

disciplined and sober was unrealistic and failure to manage the situation plunged the

economy into further decline as productivity continued to fall. Another attempt to restore the

economy was the twelfth five-year plan which intended to improve the level of growth in the

economy “to enhance the pace and efficiency” of development “to further raise the standard

of living of the Soviet people.” This policy weakened the government as it did not address the

problems of the economy and instead exacerbated them. Overspending on investments in

construction projects caused the Soviet government to drown in debt. The industry was slow

to use new technology, and the equipment used was outdated and breaking down resulting in

unproductivity. The traditional soviet focus on quantity over quality did nothing but worsen

the economy as meeting high numerical targets meant that quality was sacrificed and often so

poor that products were unusable. The significant investment in agriculture did not reflect an

increase in productivity- and these changes in investment priorities triggered resistance from

the military who wanted new military technology. The government could not afford to lose

support of the army in case of invasion, nor the threat of inadequate goods for the public to

consume. The only solution was to go into deficit and spend more money than available. This

was a short-term solution- but with devastating long-term effects. In 1985, the deficit was

2.4% of the GDP but this rapidly increased to 6.2% by 1986. The failure to deal with the

underlying economic problems exacerbated the situation and weakened the government,

although some of these economic problems were not caused by Gorbachev. For instance, the

expensive cost of the war in Afghanistan and the USA’s Star Wars programme that the Soviet