Compare And Contrast Soviet Union Vs Gorbachev

The Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev was very different place than the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. While these leader faced similar problems, their methods of repairing the Soviet Union differed greatly. While Gorbachev was open to change Brezhnev was very conservative and unwilling to reform. Brezhnev remained in power for eighteen year, but its was Gorbachev that completely changed the landscape of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union under both Gorbachev and Brezhnev faced debilitating problems causing these leader to take drastically different methods of reform, eventually culminating in the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The fundamental problem that was facing these two leaders of the Soviet Union stemmed from a stagnant economy. The lack of capital incentives for factories and farms caused poor production of goods and a shortage of goods for consumers. This spilled into daily life with workers not making enough money and the lack of available goods causing business to make less money. In farming the lack of incentives created a system where farmers did not produce enough crop for the country. Brezhnev and Gorbachev went about fixing these problems very differently. Brezhnev a conservative Soviet didn’t do much to reform the system. In farming he raised the price of crops and offered a few …show more content…
It began in 1987 when he allowed for a two candidate elections for high ranking positions in the party. He then released political dissidents that were confined to internal exile back into the population. Further, he legalized the formation of political parties allowed to run for Soviet office. These liberal steps opened the door to satellite states that were determined to secede from the Soviet Union. The new liberties that Gorbachev created eventually had a domino effect that caused the end of the Soviet Union in