how did Communism collapse in Russia?
Answers
Gorbachev's decision to loosen the Soviet yoke on the countries of Eastern Europe created an independent, democratic momentum that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, and then the overthrow of Communist rule throughout Eastern Europe.
Many things led to the fall of communism in Russia. An oppressed people will always yearn to breathe free. Any government that systematically oppresses its citizens into submission and obedience will eventually see a backlash against the ruling regime. This is what the leaders in the U.S.S.R. faced that culminated into them voting their Communist government out of existence in 1991.
But just because Communism was voted out of Russia, did not bring the impoverished nation into extinction. More than seventy years of a failed utopian idealism that was coercively placed upon the citizens brought the fall of the Communistic rule in our present time. Promises to the people from the Communist government to supply all their need so that they would live comfortably did not come to fruition. The masses became restless and demanded change.
Read of this woman’s interaction with former Soviet residents:
“I was privileged to meet some former Soviet residents a few years ago. The Ukrainian couple and I being the same age, spoke of the differences of growing up in our two countries during the same era of history. We sat quietly in their living room listening to each other’s stories on how we reacted during the times of the Cold War. They spoke of how their Communist leaders always told the people that America was ready to strike their homeland at any moment. I spoke of the practice drills we had in school on what to do in case Russia launched a nuclear strike.
“Russian was the only language allowed spoken in the Soviet Union to help create equality among all the people. The Ukrainian wife spoke softly in Russian as her husband interpreted. She spoke of the Great Purge during Stalin’s rule from 1924 to 1953 when her grandparents were imprisoned and tortured to death in Siberian prison camps along with millions of other Christians. Stalin considered anyone living a lifestyle contrary to the Atheistic values of Communism to be dissidents. Socialist view of religion is that religion is a relic from the past and atheism was more successful in treating all men equally.
Mother Russia determined the careers of the graduates from high school. Mother Russia assigned the housing and which location of the country one would live. My newfound friend whispered more stories of living under Communist rule. She was assigned to become a nurse and serve Mother Russia in a medical capacity. She was thrilled with her assignment, but many did not receive such enjoyable tasks. Suicide was high in graduates who got lifelong commitments to hard labor. She spoke of dire situations in hospitals with lack of staff and medical supplies. Many of her patients relied on her faith to bring healing to their diseased bodies, when nothing medically could be done to help them. Doctors would call her into the hospital in the middle of night to pray for a patient. She did so in peril of her own safety. She was imprisoned at the age of 21 for looking like a Christian. She said that was a hard lesson learning not to look into the eyes of the authorities, but to always keep a downward glance.
By the time Mikhail Gorbachev was positioned as General Secretary of the U.S.S.R. in March of 1985, the Russian socioeconomic situation was in collapse and ruin. Criminals ran amuck, corruption within the government; alcoholism and drug addictions were the mainstream of an oppressed people. My friends spoke of their living conditions during these times. They were a family of nine living in a two-room apartment. The father approached the government to apply for a bigger place to reside. The officials scoffed at their predicament and told him to pray to his God, since he believed in one, to give his family a bigger apartment. The family petitioned God to supply their need for a larger space. “So in 1991, the Soviet leaders voted Communism out of the current political regime. The Ukrainian family was granted visas to the United States where they bought a brand new six-bedroom ranch style home in the same year. Cautiously, this family watches the struggle that democracy has been fighting in their homeland. Many enemies to democracy exist to keep people from living a free life, to keep people coerced into thinking and behaving collectively instead of individually.”