FREE ESSAY ON RUSSIA AND BOSINA

RUSSIA AND BOSINA

P, this economy called for some private ownership of the means of 
production, but the majority of industry was made property of the
people, which meant the majority of the means of production was 
controlled by the government. Lenin's government made many 
achievements. It ended a long civil war against the remnants of the 
old Czarist military system and established institutions in 
government. During this period, and in fact throughout the majority of 
the Communist rule, censorship and the subordination of interest 
groups such as trade unions was imposed to stop dissension and 
increase conformity to the new governments policies.
Lenin died in 1924, and was quickly followed by Joseph Stalin as 
head of the Soviet Communist Party, the oppressive reforms started by 
Lenin were continued and at length became completely totalitarian. 
Stalin became the most powerful man in Russia. He controlled to bulk 
of all the political power and with that he started a ruthless 
campaign of removing all opposition to the Communist rule. During this 
period called the Great Purge Stalin systemically executed anyone 
who stood in his path. Millions of people were arrested and either 
harassed or killed. The economic status of the Soviet Union was yet 
again changed and the entire system became controlled by the 
government. All private ownership ended. A mass program of 
industrialization was commenced, and the strength of the Soviet 
Military was substantially increased. The citizens during this period 
endured great hardship. Agricultural production output diminished 
resulting in food shortages, these shortages were enha! nce by the 
mass exportation of food, this was done to pay for industrial imports. 
Stalin also put the production of what he called production goods such 
as manufacturing machinery over basic consumer goods such as clothes 
and other staples. During this period the Second World War broke out 
and drained most of what was left of the already impoverished state. 
Yet after the war national unity was strengthened as well is the 
Soviet military machine. The Soviet Union became a super power, the 
U.S. being the only country more powerful than it. 
After the death of Stalin in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev became First 
Secretary of the Communist party. Stalin's death marked the end of 
supreme power for the head of the party, and Khrushchev condemned 
Stalin's actions as unnecessary and harmful to the process of moving 
the Socialist government to it's goal of pure Communism. During this 
period the public was given a say in the government, albeit an 
extremely minor one, and the judicial system eased it's aggressiveness 
allowing a defendant a better chance of defending themselves. 
Khrushchev concerned himself with bettering the plight of the 
individual, attempting to increase the supply of food and making goods 
such as home appliances, making automobiles somewhat available, and 
providing more housing. A new policy of efficiency and quality control 
was brought in. Leadership was somewhat decentralized to allow common 
managers and directors more power to run their production units. 
Although Krushchev started a process of slight reform he was dismissed 
due to in part a massive shortage of grain and dairy products, and the 
fact that he had started to seize more power and His efforts to 
streamline party organizations produced chaos and conflict among party 
administrators. He was also blamed for the Russia defeat during the 
Cuban Missile Crisis, and of not accomplishing anything toward the
reunification of Germany under East German rule. After the ousting of 
Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev became the Soviet Communist Party 
Secretary General in October of 1964. Under his administration the 
majority of the decentralization of power was destroyed bringing a 
centralized form of control back into effect. Krushchev's denouncing 
of Stalin's policies was criticized and slowly some of Stalin's 
political disciplinary policies were restored. Stalin was named a war 
hero. There began an outright attack on dissidents from the literary 
and scientific community. During this time there was an inefficient 
use land, labour and resources which resulted in an economic 
slackening. In this time what was supposed to ultimately be a 
classless society became classed as bureaucrats were paid for loyalty 
with material wealth, allowing them a better standard of living, 
because of this public interests were placed secondary to personal 
gain. The 1980's saw a dramatic drop in the Soviet citizens already
impoverished standard of living. This caused strikes and public outcry 
against the administration which threatened the stability of the 
Soviet Union. The people were angry at the fact that the Communist 
Party had not lived up to what it had promised which was in return for 
their obedience they would receive employment, free health care, and a 
level of comfort. March 1985 marks a turning point in the Communist 
rule of Russia. Mikhail Gorbachev is elevated to the position of 
General Secretary. He is aware of the current social upheaval 
occurring and that change must occur if Communism is to survive. He 
begins a program called Perestroika which was the organizational 
restructuring of the Soviet economy and government apparatus. 
Gorbachev discovers that this change will depend on other changes, 
among others a more tolerant and open political environment , more
public influence over governmental and military institutions. This 
called for major long term change of the political system. He
began a policy called Glasnost which emphasized openness with regard 
to discussion of social problems and shortcomings.
The purpose of these reforms was to elevate the Soviet standard 
of living in order to reaffirm the citizenry's loyalties to the
Communist party and to enable the rebirth of the Soviet economy and 
ideal. State control was lo! osened and individual initiative 
encouraged. He expanded the authority of the Soviet presidency and 
transferred power from the Communist party to popularly elected 
legislatures in the union republics. In international affairs, he 
withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, normalized relations with 
China, signed a series of arms control agreements with U.S. Presidents 
Ronald Reagan and George Bush. During this period of change strong 
Nationalistic opinion started in the republics of the Soviet Union 
causing major upheaval. In 1991, as the Soviet economy deteriorated, 
Gorbachev faced competing pressures from hard-line Communists,
from free-market reformers, and from nationalists and secessionists 
seeking independence for their republics. The hard-liners, who 
included many top government officials, staged a coup in August, 
placing Gorbachev under house arrest, but within three days the 
reformers had restored Gorbachev to power. He immediately resigned as