Background to perestroika, “personnel revolution”, constitutional reform of 1988–1990, the formation of a multi-party system, national politics and interethnic relations, the August political crisis of 1991 and its consequences.

Background to perestroika.

After JI's death. I. Brezhnev, Yu. V. Andropov stood at the head of the party and state. He was the first of the Soviet leaders to admit that many problems had not been resolved. Taking measures to establish basic order and eradicate corruption, Andropov advocated for the preservation and renewal of the system, for its cleansing of obvious abuses and costs. This approach to reform suited the nomenklatura quite well: it gave it a chance to maintain its position. Andropov’s activities were met with sympathy in society and raised hopes for changes for the better.

In February 1984, Andropov died, and K. U. Chernenko became the head of the CPSU, and then the state. He generally continued Andropov’s course of cleansing and saving the system, but did not achieve success.

Under Chernenko, the wing in the party leadership that advocated a more radical renewal of society finally formed and strengthened its position. Its leader was Politburo member M. S. Gorbachev. On March 10, 1985, Chernenko died. Less than 24 hours later, the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee elected M. S. Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

The inheritance left to the new management was not an easy one. The ongoing arms race and the Afghan war not only led to the relative international isolation of the USSR, but also intensified the crisis in the economy and lowered the standard of living of the population. Gorbachev saw a way out in radical systemic reforms in all spheres of the country’s life.

"Personnel revolution".

The new leadership came to power without a clear vision and program for change. Gorbachev later admitted that at first, only the improvement of the established order over the past decades and the correction of “individual deformations” were envisaged. With this approach, one of the main areas of change was a change in management personnel.

In January 1987, the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee recognized the need to select personnel based on the main criterion - their support for the goals and ideas of perestroika. The change of party and state leaders accelerated under the pretext of the fight against conservatism. Moreover, as economic reforms proved unsuccessful, criticism of the “conservatives” intensified.

In 1985-1990 There was a massive replacement and “rejuvenation” of party and state personnel at both the central and local levels. At the same time, the role of local leaders, surrounded, as before, by close and devoted people, grew. However, very soon the initiators of perestroika decided that simply replacing personnel could not solve the country’s problems. Serious political reform was needed.

Constitutional reform 1988-1990

In January 1987, the CPSU Central Committee took measures to develop elements of democracy in the party and in production. Alternative elections of party secretaries and elections of heads of enterprises and institutions were introduced. True, these innovations were not widely implemented. Issues of reform of the political system were discussed at the XIX All-Union Party Conference (summer 1988). Its decisions essentially provided for the combination of “socialist values” with the political doctrine of liberalism. From the courses of New History and Russian History, remember what you know about the essence of liberalism as a political doctrine.

In particular, a course was proclaimed towards the creation of a “socialist rule of law” state, the separation of powers (one of which was called the CPSU), and the creation of Soviet parliamentarism. To do this, Gorbachev proposed forming a new supreme body of power - the Congress of People's Deputies, and turning the Supreme Council into a permanent parliament. This was the main task of the first stage of constitutional reform. The electoral legislation was changed: elections were supposed to be held on an alternative basis, they were to be made in two stages, and a third of the deputy corps was to be formed from public organizations.

One of the main ideas of the 19th Party Conference was the redistribution of power functions from party structures to Soviet ones. It was proposed to combine the posts of party and Soviet leaders at different levels in one hand.

From the report of M. S. Gorbachev at the XIX All-Union Party Conference

The existing political system turned out to be unable to protect us from the growing stagnation in economic and social life in recent decades and doomed the reforms undertaken then to failure. An increasing concentration of economic and managerial functions in the hands of the party and political leadership has become characteristic. At the same time, the role of the executive apparatus was hypertrophied. The number of persons elected to various state and public bodies reached a third of the country's adult population, but the bulk of them were excluded from real participation in solving state and public affairs.

In the spring of 1989, elections of people's deputies of the USSR were held under a new electoral law. At the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (May-June 1989), Gorbachev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Relatively free elections of deputies led to the fact that the political initiative passed to them.

From the election platform of A.D. Sakharov. 1989

1. Elimination of the administrative-command system and replacing it with a pluralistic one with market regulators and competition. Elimination of the omnipotence of ministries and departments...
2. Social and national justice. Protection of individual rights. Openness of society. Freedom of opinion...
3. Eradication of the consequences of Stalinism, rule of law. Open the archives of the NKVD - MGB, make public data on the crimes of Stalinism and all unjustified repressions...

