The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSRFor half a century the Soviet economy was inefficient but stable. In the late 1980s, to the surprise of nearly everyone, it suddenly collapsed. Why did this happen? And what role did Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's economic reforms play in the country's dissolution? In this groundbreaking study, Chris Miller shows that Gorbachev and his allies tried to learn from the great success story of transitions from socialism to capitalism, Deng Xiaoping's China. Why, then, were efforts to revitalize Soviet socialism so much less successful than in China? Making use of never-before-studied documents from the Soviet politburo and other archives, Miller argues that the difference between the Soviet Union and China--and the ultimate cause of the Soviet collapse--was not economics but politics. The Soviet government was divided by bitter conflict, and Gorbachev, the ostensible Soviet autocrat, was unable to outmaneuver the interest groups that were threatened by his economic reforms. Miller's analysis settles long-standing debates about the politics and economics of perestroika, transforming our understanding of the causes of the Soviet Union's rapid demise. |
Contents
1979 | |
Take Off or Leap Forward? | |
Gorbachevs Gamble | |
Charts and Table Charts 1 GDP per capita Eastern Europe 17 | |
USSR oil export earnings 64 | |
USSR price indices 19851990 67 | |
Soviet Industry Sichuan Style | |
USSR farm subsidies 19821990 140 | |
Fiscal Crisis the Tiananmen Option and the Dissolution of the USSR | |
USSR budget balance 19501991 148 | |
USSR foreign debt 19851991 152 | |
Budget deficit financed by printing money 19651989 153 | |
Paths Not Taken? | |
Notes | |
Excess equipment in inventories 1980s 98 | |
Other editions - View all
The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse ... Chris Miller No preview available - 2020 |
The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse ... Chris Miller No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
Aganbegyan ARAN f argued Aslund authoritarian Baibakov began Beijing billion rubles Brezhnev budget deficit bureaucracy Burlatsky China Chinese collapse collective farms Communist Party consumer country's coup cuts Deng Xiaoping East Institute Eastern Affairs Economic Policy Economic Reform economists experience Factor foreign investment Free Economic Zones GARF f Gorbachev's Struggle Gosplan Gromyko growth Ibid incentives increased industrial inflation interest groups Iziumov Korkunov Kremlin labor leadership liberalization Ligachev lobby Manezhev Maoist market reforms meant MEMO Mikhail Gorbachev military Minister ministries Moscow Nakhodka needed Nikolai peasants percent perestroika policymakers Politburo problems production profit reported restructuring Revolution Russia Ryzhkov shortages social socialist Soviet agriculture Soviet analysts Soviet economy Soviet farms Soviet leaders Soviet officials Soviet politics Soviet scholars Soviet Union special economic zones spending SSHA Stalin Stavropol Krai subsidies Tiananmen trade University Press USSR USSR's workers Yegor Ligachev Yeltsin Zaslavskaya