The main reforms carried out during perestroika. Beginning of reform of the political system

Background to perestroika. After the death of L.I. Brezhnev, Yu.V. stood at the head of the party and state. Andropov. He was the first of the Soviet leaders to admit that many problems were unresolved. Taking measures to establish basic order and eradicate corruption, Andropov advocated for the preservation and renewal of the system, for its cleansing of obvious abuses and costs. This approach to reform suited the nomenklatura quite well: it gave it a chance to maintain its position. Andropov’s activities were met with sympathy in society and raised hopes for changes for the better.

In February 1984, Andropov died, and K.U. became the head of the CPSU, and then the state. Chernenko. He generally continued Andropov’s course of cleansing and saving the system, but did not achieve success.

Under Chernenko, the wing in the party leadership that advocated a more radical renewal of society finally formed and strengthened its position. Its leader was Politburo member M.S. Gorbachev. On March 10, 1985, Chernenko died. Less than 24 hours later, the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee elected M. S. Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

"Personnel revolution". At the April plenum (April 23, 1985), the new leader of the country made a statement about the economic crisis that had struck the country and the need to “renew socialism.” It was then that the word “perestroika” was heard for the first time.

“Apparently, comrades, we all need to rebuild. Everyone.”

M.S. Gorbachev

Over the next few months, the list of troubles that befell Soviet society took pride of place in the speeches of the new Secretary General.

It was planned to transform socialism, first of all, by accelerating social economic development countries. It was supposed to make more active use of the achievements of science and technology, decentralize the management of industry and agriculture, introduce cost accounting in enterprises, and significantly strengthen order and discipline in production. It was planned to boost the engineering industry, on the basis of which it was planned to begin the reconstruction of the entire national economic complex.

The establishment of order and discipline began with an extremely unpopular decree on combating drunkenness, issued in May 1985. Ill-considered actions of the authorities led to the cutting down of vineyards, and the restriction of the sale of alcohol led to a sharp increase in sugar consumption. The fight against bribery intensified, during which a number of central and local leaders were replaced. A commission was created under the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee for the rehabilitation of those repressed in the 1930-1959s. as a result of her work, N.I. was rehabilitated. Bukharin, A.I. Rykov, A.V. Chayanov and many others.

In January 1987, the long-prepared Plenum opened. Gorbachev made a report “On perestroika and personnel policy of the party.” It identified the following areas:

¾the beginning of the transformation of the CPSU from a state structure into a real political party (“We must decisively abandon administrative functions that are unusual for party bodies”);
¾promotion of non-partisans to leadership positions;
¾expansion of “intra-party democracy”;
¾change in the functions and role of the Soviets, they were supposed to become “genuine authorities on their territory”;
¾holding elections to the Soviets on an alternative basis (elections since 1918 have been a vote for a single candidate for each seat).

In 1987, the leader of the USSR announced the party's policy of openness and democratization of society, censorship was lifted, many new periodicals appeared, and the so-called “book boom” occurred. Weekly publications - the Moscow News newspaper and the Ogonyok magazine - are becoming the heralds of perestroika. One of the most striking moments of this period was the anti-Stalin campaign in the press, and later other figures of the Soviet era were also criticized.

Constitutional reform 1988-1990 In January 1987, the CPSU Central Committee took measures to develop elements of democracy in the party and in production. Alternative elections of party secretaries and elections of heads of enterprises and institutions were introduced. True, these innovations were not widely implemented.

Reform issues political system discussed at the XIX All-Union Party Conference (summer 1988). its decisions, in essence, provided for the combination of “socialist values” with the political doctrine of liberalism.

In particular, a course was proclaimed towards the creation of a "lawful state", the separation of powers, and the creation of Soviet parliamentarism. To do this, Gorbachev proposed to form a new authority - the Congress of People's Deputies, to turn the Supreme Soviet into a permanent parliament. This was the main task of the first stage of constitutional reform. The electoral legislation was changed: elections were supposed to be held on an alternative basis, to make them two-stage, a third of the deputy corps to be formed from public organizations.

One of the main ideas of the XIX Party Conference was the redistribution of power structures to the Soviet ones. It was proposed to unite the posts of party and Soviet leaders of different levels in one hand.

From the report of M.S. Gorbachev at the XIX All-Union Party Conference

“The existing political system proved unable to protect us from the growth of stagnation in economic and social life in recent decades and doomed the reforms undertaken at that time to failure. An increasing concentration of economic and managerial functions in the hands of the party political leadership became characteristic. At the same time, the role of the executive apparatus was hypertrophied. Number of persons elected to various government and public bodies, reached a third of the adult population of the country, but at the same time, their bulk was excluded from real participation in solving state and public affairs.

In the spring of 1989, elections were held for people's deputies of the USSR under a new electoral law. The First Congress of People's Deputies took place in May-June 1989. At it, Gorbachev was elected chairman Supreme Council THE USSR. Relatively free elections of deputies led to the fact that the political initiative passed to them.

From the election platform of A.D. Sakharov. 1989

"1. Elimination of the administrative-command system and replacing it with pluralistic market regulators and competition. Elimination of the omnipotence of ministries and departments...

Social and national justice. Protection of individual rights. Openness of society. Freedom of opinion...

Eradicating the consequences of Stalinism, the rule of law. Open the archives of the NKVD-MGB, make public data on the crimes of Stalinism and all unjustified repressions."

At the second stage of constitutional reform (1990-1991), the task of introducing the post of President of the USSR was put forward. At the III Congress of Deputies in March 1990, it became M.S. Gorbachev. However, the initiators of these changes did not take into account that the presidential system of power could not be organically combined with the system of power of the Soviets, which did not presuppose the separation of powers, but the absolute power of the Soviets.

The task of building a rule of law state was also set, in which equality of citizens before the law is ensured. For this purpose, Article 6 of the USSR Constitution, which established the leading position of the CPSU in society, was abolished. The abolition of this article led to the legalization of existing political parties and the formation of new ones. Various social democratic and political parties began to operate.

Formation of a multi-party system. As the CPSU lost its political initiative, the process of formation of new political forces intensified in the country. In May 1988, the Democratic Union declared itself the first “opposition” party of the CPSU. In April of the same year, popular fronts emerged in the Baltic states. They became the first real independent mass organizations. Later, similar fronts arose in all union and autonomous republics. The formation of the party reflected all the main directions of political thought.