At the second stage of constitutional reform (1990-1991), the task of introducing the post of President of the USSR was put forward. At the III Congress of People's Deputies in March 1990, it became M. S. Gorbachev. However, the initiators of these changes did not take into account that the presidential system of power cannot be organically combined with the Soviet system of power, which did not imply separation of powers, and the sovereignty of the Soviets.

The task of building a rule of law state was also set, in which equality of citizens before the law is ensured. For this purpose, Article 6 of the USSR Constitution, which secured the leading position of the CPSU in society, was abolished. This opened up the opportunity for the formation of a multi-party system in the country.

Formation of a multi-party system.

As the CPSU lost its political initiative, the process of formation of new political forces intensified in the country. In May 1988, the Democratic Union declared itself the first “opposition” party of the CPSU. In April of the same year, popular fronts emerged in the Baltic states. They became the first real independent mass organizations. Later, similar fronts arose in all union and autonomous republics. The formed parties reflected all the main directions of political thought.

The liberal direction was represented by the Democratic Union, Christian Democrats, Constitutional Democrats, Liberal Democrats, etc. The largest of the liberal parties was the Democratic Party of Russia, formed in May 1990. In November 1990, the Republican Party of the Russian Federation emerged. On the basis of the “Democratic Russia” voter movement, created during the elections of people's deputies of the USSR in the spring of 1989, a mass socio-political organization took shape.

The socialist and social democratic directions were represented by the Social Democratic Association, the Social Democratic Party of Russia, and the Socialist Party. The beginning was laid for the formation of nationalist political parties and public organizations, into which, in particular, the popular fronts of the Baltic and some other republics were transformed.

With all the diversity of these parties and movements, at the center of the political struggle, as in 1917, there were again two directions - communist and liberal. The communists called for the preferential development of public property, collectivist forms of social relations and self-government (the mechanisms of these transformations were, however, discussed in the most general terms).

Liberals (they called themselves democrats) advocated the privatization of property, personal freedom, a system of full-fledged parliamentary democracy, and the transition to a market economy.

The positions of the liberals, who sharply criticized the evils of the outdated system, seemed more preferable to the public than the attempts made by the leadership of the CPSU to justify the existence of previous relations. In June 1990, the Communist Party of the RSFSR was formed, whose leadership took a traditionalist position.

From the speech of I.K. Polozkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the RSFSR. 1991

The so-called democrats managed to replace the goals of perestroika and seize the initiative from our party. The people are being deprived of their past, their present is being destroyed, and no one has yet intelligibly said what awaits them in the future... We cannot talk about any kind of multi-party system now. There is the CPSU, which defends socialist perestroika, and there are leaders of a few political groups that ultimately have one political face - anti-communism.

By the 28th Congress of the CPSU the party itself was in a state of split. Three main trends were clearly visible: radical reformist, reformist-renovationist, and traditionalist. All of them were represented in the leadership of the CPSU. However, the congress not only did not overcome the crisis in the party, but also contributed to its deepening. Quitting the party became widespread. From 1985 to the summer of 1991, the size of the CPSU decreased from 21 to 15 million people. In the leadership of the CPSU, attacks on Gorbachev and the perestroika course have become more frequent. In April and July 1991, a number of members of the Central Committee demanded the resignation of the General Secretary.

National politics and interethnic relations.

The democratization of society and the policy of glasnost made inevitable the aggravation of what seemed to be a long-resolved national issue. Prominent activists of national movements returned from imprisonment and exile. Some of them considered the current moment the most appropriate to begin an active struggle for self-determination. Back in December 1987, in response to the appointment of G. Kolbin instead of the dismissed leader of Kazakhstan D. Kunaev, Kazakh youth staged mass protests in Almaty, which were dispersed by the authorities. On February 20, 1988, at an extraordinary session of the regional council of Nagorno-Karabakh (NKAO), it was decided to petition the Supreme Councils of Azerbaijan and Armenia to withdraw the region from Azerbaijan and include it in Armenia. This decision was supported by mass rallies and strikes in NKAO. The response to this decision was pogroms and extermination of Armenians in the suburb of Baku - the city of Sumgait.

Troops were sent there to save people. In April 1989, in Tbilisi, the Soviet army dispersed a demonstration of supporters of Georgia's secession from the USSR.

