Suny, Chapter 20
When did Brezhnev die and who replaced him?
What was "different" about Andropov, and how would you describe his leadership style?
What did Andropov try to reform, and were these reforms really efforts to change the Soviet system? Explain.
Did Andropov’s "brigade" reforms really give workers more power?
Who replaced Andropov in Feb. 1984?
Describe Chernenko.
Who was Gorbachev, and what was his professional background?
Did Gorbachev have a clear plan for reform when he came to power in 1985?
Suny says that Gorbachev changed the "language" of Soviet politics in 1985—what does this mean?
Did the entire party support reform in 1985?
How did the 1986 party program differ from the old party program?
What were Gorbachev’s strengths and weaknesses?
How did the change in oil prices in the mid-1980s effect the Soviet economy, and what did this mean for Gorbachev’s reforms?
What was "glasnost" and why did Gorbachev promote this policy?
Did all party members support glasnost?
Did the public in general support glasnost?
What was "perestroika," and why had Gorbachev concluded by 1987 that the USSR had to become more democratic?
What effect did these reforms have on the party leadership? What position did Yeltsin take? What position did Ligachev take?
Why did Yeltsin resign from the party leadership in fall 1987, and what were the results?
In what ways were Gorbachev’s policies contradictory? Why does Suny say that Gorbachev wanted to be "Martin Luther and the pope"?
Was Gorbachev’s foreign policy "New Thinking" a success? What was Gorbachev trying to do in his foreign policy?
Does Suny think that Reagan won the Cold War? Explain.
What was the point of Nina Andreeva’s March 1988 letter to Soviet Russia, and how did the debate it began signal an era of greater democratization?
Give some examples of glasnost in action in 1988. Did such openness increase public support for the Communist Party?
Why was Gorbachev trying to strengthen the government and weaken the party in June 1988? And why would many party bureaucrats oppose this?
Suny says that ethnic and national disturbances "hijacked" Gorbachev’s reforms—what does he mean by this?
Suny argues (on pp. 462-63) that long-term Soviet policies created ethnic tensions and that Gorbachev’s reforms allowed these tensions to explode. Explain his argument.
Suny says that the USSR faced four kinds of ethnic crises in the late 1980s. What were these four types of ethnic problems? (see pp. 463-65)
Whose idea was it to elect a Congress of People’s Deputies, and why?
Were the 1989 elections to the Congress of People’s Deputies democratic? Explain.
Why were these 1989 elections so important?
Why was it important that the congress meetings were televised?
In what ways does Suny compare Gorbachev to the Mensheviks and SRs in 1917?
What is Suny’s main point in this chapter?