The liberal direction was represented by the "Democratic Union", Christian Democrats, Constitutional Democrats, Liberal Democrats, etc. The largest of the liberal parties was formed in May 1990. Democratic Party of Russia. In November 1990, the Republican Party of the Russian Federation emerged. On the basis of the “Democratic Russia” voter movement, created during the elections of people's deputies of the USSR in the spring of 1989, a mass socio-political organization took shape.

With all the diversity of parties and movements, at the center of the political struggle, as in 1917, there were again two directions - communist and liberal.

The communists called for the preferential development of public property, collectivist forms of social relations and self-government.

Liberals (they called themselves democrats) advocated the privatization of property, personal freedom, a system of full-fledged parliamentary democracy, and the transition to a market economy.

In June 1990, the Communist Party of the RSFSR was formed, whose leadership took a traditional position.

From the speech of I.K. Polozkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the RSFSR. 1991

“The so-called democrats managed to replace the goals of perestroika, to seize the initiative from our party. The people are being deprived of their past, their present is being destroyed, and no one has yet said intelligibly what awaits them in the future... There can be no talk of any multi-party system in our country now. There is the CPSU, which defends socialist perestroika, and there are leaders of a few political groups who ultimately have one political face - anti-communism."

By the XXVIII Congress of the CPSU the party itself had fallen into a state of split. The congress not only failed to overcome the crisis in the party, but also contributed to its deepening. Quitting the party became widespread.

In the leadership of the CPSU, attacks on Gorbachev and the perestroika course have become more frequent. In April and July 1991, a number of members of the Central Committee demanded the resignation of the General Secretary.

The reform of the political system carried out by Gorbachev steadily led to an even greater intensification of the national movement. On May 18, 1989, Lithuania was the first of the USSR republics to adopt the Declaration of Sovereignty. In June, bloody clashes occurred between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks in the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan. On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Lithuania. On June 12, 1990, the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty.

The August political crisis of 1991 and its consequences. By the summer of 1991, most of the Union republics of the USSR had adopted laws on sovereignty, which forced Gorbachev to speed up the development of a new Union Treaty. Its signing was scheduled for August 20. The signing of the new Union Treaty meant not only the preservation of a single state, but also the transition to its real federal structure, as well as the elimination of a number of state structures traditional for the USSR.

The leadership of the RSFSR issued an appeal to the Russians, in which they condemned the actions of the State Emergency Committee and declared its decisions illegal. At the call of the President of Russia, tens of thousands of Muscovites took up defense around the White House of Russia. On August 21, an emergency session of the Supreme Soviet of Russia was convened, which supported the leadership of the republic. On the same day, USSR President Gorbachev returned to Moscow. Members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested.

The weakening of the central government led to the strengthening of separatist sentiments in the leadership of the republics. Most of the republics after the events of August 1991 refused to sign the Union Treaty. In December 1991, the Leaders of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus announced the termination of the 19222 Union Treaty and their intention to create the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It united 11 former Soviet republics. In December 1991, President Gorbachev resigned. The USSR ceased to exist.

And interethnic relations.

Background to perestroika.

After the death of Brezhnev, Yu. V. Andropov stood at the head of the party and state. In one of his first speeches, Andropov acknowledged the existence of many unresolved problems. Taking measures to restore elementary order and eradicate corruption, Andropov spoke from the standpoint of preserving and updating the existing system, advocating nothing more than cleansing it of visible abuses and costs. This approach to reform suited the nomenklatura quite well, which it gave them a chance to maintain their positions. Andropov's activities were greeted with sympathy among the people, gave rise to hope in people for changes for the better.

In February 1984, Andropov died, and the head CPSU, and then K. U. Chernenko became the state. The man is old and sick, he spent most of his time on treatment or rest. Despite the fact that, on the whole, Andropov's course of cleansing and saving the system continued, Chernenko's short rule did not slow down, but, on the contrary, accelerated its disintegration.

Under Chernenko, the wing in the leadership that advocated a more radical renewal of society finally formed and strengthened its positions. Its recognized leader was M. S. Gorbachev, who was rapidly gaining political authority and was the second person in the party under Chernenko. On March 10, 1985, Chernenko died. The plenum of the CPSU Central Committee elected Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Central Committee.

"Personnel revolution".

The new leadership came to power without a clear concept and programs change. Gorbachev later admitted that at first, only the improvement of the society that had been established over recent decades and the correction of “individual deformations” of socialism were envisaged.
With this approach, personnel changes became one of the main directions of change.

In January 1987, the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee recognized the need to accelerate reforms carry out personnel selection based on the main criterion - their support for the goals and ideas of perestroika. The change of party and state leaders and their rejuvenation intensified under the banner of the fight against conservatism. As attempts at reform failed, criticism from the “conservatives” intensified.

In 1985 - 1990 There was a massive replacement and rejuvenation of party and state personnel at both the central and local levels. At the same time, the role of local leaders, surrounded, as before, by a host of close and devoted people, increased.

However, very soon the initiators of perestroika realized that simply replacing personnel could not solve the country’s problems. Serious political reform was needed.

Reform 1988

In January 1987, the Central Committee of the CPSU took measures that contributed to the development of elements of democracy in the party and in production: alternative elections of party secretaries were introduced, in a number of cases open voting was replaced by secret voting, and a system for electing leaders was introduced enterprises and institutions. However, these innovations were never widely used.

Issues of reform of the political system were discussed at the XIX All-Union Party Conference (summer 1988). Its decisions included the combination of “socialist values” with the political doctrine of liberalism. In particular, a course was proclaimed towards the creation of a “socialist rule of law”, “separation of powers” (one of which was considered the CPSU), and the creation of “Soviet parliamentarism”. For this purpose, Gorbachev proposed to formulate a new supreme authority - the Congress of People's Deputies, and to turn the Supreme Council into a permanent parliament.

The electoral legislation was changed: elections were supposed to be held on an alternative basis, they were to be made in two stages, a third of the deputy corps was to be formed from public organizations, and not during regular elections.