The reform of the political system carried out by Gorbachev steadily led to an even greater intensification of the national movement. On May 18, 1989, Lithuania was the first of the USSR republics to adopt the Declaration of Sovereignty. In June, bloody clashes occurred between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks in the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan.

On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Lithuania.

On June 12, 1990, the Declaration of State Sovereignty was adopted by the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR.

All this forced the leadership of the USSR to take measures to formalize a new Union Treaty. Its first draft was published on July 24, 1990. At the same time, forceful measures were taken to preserve the Union. In April 1990, the economic blockade of Lithuania began. On the night of January 12-13, 1991, troops brought into Vilnius occupied the Press House and the building of the Committee on Television and Radio Broadcasting.

The August political crisis of 1991 and its consequences.

By the summer of 1991, most of the union republics of the USSR had adopted sovereignty laws, which forced Gorbachev to speed up the development of a new Union Treaty. Its signing was scheduled for August 20. The signing of the new Union Treaty meant not only the preservation of a single state, but also the transition to its real federal structure, as well as the elimination of a number of state structures traditional for the USSR.

In an effort to prevent this, conservative forces in the country's leadership attempted to disrupt the signing of the treaty. In the absence of President Gorbachev, on the night of August 19, 1991, the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) was created, which included Vice President G. Yanaev, Prime Minister V. Pavlov, Minister of Defense D. Yazov, KGB Chairman V. Kryuchkov, Minister of Internal Affairs B. Pugo and others. The State Emergency Committee introduced a state of emergency in certain areas of the country; declared the power structures that acted contrary to the Constitution of the USSR disbanded; suspended the activities of opposition parties and movements; banned rallies and demonstrations; established tight control over the media; sent troops to Moscow.

The leadership of the RSFSR (President B. Yeltsin, head of government I. Silaev, first deputy chairman of the Supreme Council R. Khasbulatov) issued an appeal to the Russians, in which they condemned the actions of the State Emergency Committee as an anti-constitutional coup, and declared the State Emergency Committee and its decisions illegal. At the call of the President of Russia, tens of thousands of Muscovites took up defensive positions around the White House of Russia. On August 21, an emergency session of the Supreme Soviet of Russia was convened, supporting the leadership of the republic. On the same day, USSR President Gorbachev returned to Moscow. Members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested.

The weakening of the central government led to increased separatist sentiments in the leadership of the republics. After the events of August 1991, most of the republics refused to sign the Union Treaty. In December 1991, the leaders of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus announced the termination of the 1922 Union Treaty and their intention to create the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It united 11 former Soviet republics (excluding Georgia and the Baltic countries). In December 1991, President Gorbachev resigned. The USSR ceased to exist.

After the liberal-minded Gorbachev came to power, the so-called “perestroika” began in society, in the economic and political life of the country.

In 1985--1986 the so-called policy of accelerating socio-economic development was carried out, which consisted of recognizing certain shortcomings of the existing system and trying to correct them through several large administrative campaigns (the so-called “Acceleration”) - an anti-alcohol campaign, “the fight against unearned income”, the introduction of state acceptance . However, no significant changes occurred in the life of the country during this period. Cardinal reforms were started only after the January 1987 plenum, when perestroika was actually declared a new state ideology.

Soon new terms appeared, transformed into stable expressions characterizing the main directions of Gorbachev’s political activity: “personnel revolution”, “acceleration”, “glasnost”, “rehabilitation”, “new political thinking”.

Reform of the political system

The new leadership came to power without a clear vision and program for change. Gorbachev later admitted that at first, only the improvement of the society that had been established over recent decades and the correction of “individual deformations” of socialism were envisaged. It is not surprising that with this approach, personnel changes became one of the main areas of change.

In 1985-1986 There was a massive replacement and rejuvenation of party and state personnel at both the central and local levels. For 1985-1990 85% of the leading employees of the CPSU Central Committee were replaced, at the republican level - up to 70%. At the same time, the role of local leaders increased, surrounded, as before, by a host of close and devoted people.

However, very soon the initiators of perestroika realized that simply replacing personnel could not solve the country’s problems. Serious political reform was needed.

In January 1987 The CPSU Central Committee took action for the first time. Contributing to the development of elements of democracy in the party and in production: alternative elections of party secretaries, open voting was replaced by secret voting, and a system of electing heads of enterprises and institutions was introduced.

