After the second World War, Soviet Union emerged as a superpower. For the next seven decades, it became one of the major powers of the international scenario. It also indulged in a Cold War with America. It did not turn into Hot War but paved the way for the downfall of Soviet Union.
The year of 1989 was unforgettable in the history of Russia when the meeting of ‘Congress of People Deputies’ took a great step in the history of Russia. As a result of this change, the communism of Russia came to end.
The causes of disintegration of Soviet Union were the following :
1. Defective Economic policy : The economic model adopted by the Soviet Union was very much different from capitalism, but it was also bad on the investment of finance, when only industries are increased in an economy, it leads to imbalance of consumption and production. This happened in Soviet Union also when prises of basic necessities inflated.
2. Desire to get Foreign Currency : Demand of oil rose in 1970’s. Soviet Union had vast oil reserves. So it started exporting petroleum products. This increased foreign reserves and gave a setback to technical development. It became a mere exporter of oil. But after some years, consumer goods diminished. Due to lack of consumer goods, Russian citizens could not get required things at reasonable prices and faults of marketism emerged in the society.
3. Economic Imbalance : During the period of cold war, both America and Russia had to invest money in different countries to strengthen their bloc. Due to this the economy of Russia got imbalanced and it became weak internally.
4. Transformation of Power : The citizens of Russia became dissatisfied with the one- party rule of Lenin and one-person dictatorship of Stalin. So during the time of disintegration of Soviet Union, the people began to raise their demands.
5. The Policies of Mikhail Gorbachev : In 1988, the leadership of Soviet Union came in the hand of Mikhail Gorbachev. He announced a new economic policy based on the two important concepts of ‘Perestroika’ (restructuring) and glasnost (openness). He implicitely brought capitalism in the communist economy. His biggest mistake was that he lost control over political affairs which resuled in the revolt for independence of its constitutent states.
6. Emergence of New States : Due to the policies of Mikhail Gorbachev the war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1988. Then in 1990 Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia declared their independence and sovereignty. By April 1991 Georgia and Ukaraine declared themselves independent. In 1993, an independent Czech republic also emerged.
Thus, one by one, European countries became free from the influence of communism and this system which was baed on dictactorship came to end.