One of the main ideas of the conference was the redistribution of power functions from party structures to Soviet ones (while maintaining party influence in them). To ensure the “smoothness” of this transition, it was proposed to combine the posts of party and Soviet leaders in the same hands (from top to bottom).

In the spring of 1989, elections of people's deputies of the USSR were held under a new electoral law. At the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (May - June 1989), Gorbachev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Relatively free elections of deputies led to the fact that the initiative for political reform now passed to them, who proposed more radical changes.

At the proposal of people's deputies, the concept of political reform in 1990 - 1991. was supplemented with a number of important provisions. The main one was the idea of building a rule of law state (where equality of all before the law is ensured). For this purpose, the Third Congress of People's Deputies (March 1990) considered it expedient to introduce the post of President of the USSR (Gorbachev became President of the USSR). The initiators of these changes did not understand that the presidential system of power could not be organically combined with the system of power of the Soviets, which did not imply the division of power, but the absolute power of the Soviets. At the same time, Article 6 of the Constitution, which secured the monopoly position of the CPSU in society, was abolished. This opened up the possibility for the formation of a legal multi-party system in Soviet Union.

Formation of a multi-party system.

As the CPSU lost its political initiative, the process of forming new political parties intensified in the country.
In May 1988, the Democratic Union declared itself the first opposition party to the CPSU. In April of the same year, popular fronts emerged in the Baltic states. They became the first independent mass organizations. Later, similar fronts arose in all union and autonomous republics. The newly formed parties reflected all the main directions of political thought.

The liberal direction was represented by the "Democratic Union", Christian Democrats, Constitutional Democrats, Liberal Democrats. The largest of the liberal parties was the Democratic Party, which took shape in May 1990. Russia"(leader N. Travkin). In November 1990, the “Republican Party of the Russian Federation” emerged. On the basis of the “Democratic Russia” voter movement (created during the elections of people's deputies of the USSR in the spring of 1989), a mass socio-political organization took shape.

The socialist and social democratic directions were represented by the “Social Democratic Association” and the “Social Democratic Party of Russia”, as well as the “Socialist Party”. The formation of nationalist political parties and public organizations began.

With all the diversity of these parties and movements, at the center of the political struggle, as in 1917, there were again two directions - communist and liberal.
The communists called for the preferential development of public property, collectivist forms of social relations and self-government (the mechanisms of these transformations were, however, discussed in the general view). Liberals (“democrats”) advocated the privatization of property, personal freedom, a system of full parliamentary democracy, and the transition to a market economy.

The positions of liberals, who sharply criticized the evils of the outdated system, were more preferable to the public than attempts to justify the existence of previous relations.

In June 1990, the Communist Party of the RSFSR was formed, whose leadership took a rather traditionalist position. Thus, the ruling party arrived at the 28th Congress of the CPSU in a state of split. By this time, three main trends were clearly visible in it: radical reformist, reformist-renovationist, traditionalist. All of them were represented in the leadership of the CPSU. However, the congress not only failed to overcome a crisis in the party, but without proposing a specific program for the restructuring of the CPSU, especially its primary organizations, contributed to its deepening. Leaving the party became widespread (from 1985 to the summer of 1991, the size of the CPSU decreased from 21 to 15 million people).

In the leadership of the CPSU, attacks on Gorbachev and the perestroika course have become more frequent. In April and July 1991, a number of Central Committee members demanded his resignation.

National politics and interethnic relations.

The beginning, even if relative, democratization of society, the policy of “glasnost” made the resuscitation of what seemed to be a long-resolved national issue inevitable. Prominent activists of national movements also began to return from imprisonment and exile. Some of them considered the current moment the most appropriate to begin an active struggle for self-determination. In December 1987, in response to the appointment of G. Kolbin instead of the dismissed leader of Kazakhstan D. Kunaev, Kazakh youth staged mass protests in Almaty, which were dispersed by the authorities. February 20, 1988 at an extraordinary session of the regional council Nagorno-Karabakh a decision was made to petition the Supreme Councils of Azerbaijan and Armenia to withdraw the region from the AzSSR and include it in the Armenian SSR. This decision was supported by mass rallies and strikes in NKAO. The response to this decision was pogroms and massacres of Armenians in Sumgait. Under these conditions, Gorbachev sent troops to Sumgayit. Life required an immediate change in national policy at the national level, but the center was in no hurry to do this.

In April 1989, the army dispersed a demonstration of national democratic forces in Tbilisi.

At the same time, the reform of the political system that began to be implemented steadily led to an even greater intensification of the national movement. On May 18, Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to adopt the Declaration of Sovereignty. In June, an interethnic conflict ensued between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks in Uzbekistan.
On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Lithuania. On June 12, the Declaration of State Sovereignty was adopted by the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR.

All this forced the leadership to take measures to formalize a new union agreement. Its first draft was published on July 24, 1990. At the same time, forceful measures were taken to preserve the Union. In April 1990, the economic blockade of Lithuania began. On the night of January 12-13, 1991, troops brought into Vilnius occupied the Press House and the building of the Committee on Television and Radio Broadcasting.

The August political crisis of 1991 and its consequences.

By the summer of 1991, most of the union republics of the USSR had adopted sovereignty laws, which forced Gorbachev to speed up the development of a new Union Treaty. Its signing was scheduled for August 20. The signing of the new Union Treaty meant not only the preservation of a single state, but also the transition to its real federal structure, as well as the elimination of a number of state structures traditional for the USSR. In an effort to prevent this, conservative forces in the country's leadership attempted to disrupt the signing of the treaty. In the absence of President Gorbachev, on the night of August 19, 1991, the State Committee for a State of Emergency (GKChP) was created, which included Vice President G. Yanaev, Prime Minister (head of government) V. Pavlov, Minister of Defense D. Yazov, Chairman of the KGB V. Kryuchkov, Minister of Internal Affairs B. Pu-go and others. The State Emergency Committee introduced a state of emergency in certain regions of the country; declared the power structures that acted contrary to the 1977 Constitution disbanded; suspended the activities of opposition parties and movements; banned rallies and demonstrations; established tight control over the media; sent troops to Moscow. The leadership of the RSFSR (President B. Yeltsin, head of government I. Silaev, First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council R. Khasbulatov) issued an appeal to the Russians, in which they condemned the actions of the State Emergency Committee as an anti-constitutional coup, and declared the State Emergency Committee and its decisions illegal. At the call of the President of Russia, tens of thousands of Muscovites took up defensive positions around the White House of Russia. On August 21, an Extraordinary Session of the Supreme Soviet of Russia was convened, supporting the leadership of the republic. On the same day, USSR President Gorbachev returned to Moscow. Members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested. The weakening of the central government led to the strengthening of separatist sentiments in the leadership of the republics. After the events of August 1991, most of the republics refused to sign the Union Treaty.