Issues of reform of the political system were discussed at the XIX All-Union Party Conference in the summer of 1988. Its decisions included the combination of “socialist values” with the political doctrine of liberalism. In particular, a course was proclaimed towards the creation of a “socialist rule of law” state, the separation of powers, and the creation of “Soviet parliamentarism”. To do this, Gorbachev proposed creating a new government body - the Congress of People's Deputies, turning the Supreme Council into a permanent “parliament”. The electoral legislation was changed. It was also supposed to create a Constitutional Supervision Committee, which should monitor compliance with the country's Constitution.

One of the main ideas of the conference was the redistribution of power functions from party structures to Soviet ones while maintaining party influence in them.

In the spring of 1989, elections of people's deputies of the USSR were held under a new electoral law. At the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (May - June) 1989. Gorbachev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It should be noted that the debate on the candidacy of the chairman was held in tough polemics. The decision was not made unanimously. Deputies entered into debate, signs of political struggle appeared. This was already a novelty: it was no longer a question of a short procedural formality, but of a long-term fierce clash of opinions.

In the political biography of Mikhail Sergeevich, the first day of the first Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR became one of the most memorable exams. Moreover, as the end of the meeting approached, this exam became more and more difficult. Relatively free elections of deputies led to the fact that the initiative for political reform now passed to them, who proposed more radical changes.

The concept of political reform in 1990-1991. was supplemented with a number of important provisions. The main one was the idea of ​​​​building a rule of law state in the USSR, where equality of all before the law is ensured. For this purpose, the Third Congress of People's Deputies in March 1990 considered it appropriate to introduce the post of President of the USSR. This post was introduced under Gorbachev and was, so to speak, significant: its establishment marked major transformations in the political system, associated, first of all, with the refusal of constitutional recognition of the leading role of the CPSU in the country.

The first and last President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev.

The presidential system of power could not be organically combined with the system of power of the Soviets, which presupposed not the division of power, but the absolute power of the Soviets.

In February 1990, mass rallies were held in Moscow demanding the abolition of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution. Under these conditions, Gorbachev, during the break between the Second and Third Congresses of People's Deputies of the USSR, agreed to the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution, while simultaneously raising the issue of the need for additional powers of the executive branch. The Third Congress on March 15, 1990 abolished Article 6 and adopted amendments to the Constitution allowing for a multi-party system. This opened up the possibility of a legal multi-party system in the USSR.

As the CPSU lost its political initiative, the process of forming new political parties intensified in the country.

In May 1988, the Democratic Union (leader V. Novodvorskaya) declared itself the first opposition party of the CPSU. In April of the same year, popular fronts emerged in the Baltic states. They became the first independent mass organizations. Later, similar fronts arose in all union and autonomous republics. The newly formed parties reflected all the main directions of political thought.

A liberal trend emerged, represented by the Democratic Union, Christian Democrats, Constitutional Democrats and Liberal Democrats. The most prominent in the political arena were the Democratic Party of Russia and the Republican Party of the Russian Federation. On the basis of the “Democratic Russia” voter movement, a mass socio-political organization took shape.

Socialist and social democratic directions were represented by the “Social Democratic Association” and the “Social Democratic Party of Russia”. And also the Socialist Party.

The beginning was laid for the formation of nationalist political parties and public organizations, into which the popular fronts of the Baltic and some other republics were transformed.

With all the diversity of these parties and movements, at the center of the political struggle, as in 1917, there were again two directions - communist and liberal.

One of the political miscalculations of the leaders of perestroika was that the reform of the CPSU lagged far behind the processes of democratization of society. Thus, by the 28th Congress of the CPSU, which became the last in its history, the ruling party arrived in a state of split. By that time, three main trends were clearly visible in it: radical reformist, reformist-renovationist, traditionalist. All of them were represented in the leadership of the CPSU. However, the congress not only failed to overcome the crisis in the party, but did not propose a specific program for restructuring the CPSU. In particular, its primary organizations contributed to its aggravation. Quitting the party became widespread. During 1985 - 1991, the size of the CPSU decreased from 21 to 15 million people. In the leadership of the CPSU, attacks on Gorbachev and the perestroika course have become more frequent. In April and June 1991, a number of Central Committee members demanded his resignation.

