Mikhail Gorbachev
He was Brezhnev's successor beginning in 1985. He was eager to bring about reforms as the war in Afghanistan dragged on. He renounced the Brezhnev doctrine, signed arms control treaties with the United States, and eventually got Soviet troops out of Afghanistan. In Russia, he called for glasnost, ending censorship and encouraging people to openly discuss the country's problems. Second, he urged perestroika hoping that he could boost efficiency by reducing the size and complexity of the government bureaucracy. Although he wanted to keep the essence of communism, he backed some free-market ideas, including limited private enterprise.
One of Gorbachev's goals was to have the Soviet economy produce more and higher-quality consumer goods. He put factory managers, instead of central planners, in charge of decisions. He gave farmers more land to grow food on, which they could then sell on the free market. Unfortunately, all of these reforms turned out disastrous. Prices soared, shortages became frequent, and the Soviet economy was worse than ever. For a biography about Gorbachev's early and political life, click here. About.com: 20th Century History - Mikhail Gorbachev For an in-depth biography about Gorbachev's fall from power, click below. Encyclopedia of World Biography |