In December 1991, the leaders of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus announced the termination of the 1922 Union Treaty and their intention to create the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It initially united 1 1 former Soviet republics (without Georgia and the Baltic states). In December 1991, President Gorbachev resigned. The USSR ceased to exist.

Documentation

From the report of M. S. Gorbachev at the XIX All-Union Conference of the CPSU. 1988

The existing political system turned out to be unable to protect us from the increase in stagnation in economic and social life in recent decades and doomed the reforms undertaken then to failure. The increasing concentration of economic and managerial functions in the hands of the party and political leadership has become characteristic. At the same time, the role of the executive apparatus was hypertrophied. The number of people elected to various state and public bodies reached a third of the country's adult population, but the bulk of them were excluded from real participation in solving state and public affairs.

During the period of stagnation, the administrative apparatus, which had grown to almost a hundred union and eight hundred republican ministries and departments, practically began to dictate its will to both the economy and politics. It was the departments and other management structures that held the execution in their hands decisions made, by their actions or inaction they determined what to hit and what not to.

From the election platform of A.D. Sakharov. 1989

1. Elimination of the administrative-command system and replacing it with a pluralistic one with market regulators and competition...
2. Social and national justice. Protection of individual rights. Openness of society. Freedom of belief...
3. Eradication of the consequences of Stalinism, rule of law. Open the archives of the NKVD - MGB, make public data on the crimes of Stalinism and all unjustified repressions...

5. Support for the policy of disarmament and resolution of regional conflicts. Transition to a completely defensive strategic doctrine.
6. Convergence (rapprochement) of the socialist and capitalist systems, accompanied by counter pluralistic processes in the economy, social sphere, culture and ideology, is the only way to radically eliminate the danger of the death of humanity as a result of thermonuclear and environmental disasters.

From the speech at the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee by I.K. Polozkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the RSFSR. January 31, 1991

It is now clear to everyone that perestroika, conceived in 1985 and launched by the party and people as a renewal of socialism... did not take place.
The so-called democrats succeeded in substituting the goals of perestroika and seized the initiative from our party. Society found itself at a crossroads. The people are being deprived of their past, their present is being destroyed, and no one has yet intelligibly said what awaits them in the future... We cannot talk about any kind of multi-party system now. There is the CPSU, which defends socialist perestroika, and there are leaders of a few political groups that ultimately have one political face - anti-communism.

Questions and tasks:

1. Using the documents provided, explain why the existing political system turned into the main brake on social development.

2. Why was the “separation of powers” proposed at the 19th Conference of the CPSU necessary between party bodies and the Soviets? Did it really happen?

3. How do you understand the essence of the idea of convergence (bringing together) the socialist and capitalist systems put forward by A.D. Sakharov in the 1989 election campaign?

4. What are the main reasons for the emergence of new political parties in the USSR in the late 80s?

5. Assess the political transformations in the country during the years of perestroika.

History of Russia, XX - early XXI centuries: Textbook. for 9th grade. general education institutions / A. A. Danilov, L. G. Kosulina, A. V. Pyzhikov. - 10th ed. - M.: Enlightenment, 2003

Background to perestroika, “personnel revolution”, constitutional reform of 1988–1990, the formation of a multi-party system, national politics and interethnic relations, the August political crisis of 1991 and its consequences.

Background to perestroika.

After JI's death. I. Brezhnev, Yu. V. Andropov stood at the head of the party and state. He was the first of the Soviet leaders to admit that many problems had not been resolved. Taking measures to establish basic order and eradicate corruption, Andropov advocated for the preservation and renewal of the system, for its cleansing of obvious abuses and costs. This approach to reform suited the nomenklatura quite well: it gave it a chance to maintain its position. Andropov’s activities were met with sympathy in society and raised hopes for changes for the better.

In February 1984, Andropov died, and K. U. Chernenko became the head of the CPSU, and then the state. He generally continued Andropov’s course of cleansing and saving the system, but did not achieve success.

Under Chernenko, the wing in the party leadership that advocated a more radical renewal of society finally formed and strengthened its position. Its leader was Politburo member M. S. Gorbachev. On March 10, 1985, Chernenko died. Less than 24 hours later, the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee elected M. S. Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

The inheritance left to the new management was not an easy one. The ongoing arms race and the Afghan war not only led to the relative international isolation of the USSR, but also intensified the crisis in the economy and lowered the standard of living of the population. Gorbachev saw a way out in radical systemic reforms in all spheres of the country’s life.

"Personnel revolution".

The new leadership came to power without a clear vision and program for change. Gorbachev later admitted that at first, only the improvement of the established order over the past decades and the correction of “individual deformations” were envisaged. With this approach, one of the main directions of change was a change in management personnel.

In January 1987, the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU recognized the need to select personnel on the basis of the main criterion - their support for the goals and ideas of perestroika. The change of party and state leaders accelerated under the pretext of fighting conservatism. Moreover, as economic reform proved unsuccessful, criticism of the "conservatives" intensified.

In 1985-1990 there was a massive replacement and "rejuvenation" of the party-state cadres both at the central and local levels. At the same time, the role of local leaders, surrounded, as before, by close and devoted people, grew. However, very soon the initiators of perestroika considered that the country's problems could not be solved by simply replacing personnel. Serious political reform was needed.

Constitutional reform 1988-1990

In January 1987, the CPSU Central Committee took measures to develop elements of democracy in the party and in production. Alternative elections of party secretaries and elections of heads of enterprises and institutions were introduced. True, these innovations were not widely implemented. Issues of reform of the political system were discussed at the XIX All-Union Party Conference (summer 1988). Its decisions, in essence, provided for the combination of "socialist values" with the political doctrine of liberalism. From courses new history and the history of Russia, remember what you know about the essence of liberalism as a political doctrine.