By the mid-80s, crisis phenomena were observed in the socio-economic and political spheres of life in the Soviet republics. It became obvious that socialist society was hopelessly lagging behind the more developed countries of the world. In order to avoid a final collapse and improve the situation in the country, the USSR government carried out economic reforms in 1985-1991.

Prerequisites for reform

In the 80s, the economy was on the verge of collapse. Throughout the country, there was a slowdown in the pace of its development, and in some sectors of the national economy there was a strong decline in the level of production. The inefficiency of socialist economic methods was most clearly manifested in mechanical engineering, metallurgy, the metalworking industry and other industries. Although in 1985 the USSR produced about 150 thousand tons of steel, which was more than in the USA, the country still did not have enough metal. The reason for this was the imperfect technology of its melting, in which most of the raw materials turned into chips. The situation was aggravated by mismanagement, due to which tons of metal simply rusted in the open air.

Economic reforms of the USSR 1985-1991. were necessary not only because of problems in the field of heavy industry. In the early 80s, domestically produced machines and machines were assessed in the Soviet Union. Of all the objects inspected, and there were about 20 thousand of them, the third part was considered technically obsolete and unsuitable for use. Low-quality equipment was subject to discontinuation, but it continued to be produced.

Despite the fact that the Soviet Union paid special attention to the development of the defense industry, it also turned out to be uncompetitive in the world market. When the microprocessor revolution took place throughout the Western world at the turn of the 70s and 80s, huge amounts of money were spent in the USSR to maintain the arms race. Because of this, sufficient funds were not allocated for the development of science and technology. Soviet society began to lag further and further behind Western society in terms of technological and industrial development.

The political and economic reforms of 1985-1991 were also due to the fall in the real standard of living of the population. Compared to the end of the 60s, by 1980 they decreased by almost 3 times. Soviet people increasingly heard the word “deficit.” All spheres of life were affected by bureaucracy and corruption. There was a decline in the morality and integrity of the common man.

Gorbachev's rise to power

In the spring of 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became Secretary General. Realizing that the country's economy was on the verge of collapse, he proclaimed a course to reform it. A new word for the Soviet people, “perestroika,” was heard on television, the meaning of which was to overcome stagnant processes, create an effective and reliable management mechanism aimed at improving and accelerating development in the social and economic spheres of life.

Stages of economic reforms 1985-1991

The reform of the Soviet economy can be divided into several stages.

1. In 1985-1986, the Soviet government led by Gorbachev tried to preserve the socialist system by accelerating the pace of development, re-equipping the engineering industry and activating human resources.
2. In 1987, economic reform began. Its meaning was to maintain centralized control during the transition from administrative methods to economic ones.
3. In 1989-1990, they announced a course for a gradual transition from a socialist economic model to a market one. The anti-crisis program “500 days” was developed.
4. In 1991, a monetary reform was carried out. The economic recovery has been derailed by inconsistent government actions.

Acceleration policy

The economic reforms of 1985-1991 began with the proclamation of a course to accelerate the country's development. In the fall of 1985, Gorbachev called on enterprise managers to organize a multi-shift work schedule, introduce socialist competitions into practice and monitor compliance with labor discipline in production, improve these actions, according to Moscow, should have a positive impact on increasing labor productivity and accelerating the socio-economic sphere of life the entire USSR. A priority role was given to the engineering industry, the products of which were planned to be used for the re-equipment of the national economy.

The acceleration course announced by M. Gorbachev implied a significant increase in the economy. Until 2000, the Soviet leadership planned to double the production potential and national income of the state, and increase labor productivity by 2.5 times.

Under Gorbachev, an uncompromising fight against drunkenness began. According to the politician and his entourage, the anti-alcohol campaign was supposed to have a positive impact on strengthening discipline and increasing labor productivity. In many regions, factories producing wine and vodka products were closed, and vineyards were mercilessly cut down. As a result of this policy, the production of alcoholic beverages in the USSR decreased by 2 times. Due to the liquidation of wine and vodka enterprises, the country suffered multi-million dollar losses. A lack of money in the state budget has led to delays in salaries. To make up for the missing funds, the government decided to print new money.

Economic reforms of 1985-1991 in the USSR manifested themselves in the prohibition of Soviet citizens from making profit from unearned income. For private employment, unauthorized trading and other types of activities not controlled by the state, a person could go to prison for up to 5 years. But it soon became clear that such measures were ineffective, and in November 1986 a law was passed allowing individual labor activity in the USSR.

