In 1985, the new general secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, announced the course of the Soviet Union towards perestroika. Three decades have passed since that moment, but some of the consequences of these events still cannot be assessed as objectively as possible.
The need for restructuring
The main reason for the beginning of perestroika in 1985-1991 was the difficult economic state of the USSR, into which the country fell at the beginning of the decade. The first attempts to rebuild the state system were made by Yuri Andropov, who began the fight against the pervasive corruption and theft that dragged the state into the abyss of economic chaos, and tried to strengthen labor discipline. His attempts to bring about change remained only attempts, without producing the desired effect. The state system was in a serious crisis, but the officials of the state apparatus did not understand and did not realize this.
The restructuring initiated by Gorbachev did not imply the transition of the state to another form of government. Socialism was to remain a state system. Perestroika was understood as the global modernization of the economy within the framework of the socialist economic model and the renewal of the ideological foundations of the state.
The top leadership did not have an understanding in which direction to start the movement, although there was a collective belief in the need for change. Subsequently, this led to the collapse of a huge state, which occupied 1/6 of the land. However, one should not assume that in the case of effective implementation of reforms, sooner or later this disintegration did not occur. The society too needed new trends and changes, and the level of mistrust was at a critical level.
Consequences for the state
During perestroika, it became clear that the model of socialism created in the Soviet Union was practically unreformable. A perfect attempt to reform the system, initiated a deep economic crisis in the state, which subsequently led the country to a dead end. The changes in policy, which made it possible to make the country more open and free, only led to the fact that the discontent that had accumulated for many years among the masses was more than thrown out.
The belated perestroika of 1985-1991 is a disastrous example of what can happen to the state if the government hesitates to implement reforms.
Mikhail Gorbachev is confident that the breakthrough made during perestroika is still relevant for most post-Soviet countries. The new states still need powerful impulses and active actions by the authorities aimed at democratizing society, which will have to complete the processes that began in the distant 1985.
