The Failure of Perestroika

The goal of Gorbachev’s reform was to revitalize the Soviet economy, and its political institution to promote market-style reforms on a small scale. This reform was not meant to dissolve the Soviet Union, nor to change its economic system, but to allow the USSR to compete with other advanced capitalist societies of that time. During the 80’s, the Soviet Union was going through an economic stagnation, with many of its citizens feeling left out and second guessing the socialist economic system in comparison with the capitalistic systems of that time that promoted consumerism and individualism. The little growth economic growth, crumbling infrastructure, and high military expenditure created an atmosphere that the Soviet Union was losing the cold war to its capitalistic competition.
There was also reform in the political system of the Soviet Union with the introduction of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union. This openness for democratic reform allowed the opposition party to voice their criticism of the Soviet model of governance and paved the way for the end of the communist regime. In my opinion, this leeway the Soviet government gave its people for the first time allowed people that once feared speaking against the government an opportunity to advocate for change.
Overall, I believe that the policy of perestroika opened the Soviet Union too much to pressure from outside governments. With Gorbachev's refusal to act on the revolutions in eastern europe, it led to multiple revolutions that toppled regimes that the Soviet Union relied upon to act as buffer states against the capitalist countries. With most of these countries gone, soviet republics became weary of receiving orders from Moscow, and soon were outspoken in wanting independence. Reforms also came too late for the reforms to make any difference. We can relate this to the market reforms in China, where they still kept a totalitarian regime, suppressing revolutions like the one in tiananmen square. If the Soviet Union had started these market reforms in the 70’s, before the brunt of economic stagnation, and kept a totalitarian attitude towards dissidents, there could have been a different outcome, and we would be able to travel to the Soviet Union much like we do to China, or Cuba today.