In particular, a course was proclaimed towards the creation of a “socialist rule of law” state, the separation of powers (one of which was called the CPSU), and the creation of Soviet parliamentarism. To do this, Gorbachev proposed forming a new supreme body of power - the Congress of People's Deputies, and turning the Supreme Council into a permanent parliament. This was the main task of the first stage of constitutional reform. The electoral legislation was changed: elections were supposed to be held on an alternative basis, they were to be made in two stages, and a third of the deputy corps was to be formed from public organizations.

One of the main ideas of the 19th Party Conference was the redistribution of power functions from party structures to Soviet ones. It was proposed to unite the posts of party and Soviet leaders of different levels in one hand.

From the report of M. S. Gorbachev at the XIX All-Union Party Conference

The existing political system turned out to be unable to protect us from the growing stagnation in economic and social life in recent decades and doomed the reforms undertaken then to failure. An increasing concentration of economic and managerial functions in the hands of the party and political leadership has become characteristic. At the same time, the role of the executive apparatus was hypertrophied. The number of persons elected to various state and public bodies reached a third of the country's adult population, but the bulk of them were excluded from real participation in solving state and public affairs.

In the spring of 1989, elections were held for people's deputies of the USSR under a new electoral law. At the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (May-June 1989), Gorbachev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Relatively free elections of deputies led to the fact that the political initiative passed to them.

From the election platform of A.D. Sakharov. 1989

1. Elimination of the administrative-command system and replacing it with a pluralistic one with market regulators and competition. Elimination of the omnipotence of ministries and departments...
2. Social and national justice. Protection of individual rights. Openness of society. Freedom of belief...
3. Eradication of the consequences of Stalinism, rule of law. Open the archives of the NKVD - MGB, make public data on the crimes of Stalinism and all unjustified repressions...

At the second stage of the constitutional reform (1990-1991), the task of introducing the post of President of the USSR was put forward. At the III Congress of People's Deputies in March 1990, it became M. S. Gorbachev. However, the initiators of these changes did not take into account that the presidential system of power cannot be organically combined with the system of power of the Soviets, which assumed no separation of powers, and the sovereignty of the Soviets.

The task of building a rule of law state was also set, in which equality of citizens before the law is ensured. To this end, the 6th article of the Constitution of the USSR, which secured the leading position of the CPSU in society, was canceled. This opened up the opportunity for the formation of a multi-party system in the country.

Formation of a multi-party system.

As the CPSU lost its political initiative, the process of formation of new political forces intensified in the country. In May 1988, the Democratic Union proclaimed itself the first "opposition" party of the CPSU. In April of the same year, popular fronts emerged in the Baltic states. They became the first real independent mass organizations. Later, similar fronts arose in all union and autonomous republics. The formed parties reflected all the main directions of political thought.

The liberal direction was represented by the Democratic Union, Christian Democrats, Constitutional Democrats, Liberal Democrats, etc. The largest of the liberal parties was the Democratic Party of Russia, formed in May 1990. In November 1990, the Republican Party of the Russian Federation emerged. On the basis of the “Democratic Russia” voter movement, created during the elections of people's deputies of the USSR in the spring of 1989, a mass socio-political organization took shape.

The socialist and social democratic directions were represented by the Social Democratic Association, the Social Democratic Party of Russia, and the Socialist Party. The beginning was laid for the formation of nationalist political parties and public organizations, into which, in particular, the popular fronts of the Baltic and some other republics were transformed.

With all the diversity of these parties and movements, at the center of the political struggle, as in 1917, there were again two directions - communist and liberal. The communists called for the preferential development of public property, collectivist forms of social relations and self-government (the mechanisms of these transformations were, however, discussed in the most general terms).

Liberals (they called themselves democrats) advocated the privatization of property, personal freedom, a system of full-fledged parliamentary democracy, and the transition to a market economy.

The positions of the liberals, who sharply criticized the evils of the outdated system, seemed more preferable to the public than the attempts made by the leadership of the CPSU to justify the existence of previous relations. In June 1990, the Communist Party of the RSFSR was formed, whose leadership took a traditionalist position.

From the speech of I.K. Polozkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the RSFSR. 1991

The so-called democrats managed to replace the goals of perestroika and seize the initiative from our party. The people are being deprived of their past, their present is being destroyed, and no one has yet intelligibly said what awaits them in the future... We cannot talk about any kind of multi-party system now. There is the CPSU, which defends socialist perestroika, and there are leaders of a few political groups that ultimately have one political face - anti-communism.

By the 28th Congress of the CPSU the party itself was in a state of split. Three main trends were clearly visible: radical reformist, reformist-renovationist, and traditionalist. All of them were represented in the leadership of the CPSU. However, the congress not only did not overcome the crisis in the party, but also contributed to its deepening. Quitting the party became widespread. From 1985 to the summer of 1991, the size of the CPSU decreased from 21 to 15 million people. In the leadership of the CPSU, attacks on Gorbachev and the perestroika course have become more frequent. In April and July 1991, a number of members of the Central Committee demanded the resignation of the General Secretary.

National politics and interethnic relations.

The democratization of society and the policy of glasnost made inevitable the aggravation of what seemed to be a long-resolved national issue. Prominent activists of national movements returned from imprisonment and exile. Some of them considered the current moment the most appropriate to begin an active struggle for self-determination. Back in December 1987, in response to the appointment of G. Kolbin instead of the dismissed leader of Kazakhstan D. Kunaev, Kazakh youth staged mass protests in Almaty, which were dispersed by the authorities. On February 20, 1988, at an extraordinary session of the regional council of Nagorno-Karabakh (NKAO), it was decided to petition the Supreme Councils of Azerbaijan and Armenia to withdraw the region from Azerbaijan and include it in Armenia. This decision was supported by mass rallies and strikes in NKAO. The response to this decision was pogroms and extermination of Armenians in the suburb of Baku - the city of Sumgait.

Troops were sent there to save people. In April 1989, in Tbilisi, the Soviet army dispersed a demonstration of supporters of Georgia's secession from the USSR.

