Mikhail Gorbachev ascended to power in 1985, bringing with him new ideas for radical changes in a struggling nation. Gorbachev demanded reforms however he did not anticipate the consequences. Society¡¦s dissatisfaction, dissolutionment and despair with the way communism operated resulted in change (Resnick 7). Gorbachev¡¦s reforms

The new parliament was filled with ex-communist; thus, they resisted free market reforms. Yeltsin banned communist party cells in the workplace because he wanted the Soviet economy to turn into a market economy. The new constitution provided for decentralization of power. Hence, Russian authorities took control of regional and local political authorities and producers leading to a decentralization in decision-making. Democratization ended authority and the functioning of the Soviet economic system (Colton, Legvold 51). The economic operation was now under the control of the new local authority; hence, negotiation without legal bases. The government was still facing a number of problems including the lack of real money, financial institution, property rates, market base law, assess to land local government and general misunderstanding.

With the demise of the Soviet Union, the command economy ended and the economic structure and institution struggled to survive (Colton, Legvold 49). Up until this point, the confederation was based largely on economic ties. Industrial production was great and everyone was employed as it was illegal in the Soviet Union to be unemployed (people were given jobs doing nothing). However, there were tremendous problems in this ineffective system of government. The Soviet leadership purposely kept its citizens poor, preferring to increase their military and to subsidize revolutions in other non-communist societies. The economic deterioration of this system gave rise to the famous quote ¡§they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work¡¨ (Barbour, Wekesser 27). The economy doomed the USSR to economic backwardness; however, the self-deception that was so prevalent among Soviet leaders rendered them unable to see the fatal flaws of their own system (Barbour, Wekesser 27). Introducing economic freedom had inevitable social and political consequence (Lieven 364). All these states were in economic distress as they move from a centrally planned economy to market economies and private ownership.

In Russia and the other former Soviet republics, unemployment was not known to its citizens during the reign of communism. Unemployment causes poverty; this rising poverty impeded the realization of market economies and democratic reforms (Unicef 8). The high rate of inflation in 1992 was caused by ¡§the continuing monetization of economic activity without control over the supply of money and credit¡¨ (Colton, Legvold 55). The high level of inflation added to the poverty as wages ¡§fell¡¨ in relation to rising prices. In an attempt to bring down inflation, and to restrict deficits, Yeltsin stopped the subsidies to inefficient industries, which resulted in laying off the workers. Yeltsin had big plans to dissolve the state monopolies and collective farms in favor of privatization; however, he had not the money or the ability to make this plan a reality (Stromberg 431).

Some topics in this essay:
Colton Legvold, Soviet Union, Diuk Karatnycky, Boris Yeltsin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Barbour Wekesser, Moscow Gorbachev, Union Stromberg, , Hence Russian, colton legvold, diuk karatnycky, soviet union, market economy, free market, former soviet, communist party, stromberg 431, reform leaders emerged, former soviet union, soviet communism, barbour wekesser 27, radical reform, diuk karatnycky 22, colton legvold 94,