The acceleration of the development of mechanical engineering led to a reduction in funding for other areas of industry. Because of this, consumer goods began to disappear from free sale. Scientific and technological revolution, which was given a special role in the process of perestroika, never received its development. Crisis phenomena further weakened the state. By the end of 1986, it became obvious that a qualitative reform of the economy was impossible to carry out due to an imperfect state planning system.

Economic transformations 1987-1989

In 1987, the post of prime minister was taken by promising to stabilize the economy in a year and a half. His government launched a series of reforms aimed at creating a socialist market. From now on, enterprises were transferred to self-financing, they were granted partial self-government, and the scope of their independence expanded. Organizations received the right to cooperate with partners from foreign countries, and their leaders were no longer subordinate to either the market or officials. The first cooperatives associated with shadow structures began to appear. The result of this policy was unfavorable for the USSR: the government ceased to control the state's economy. The transition to a socialist market became impossible. Economic reforms of 1985-1991 did not bring the expected results.

Further attempts to restore the economy

The search for a way out of the crisis continued. In 1989, Soviet economists G. Yavlinsky and S. Shatalin developed the “500 days” program. Its essence was the transfer of state-owned enterprises into the hands of private individuals and the country's transition to market relations. At the same time, the document did not pay attention to such problems as reforming the political system of the state, privatization of real estate, denationalization of land ownership, and carrying out monetary reform. Economists promised that the implementation of their concept would not affect the financial situation of the population. The program approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was supposed to come into force in October 1990. But it had one significant drawback: it did not reflect the interests of the nomenklatura elite. Because of this, Gorbachev at the last moment chose another program, which could not ensure the transition to market relations.

One of the last attempts to stabilize the economic situation was the implementation of monetary reform in 1991. Gorbachev planned to use it to replenish the treasury and stop it. But the reform led to an uncontrollable rise in prices and a decrease in the living standards of the people. Population dissatisfaction has reached its limit. Strikes swept across many regions of the state. National separatism began to manifest itself everywhere.

results

The results of the economic reform of 1985-1991 were disastrous. Instead of restoring the national economy, the government’s actions further worsened the situation in the country. None of the planned reforms were ever completed. Having destroyed the previous management structures, the authorities were unable to create new ones. Under these conditions, the collapse of the huge country became inevitable.

USSR during the period of perestroika (1985-1991): reform of the political system

The emergence of a multi-party system.

The transition to a multi-party system began in our country with the formation of so-called “informal” organizations, when the transition to the policy of glasnost was proclaimed. Informal, firstly, because they seemed to oppose “formal” organizations - the party, Komsomol, trade unions, etc.; secondly, because, as it turned out, there were practically no legislative norms in the country on the basis of which it could be registered and receive legal status.

Movements, organizations, clubs associated themselves with ideas that were called liberal, radical, etc., and at the first stage of their activity they announced their opposition to the dogmatic part of the apparatus, the administrative-command system as a whole, expressing support for new initiatives of the reformist part of the party- government leadership.

Initially, the new movements were predominantly intellectual in composition. But the emergence of new forms of ownership (cooperative, rental) gave rise to unions of cooperators, tenants, the most active part of which also began to raise the question that economic activity alone is not enough to protect their interests and that it is necessary to begin organizing political parties.

It was believed that the history of Soviet society coincided with the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The most important political and economic decisions were made on behalf of the party, although in fact this was done within a narrow circle of the top party leadership.

The lack of political unity in the ranks of the party nomenclature and its disunity created conditions for the disintegration of the system as a whole. Some members of the nomenclature took dogmatic positions and were in no hurry to follow in the wake of Gorbachev’s innovations. Others prepared “alternate airfields” for themselves in business. Still others were confused. Still others joined national movements. Having lost the remnants of fear that still remained under Brezhnev, the nomenklatura were no longer able to support the regime using old methods.

Along with this, the country increasingly realized that the consistent implementation of the principles of the rule of law presupposes the possibility of creating other parties, in addition to the CPSU, if they act within the framework of the law and renounce violence as a method of struggle for power. In discussions and in speeches by some press organs, the idea was increasingly expressed that the legislative, constitutional consolidation of the leading and guiding role of one party does not correspond to the principles of the rule of law.