On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Lithuania.

On June 12, 1990, the Declaration of State Sovereignty was adopted by the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR.

All this forced the leadership of the USSR to take measures to draw up a new Union Treaty. Its first draft was published on July 24, 1990. At the same time, forceful measures were taken to preserve the Union. In April 1990, the economic blockade of Lithuania began. On the night of January 12-13, 1991, troops brought into Vilnius occupied the Press House and the building of the Committee on Television and Radio Broadcasting.

The August political crisis of 1991 and its consequences.

In an effort to prevent this, conservative forces in the country's leadership attempted to disrupt the signing of the treaty. In the absence of President Gorbachev, on the night of August 19, 1991, the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) was created, which included Vice President G. Yanaev, Prime Minister V. Pavlov, Minister of Defense D. Yazov, KGB Chairman V. Kryuchkov, Minister of Internal Affairs B. Pugo and others. The State Emergency Committee introduced a state of emergency in certain areas of the country; declared the power structures that acted contrary to the Constitution of the USSR disbanded; suspended the activities of opposition parties and movements; banned rallies and demonstrations; established tight control over the media; sent troops to Moscow.

The leadership of the RSFSR (President B. Yeltsin, head of government I. Silaev, first deputy chairman of the Supreme Council R. Khasbulatov) issued an appeal to the Russians, in which they condemned the actions of the State Emergency Committee as an anti-constitutional coup, and declared the State Emergency Committee and its decisions illegal. At the call of the President of Russia, tens of thousands of Muscovites took up defensive positions around the White House of Russia. On August 21, an emergency session of the Supreme Soviet of Russia was convened, which supported the leadership of the republic. On the same day, USSR President Gorbachev returned to Moscow. Members of the State Emergency Committee were arrested.

The weakening of the central government led to the strengthening of separatist sentiments in the leadership of the republics. Most of the republics after the events of August 1991 refused to sign the Union Treaty. In December 1991, the leaders of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus announced the termination of the 1922 Union Treaty and their intention to create the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It united 11 former Soviet republics (excluding Georgia and the Baltic countries). In December 1991, President Gorbachev resigned. The USSR ceased to exist.

ators. Some of them enjoyed the support of Yu. Andropov. In March 1985, N. S. Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and N. Ryzhkov headed the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Both were representatives of the younger generation in the party leadership and were well aware of the urgent need for reform.

The new leaders almost immediately put forward the idea of “renewing socialism” and “accelerating the country’s socio-economic development.” At the same time, the experience of the reign of N. Khrushchev was taken into account. At that time, as is known, the implementation of economic reforms was hampered by the lack of political changes. M. Gorbachev proposed to carry out political reforms first, and only then economic reforms. The renewal of society was seen by the initiators of reforms in the combination of socialism and democracy.

The Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee included many new people, supporters of ideas Secretary General, namely:

I. Ligachev,
V. Chebrikov,
E. Shevardnadze,
S. Sokolov.

Leading positions were occupied by B. Yeltsin and A. Yakovlev. But Gorbachev’s opponents were eliminated - G. Romanov, N. Tikhonov, V. Grishin, D. Kunaev, G. Aliev and others. Personnel changes took place especially actively during 1985 - 1986.

Note 1

In general, the composition of the Politburo was updated by two-thirds, 60% of regional leaders were changed to 40% members of the CPSU Central Committee. There were personnel changes in the leadership of the USSR State Planning Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Only after this was the change in the country’s political and economic course officially announced and reforms began.

At the XXVII Congress of the CPSU in March 1986, the Secretary General announced the expansion of glasnost, without which it is impossible political democracy and the creativity of the masses, their participation in government. Almost immediately after the completion of the congress, the rights of the media to cover existing problems in the country were expanded. A number of publications have changed their editors-in-chief. Until the end of 1986, previously banned publications began to be printed. literary works, to show films previously withdrawn from distribution in cinemas. New newspapers and magazines appeared.

During 1986, the leadership of most of the country's creative unions (Union of Cinematographers, Union of Writers, etc.) changed. On September 4, 1986, censorship was limited, and on September 25, 1986, by a special resolution of the CPSU Central Committee, it was decided to stop jamming the broadcasts of a number of foreign radio stations (Voice of America, BBC). In 1987, a special commission began its work, which began reviewing literature from special storage facilities with the aim of transferring it to the “open” collections of libraries and archives.

Democratic innovations within the party

The first changes towards democracy began during the preparation of the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee in January 1987. For the first time, the usual Soviet practice, when Plenum candidates were appointed from above, was replaced by elections throughout the party vertical. At the Plenum itself, M. Gorbachev made a report “On perestroika and the personnel issue in the party.” He called for transforming the CPSU from a state structure into a real political party, allowing non-party members to be promoted to leadership positions in the country, expanding internal party democracy, the powers and functions of local and republican Councils, and holding elections to the Councils on an alternative basis. Gorbachev's speech and the decision of the Plenum contributed to the holding in the summer of 1987 of the first alternative elections to the Soviets in the country's history.

As part of the policy of openness, a campaign of criticism of criminal actions and corruption broke out in the media among the party leadership of a number of republics, regions, and districts.

In parallel with the coverage of the problem of corruption, the issue of rehabilitation of Stalin’s political opponents, repressed in the 1930s - 1950s, was being resolved. peasants, intellectuals, deported peoples, dissidents. Already in December 1986, the famous dissident A. Sakharov returned from exile to Moscow. Over 140 dissidents were subsequently released from prison. They were actively involved in the political life of the country and demanded deepening of reforms.

Holding the first alternative elections

The processes of democratization became irreversible after the 19th All-Union Party Conference of the CPSU was held in June–July 1988. For the first time since 1924, delegates expressed their opinions and allowed themselves to criticize the party leadership.

The conference was broadcast on television and received public support. At Gorbachev's initiative, the delegates approved political reform.

Remark 2

A fundamental decision was made to hold alternative elections of deputies to Soviets at all levels. Anyone could be nominated as a candidate. A new democratic body was created - the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR, a permanent parliament, was elected from its members. Similar government structures were created in the republics.

