Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was a new and youngest leader of USSR at 54 since Stalin. In 1985 he became a politburo and started implementing his ideas in the society. He introduced glasnost or openness. He encouraged people to come up with ideas to make the society better. The government opened churches, released innocent people from jail and unbanned the books which were previously banned everywhere. Because the constant complains of consumers, Gorbachev introduced perestroika which was a policy which let people open small businesses and gave local managers greater control over their farms and factories. He wanted to make this political system more productive and actually make people happy with the way they live. He also knew that if the economy was to be excellent, the government would have to loosen a grip on politics and Soviet society. He came out with a third policy called democratization. People now chose the government officials in elections. Further reforms and policies led to the collapse of USSR, and a country now known as Russia formed. Russia is a capitalist country like the US.