The ultra-right direction was represented by the “Democratic Union”, which advocated a sharp and unconditional change in the model of social development, and parties of Christian-democratic orientation (RKhDD, HDSS, KhDPR).

The liberal direction was represented by the “Democratic Party of the Soviet Union”, later transformed into the “Conservative Party”, the “Democratic Party of Russia” and other democratic parties (DP, RPRF, three parties of constitutional democrats), which came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a rule of law state in Russia. In October 1990, most of them united into the mass socio-political movement “Democratic Russia”.

The social democratic direction is represented by the social democratic (SDA, S DPR) and Socialist parties, which advocated the modernization of society through a system of social reforms. Anarchist parties (AKRS, KAS), which advocated stateless socialism, also gravitated towards this direction.

What most of the new parties had in common was that they arose as anti-CPSU, as opposition to it, hence anti-communism (anti-totalitarianism), rejection of the socialist choice. The party programs put forward the same democratic slogans, previously introduced by M. Gorbachev. Therefore, not a single party was able to offer any serious alternative to the course of “perestroika”.

The central political force opposing the new parties remained the CPSU. In 1990 and early 1991, three platforms were formed (democratic, Marxist, Bolshevik), each of which offered its own version and its own direction of reform.

In March 1990, Article 6 of the USSR Constitution on the leading role of the CPSU in society was repealed. By this time, numerous political organizations were already operating in the country. The repeal of Article 6 stimulated the emergence of new parties and movements. After the adoption of the law “On Public Associations”, registration of new parties began in March 1991. The existence of many parties turned out to be short; they disintegrated and merged with other organizations. New political groups and blocs emerged, and all of them actively participated in the public life of the USSR.

Simultaneously with these processes, there was a process of formation of parties with a national-patriotic orientation (National-Patriotic Front “Memory”, Russian National Democratic Party), speaking from the position of a right-wing radical reorganization of society and setting the goal of the revival of the Russian nation, a united and indivisible Russia.

A mass exit from the CPSU began, a significant part of the communists stopped paying membership dues. The Komsomol and the Pioneer organization essentially ceased their activities as youth and children's structures of the CPSU. This development of events led to the strengthening of the aggressive-reactionary wing of the CPSU, prompting it to take active action. After the events of August 19-21, 1991, the CPSU as an all-Union organization virtually ceased to exist. M. S. Gorbachev resigned from his duties as General Secretary.

Thus, the formation of a multi-party system during the years of perestroika was contradictory and incomplete. However, this process had a positive impact on the destruction of the administrative-command system and the emergence of new socio-political relations in the state.

Key dates and events: 1985-1991 - M. S. Gorbachev at the head of the CPSU and the USSR; 1988 - adoption of the political reform program; 1989 - elections of people's deputies of the USSR; 1990 elections of people's deputies of the union republics; 1990 - the abolition of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution on the leading and guiding role of the CPSU in Soviet society, the beginning of a real multi-party system.

Historical figures: M. S. Gorbachev; A D. Sakharov; B. N. Yeltsin. Basic terms and concepts: perestroika; publicity; democratization.

Response Plan: 1) M. S. Gorbachev; 2) personnel revolution; 3) political reform of 1988; 4) elections of people's deputies of the USSR (1989) and the RSFSR (1990); 5) revival of multi-partisanship; 6) interethnic relations and national politics; 7) government and church; 8) August, Ovsky political crisis of 1991; 9) collapse of the USSR: causes and consequences.

Material for the answer: After the death of K. U. Chernenko, M. S. Gorbachev, the former first secretary of the Stavropol regional committee of the CPSU, and then a member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee for Agriculture, became the new Soviet leader. Like his predecessors, Gorbachev began the changes by changing the “team.” In a short time, 70% of the leaders of the regional committees of the CPSU and more than half of the ministers of the Union government were replaced in their posts. The composition of the CPSU Central Committee was significantly updated: if in 1985-1987. more than half of the members of the Political

bureau and secretaries of the Central Committee, then only at one April (1989) Plenum of the Central Committee, out of 460 members and candidates for membership of the Central Committee of the ByzII, 110 people were immediately dismissed. Considering the role of the party apparatus, Gorbachev replaced almost 85% of the leadership cadres of the CPSU Central Committee - the pillars of the management system. Soon, all the key positions in the party and state were occupied only by Gorbachev’s appointees. However, things still moved with great difficulty. It became clear that serious political reform was needed.