Democratization was not complete, since it was planned to assign a third of all parliamentary seats to representatives of the CPSU. The communists reserved the right to claim other places. As part of political reform in 1990, the position of president was created Soviet Union, who was elected at the Congress of People's Deputies. It became M. Gorbachev. As a result of the first democratic elections of the Supreme Councils of various levels, a significant number of former dissidents and supporters of radical reforms were elected (B. Yeltsin, A. Sakharov, A. Sobchak, Yu. Afanasyev, etc.).

POLITICAL SYSTEM REFORM

"Personnel revolution". Like his predecessors, Gorbachev began the transformation by changing the “team”. IN short term 70% of the leaders of regional committees of the CPSU and more than half of the ministers of the Union government were removed from their posts.

The composition of the Central Committee of the CPSU has been significantly updated. In 1985-1987 More than half of the members of the Politburo and secretaries of the Central Committee were replaced. At one April (1989) plenum of the Central Committee, out of 460 members and candidates for membership of the Central Committee, 110 people were immediately dismissed.

Under the slogan of the fight against “conservatism,” the first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU V.V. Grishin, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine V.V. Shcherbitsky, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan D.A. Kunaev, the first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers were dismissed from work G. A. Aliev and others. Taking into account the real role of the party apparatus, Gorbachev replaced almost 85% of the leading personnel of the CPSU Central Committee - the pillars of the management system.

Soon all the key positions in the party and state were filled only with Gorbachev’s appointees. However, things still moved with great difficulty. It became clear that serious political reform was needed.

Political reform of 1988. The turning point in the political situation came in 1987. Society expected quick changes, but they did not happen. Gorbachev later called this time the first serious crisis of “perestroika.” There was only one way out of it - democratization of society.

The January (1987) plenum of the Central Committee decided to convene (after a 46-year break) the All-Union Party Conference, on the agenda of which it was decided to include the issue of preparing a reform of the political system. As the famous artist M.A. Ulyanov said, speaking at the plenum, “the time of cogs has passed... The time has come for the people who govern their own state.”

In May 1987, the first demonstration not sanctioned by the authorities took place in Moscow under the slogan: “Down with the saboteurs of perestroika!” In September, Moscow authorities were the first in the country to adopt regulations on the procedure for holding mass processions and demonstrations. Since then, Manezhnaya Square in the capital has become a place of mass rallies.

In the summer of 1987, elections to local authorities were held. For the first time, it was allowed to nominate several candidates for one deputy seat. Voter turnout control was lifted. The result forced the authorities to think: the number of votes against candidates increased almost tenfold, the absence of voters at polling stations became widespread, and in 9 districts elections did not take place at all. "Seditious inscriptions" appeared on the ballots.

In the summer of 1988, the XIX All-Union Party Conference of the CPSU took place, announcing the beginning of political reform. Its main idea was an attempt to combine the incompatible: the classical Soviet political model, which assumed the autocracy of the Soviets, with the liberal one, based on the separation of powers. It was proposed: to create a new supreme body state power- Congress of People's Deputies; Convert the Supreme Soviet into a permanent "parliament"; update the electoral legislation (introduce alternative elections, as well as the election of deputies not only in districts, but also from public organizations); create a Constitutional Supervision Committee responsible for monitoring compliance with the Basic Law. However, the main point of the reform was the redistribution of power from party structures to Soviet ones, created in the course of relatively free elections. It was the most with a strong blow according to the party nomenklatura for all the years of its existence, since it undermined the very foundations of its existence.

However this decision not only deprived Gorbachev of the support of this influential part of society, but also forced it to seize personal ownership of what was previously only under its control.

In the spring of 1989, according to the new electoral law, elections of people's deputies of the USSR were held. At the First Congress of People's Deputies, Gorbachev was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

A year later, elections were held in the union republics, where the “competition” was 8 people for one deputy mandate.

Now the initiative to reform the country has passed to the elect during open elections representatives of the people. Soon they supplemented the political reform with new provisions. Chief among them was the idea of building a rule of law state in which the equality of citizens before the law would be truly ensured. The implementation of this provision in practice led to the abolition of Article 6 of the constitution on the leading role of the CPSU. Feeling that power was beginning to slip away, Gorbachev agreed to the proposal to establish the post of president and was elected the first (and, as it turned out, last) President of the USSR.

The revival of the multi-party system. The crisis of communist ideology and the “slipping” of the reforms carried out by Gorbachev led to the fact that people began to look for a way out of the current situation on ideological and political principles other than communist ones.

The group of V. I. Novodvorskaya, which adopted the name “Democratic Union,” proclaimed itself the first opposition party in May 1988. At the same time, popular fronts arose in the Baltic republics, becoming the first mass independent organizations. Despite the fact that all these groups and associations declared “support for perestroika,” they represented the most diverse areas of political thought.

The liberal movement included representatives of the Democratic Union, several organizations of Christian Democrats, constitutional democrats, and liberal democrats. The most massive political organization of a liberal bent, uniting representatives of various movements, was the “Democratic Party of Russia” by N. I. Travkin, created in May 1990.

Socialists and Social Democrats were united in the “Socialist Party”, “Social Democratic Association” and “Social Democratic Party of Russia”.

Anarchists created the Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists and the Anarcho-Communist Revolutionary Union.

National parties first began to form in the Baltic and Transcaucasian republics.

However, with all the diversity of these parties and movements, the main struggle was between communists and liberals. Moreover, in the conditions of a growing economic and political crisis, the political weight of the liberals (they were called “democrats”) increased every day.

State and church. The beginning of democratization of society could not but affect the relations between the state and the church. During the 1989 elections, representatives of the main religious confessions were elected as people's deputies of the USSR. It was significantly weakened, and after the abolition of Article 6 of the constitution, party-state control over the activities of church organizations was completely abolished.

The return of religious buildings and shrines to believers began. Russian Orthodox Church The oldest Moscow monastery, St. Daniel's, was returned and became the residence of the patriarch. With special solemnity, the relics of Alexander Nevsky, Seraphim of Sarov and other saints were transferred from the storerooms of the “museums of the history of religion and atheism” to the churches. The construction of new churches, houses of worship, mosques, and synagogues began. Restrictions and bans on citizens’ participation in church rites. The crisis of communist ideology led to an increase in religious sentiment in society.

