The Gorbachev Era: Reforming Soviet Society (1985-1991)

After the death of Brezhnev¹⁴ in 1982, two Soviet leaders – Yuri Andropov¹⁵ (died in 1983) and then Konstantin Chernenko¹⁶ (died in 1985) – ruled the state. Since they died soon after assuming power, they could not introduce any serious changes. In March 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev¹⁷became the leader of the Soviet Union. He started a wide-scale program of reforms which were supposed to revive the Soviet economy and make it competitive with the West. His new policy came to be known as perestroika. Gorbachev’s economic plans called for reducing centralized control of the economy and allowing more freedom to factories, farms, and peasants. Limited private enterprises (the so called kooperativy) were also allowed and became widespread, especially in the service industry. To wake up initiative among Soviet people Gorbachev decided to weaken state control over the ideological sphere. The state allowed and even encouraged to criticize many aspects of Soviet internal and external policy. This criticism came to be known as glasnost (openness). Soviet people got the right to express themselves freely and form various organizations to protect their rights. All political prisoners were released.

The primary aim of the glasnost campaign was to encourage economic modernization. Gorbachev thought that a free society would be more effective in putting reforms into practice. In contrast to the Chinese reformation model, where political freedom was suppressed not to be an obstacle for economic development, Gorbachev decided to use it to stimulate reforms. The result was counterproductive. Introducing democratic freedoms in the Soviet republics opened the way for creating nationalistic movements, which started struggle for independence. The situation strikingly reminded that one of 1917, when the Provisional Government introduced democratic reforms which brought the Russian empire to collapse.

Thanks to the liberalization policy numerous independent cultural organizations started to appear in Ukraine as well as in all other Soviet republics. They tried to revive their national languages, histories, cultures, and the environment. In general, their activities seriously stimulated the growth of national consciousness in all Soviet republics.

The great catalyst for the Ukrainian national movement was the Chornobyl nuclear accident (April 26, 1986). Moscow’s attempts to silence the consequences of the event led many Ukrainians to rethink their attitude to the Soviet system which could easily sacrifice the lives of people for political reasons. (Moscow even ordered the traditional May Day parade to be held in Kyiv at the time). The Chornobyl accident made many Ukrainians believe that an independent Ukrainian government would better protect their interests.

In September, 1989 a large-scale mass organization under the name “Popular Movement of Ukraine for Perestroika” (Rukh) had its founding congress. The Rukh advocated a program of democratization and support for national rights. Mostly thanks to the Rukh’s efforts Ukrainian was proclaimed the state language in 1989. In the spring of 1990 the first free elections to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) were held. On June 16, 1990, the Verkovna Rada proclaimed the Declaration of Sovereignty which placed Ukraine’s interests over those of the USSR. In 1990 a number of radical political parties with the aim of achieving full independence emerged in Ukraine. Similar political parties appeared in many other Soviet republics. The Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse.

On August 18, 1991, some old-line Communist leaders, fearing loss of their powers and the disintegration of the USSR, put Gorbachev under house arrest while he was vacationing in Crimea. The next morning an eight-member State Committee of the State of Emergency (ГКЧП) of old-line Communists, including the defense minister and the KGB (secret police) chief, announced in Moscow that Gorbachev was sick and that the Committee had assumed emergency powers. The Committee planned to limit democratic freedoms and establish strict order all over the USSR. The Committee gave orders to introduce strict censorship in the media and to postpone the activity of political parties and movements. Tanks and troops were brought in the Soviet capital. However, neither the tanks nor the troops were resolute enough to fire on resisters led by Boris Yeltsin¹⁸ in Moscow. By August 22 the coup had failed, and Gorbachev returned to Moscow that same morning. The coup leaders were arrested, and Yeltsin became the hero of the day. Gorbachev’s power and authority declined sharply.

Soon after, taking advantage of the situation (the weakness of the central government), Soviet republics proclaimed independence one after another. The Ukrainian parliamentarians did it on August 24. The coup showed them that only independence could guarantee safety and free development. As the involvement of the Communist Party in the attempted coup became clear, high governmental officials quit the party, which was soon banned. The declaration of independence was confirmed in a nationwide referendum on December 1. (More than 90 percent voted “yes”). At the same time, Leonid Kravchuk, former major ideologue of Ukrainian Communists, was elected as Ukraine’s president.