The turning point in the political situation came in 1987.

Gorbachev later called this time the first serious crisis of the “perektpoYka.” There was only one way out of it - democratization of society. The January 1987 Plenum of the Central Committee decided to convene (after a 46-year break) the All-Union Party Conference, in the agenda of which it was decided to include the issue of preparing a reform of the political system. In the summer of 1987, elections to local authorities were held. For the first time, it was allowed to nominate several candidates for one deputy seat. Control over voter turnout has been removed. The result made the authorities think: the number of votes against candidates increased almost tenfold, the absence of voters from the polling stations became widespread, and in 9 districts elections did not take place at all. In the summer of 1988, the XIX All-Union Party Conference of the CPSU was held, announcing the beginning of political reform. Its main idea was an attempt to combine the incompatible: the classical Soviet political model, which assumed the autocracy of the Soviets, with the liberal one, based on the separation of powers. It was proposed: to create a new supreme body of state power - the Congress of People's Deputies; turn the Supreme Council into a permanent “parliament”; update the electoral legislation (which provided, in particular, for alternatives, as well as the election of deputies not only in districts, but also from public organizations); create a Constitutional Oversight Committee responsible for monitoring compliance with the Constitution. However, the main point of the reform was the redistribution of power from party structures to Soviet ones, created in the course of relatively free elections. This was the strongest blow to the nomenklatura in all the years of its existence. It was this decision that not only deprived Gorbachev of the support of an influential part of society, but also forced her to seize into personal ownership what had previously been under her control.

In the spring of 1989, elections of people's deputies of the USSR were held under a new electoral law. At the 1st Congress, Gorbachev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In a year you-

The competition took place in the Union republics, where the “competition” consisted of 8 people. for one deputy mandate. Now the initiative to reform the country has passed to representatives of the people elected through open elections. They soon supplemented the political reform with new provisions. Chief among them was the idea of ​​building a rule of law state in which the equality of citizens before the law would be truly ensured. The introduction of this provision required the abolition of Article 6 of the country's Constitution on the special role of the Communist Party. Gorbachev agreed to the proposal to establish the post of president and was elected the first (and, as it turned out, the last) president of the USSR.

The crisis of communist ideology and socialist reform led to the fact that people began to look for a way out of the current situation in other ideological and political directions. The group of V. I. Novodvorskaya, which adopted the name “Democratic Union,” proclaimed itself the first OPPOSITION party in May 1988. At the same time, popular fronts arose in the Baltic republics, becoming the first mass independent organizations. Despite the fact that all these groups and associations declared (<поддержке перестрой­ки», они представляли самые различные направления полити­ческой мысли. Либеральное направление включало в себя пред­ставителей «Демсоюза», несколько организаций христианских демократов, конститyционных демократов, либеральных демо­кратов. Наиболее массовой политической организацией либе­рального толка, объединившей представителей различных ли­беральных течений, стала «Демократическая партия России» Н. И. Травкина, созданная в мае 1990 года. Социалисты и социал-демократы были объединены в «Социалистической партии», «Социал-демократической ассоциации» и «Социал-де­мократической партии России». Анархисты создали «Конфеде­рацию анархо-синдикалистов» и «Анархо-коммунистический реВОЛЮIIИОННЫЙ союз». Первые национальные партии стали формироваться в республиках Прибалтики и Закавказья. Од­нако при всем многообразии этих партий и движений основ­ная борьба развернулась между коммунистами и либералами. Причем в условиях нараставшего экономического и политиче­ского кризиса политический вес либералов (их называли «де­мократами,» увеличивался с каждым днем.

The beginning of democratization could not but affect the relations between the state and the church. During the 1989 elections, representatives of the main religious confessions were elected as people's deputies of the USSR. Significantly weakened, and after the cancellation of the 6th

Articles of the constitution completely abolished party-state control over the activities of church organizations. The return of religious buildings and shrines to believers has begun. The crisis of communist ideology led to an increase in religious sentiment in society. After the death of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Pimen, Alexy 11 was elected as the new primate of the Russian Orthodox Church in June 1990. The changes that took place during the years of “perestroika” again made the church one of the authoritative and independent elements of the social system.

Thus, attempts to democratize the Soviet political system with the abolition of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution led to a crisis and the beginning of the collapse of the union power structures. Moreover, no new models of statehood were proposed.