Jody Yip 4E13

Cold War Reading response1

This article is about the leader of the USSR from 1985 to 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev,
his political and economic reforms led to the demise of the USSR.

Gorbachev introduced a system which was called perestroika and it allowed more
freedoms in the market. Yet, perestroika also was a factors for the falling of
communism as it allowed for the spread of democratic ideals. By 1987, there was an
overwhelming tension in Soviet society that increased the worries of the people in the
USSR about the perestroika. It was because they could not accept the fact that
perestroika could not work fast enough and fix the problems to their satisfactions.

On the other hand, the formation of perestroika also affected the external foreign
affairs of the USSR. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan of the US said that Gorbachev
is a different type than past Soviet leaders and that we can get along. It showed his
willingness to cooperate with Gorbachev. However, Reagan aimed to use that strength
to push the USSR to its financial limits as a way to damage the government’s control.
Therefore, he kept rearming the US and it crippled the economy of the USSR as she
needed to respond to the US by also rearming her country.

Moreover, Gorbachev introduced a system which was called glasnost and it allowed
the Soviet people to finally see what life was like in democratic countries. Many of
them realized that communism was unable to compete with the strength of democracy
of capitalism. This unsuccessful system was also a factor led to the fall of the USSR.

To concluded, Gorbachev’ s reforms were aimed to improve the communism system.

Yet, it brought about the fall of the USSR instead of improving her.