After the death of Patriarch Pimen of Moscow and All Rus', Alexy II was elected the new primate of the Russian Orthodox Church in June 1990. With his arrival, the country's most massive religious organization entered a new period in its history, and its authority both in the country and in the world grew significantly.

The changes that occurred during the years of “perestroika” again made the church one of the authoritative and independent elements of society.

The crisis of the CPSU: origins and consequences. The most dramatic during the years of “perestroika” was the fate of the ruling long years Communist Party. Having initiated the renewal of society, she was never able to “restructure” herself in time and survive in the political arena. One of the main reasons for this was the special role that the CPSU played in the life of the country for decades.

At first, nothing foreshadowed the crisis of the party. Moreover, its authority among the people in the first years of change grew noticeably, and its numbers increased from 17 million to 21 million people. For the majority of those who joined the party, it was a sincere impulse, a desire to contribute to the renewal of the country. But for others it is an opportunity to make a career, get an apartment, or travel abroad as a tourist. The many-hour discussions of the draft theses of the CPSU Central Committee for the 19th Party Conference were sincere, during which the Communists proposed ideas for updating their party.

However, the crisis of communist ideology and the lack of changes in the ruling party, and then the abolition of Article 6 of the constitution, brought it to the brink of crisis. In January 1990, the “Democratic Platform in the CPSU” was created, which advocated a serious reform of the party on the principles of democracy, with its subsequent transformation into a regular parliamentary party. Following her, other movements arose in the CPSU. However, the leadership of the party, rejecting any attempts to reform it, actually led to the political death of the huge organization. On the eve of the 28th Congress of the CPSU, the Central Committee published its own platform “Towards a humane, democratic socialism”, so abstract that in party organizations both the left and right flanks began to call it “Towards a vague, demagogic socialism”.

Meanwhile, the conservative-minded part of the CPSU leadership made an attempt to take shape organizationally. In the summer of 1990, the Communist Party of the RSFSR was created, which stood for a return to the previous model of the CPSU.

As a result, the party arrived at the 28th Congress in July 1990, which became the last in the history of the CPSU, in a state of split. There were three main currents in it: radical reformist (“Democratic Platform”), moderate-renovationist (Gorbachev’s group) and conservative (Communist Party of the RSFSR). Nor did the congress that took place lead the party out of the crisis. On the contrary, without waiting for reform decisions, the Democratic Platform left the CPSU. Gorbachev himself, having become President of the USSR in March 1990, practically stopped dealing with internal party affairs. This meant a strengthening of the conservative position. In the fall of 1990, the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the RSFSR, without discussion in party organizations, approved its program document, which condemned the decisions of the last congress of the CPSU for “non-socialist guidelines for perestroika.” Some members of the CPSU Central Committee demanded Gorbachev's resignation from the post of General Secretary.

Under these conditions, the exit of CPSU members from the party became widespread. In a short time, the number of communists was reduced to 15 million people. Moreover, both those who supported the idea of reforms and those who rejected them left it. There was a need for an organizational demarcation of the currents that existed in the CPSU. This was supposed to happen at the XXIX Congress in the fall of 1991. According to Gorbachev’s plan, the party was supposed to “return to the tracks of social democracy with which it began in 1898.” However, this never happened due to the acute political crisis in August 1991.

What you need to know about this topic:

Socio-economic and political development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Nicholas II.

Domestic policy tsarism. Nicholas II. Increased repression. "Police Socialism"

Russo-Japanese War. Reasons, progress, results.

Revolution 1905 - 1907 Character, driving forces and features of the Russian revolution of 1905-1907. stages of the revolution. The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the revolution.

Elections to the State Duma. I State Duma. The agrarian question in the Duma. Dispersal of the Duma. II State Duma. Coup d'etat June 3, 1907

Third June political system. Electoral law June 3, 1907 III State Duma. The alignment of political forces in the Duma. Activities of the Duma. Government terror. Decline of the labor movement in 1907-1910.

Stolypin agrarian reform.

IV State Duma. Party composition and Duma factions. Activities of the Duma.

Political crisis in Russia on the eve of the war. Labor movement in the summer of 1914. Crisis at the top.

International position of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

The beginning of the First World War. Origin and nature of the war. Russia's entry into the war. Attitude to the war of parties and classes.

Progress of military operations. Strategic forces and plans of the parties. Results of the war. Role Eastern Front in the first world war.

The Russian economy during the First World War.

Worker and peasant movement in 1915-1916. Revolutionary movement in the army and navy. The growth of anti-war sentiment. Formation of the bourgeois opposition.

Russian culture of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

The aggravation of socio-political contradictions in the country in January-February 1917. The beginning, prerequisites and nature of the revolution. Uprising in Petrograd. Formation of the Petrograd Soviet. Temporary Committee of the State Duma. Order N I. Formation of the Provisional Government. Abdication of Nicholas II. The reasons for the emergence of dual power and its essence. The February revolution in Moscow, at the front, in the provinces.

From February to October. The policy of the Provisional Government regarding war and peace, on agrarian, national, and labor issues. Relations between the Provisional Government and the Soviets. Arrival of V.I. Lenin in Petrograd.

Political parties (Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks): political programs, influence among the masses.

Crises of the Provisional Government. Attempted military coup in the country. The growth of revolutionary sentiment among the masses. Bolshevization of the capital's Soviets.

Preparation and conduct of an armed uprising in Petrograd.

II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Decisions about power, peace, land. Formation of government and management bodies. Composition of the first Soviet government.

Victory of the armed uprising in Moscow. Government agreement with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. Elections to the Constituent Assembly, its convocation and dispersal.

The first socio-economic transformations in the fields of industry, agriculture, finance, labor and women's issues. Church and State.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, its terms and significance.

Economic tasks of the Soviet government in the spring of 1918. Aggravation of the food issue. Introduction of food dictatorship. Working food detachments. Combeds.

The revolt of the left Socialist Revolutionaries and the collapse of the two-party system in Russia.

The first Soviet Constitution.

Causes of intervention and civil war. Progress of military operations. Human and material losses during the civil war and military intervention.

Domestic policy of the Soviet leadership during the war. "War communism". GOELRO plan.

The policy of the new government regarding culture.

Foreign policy. Treaties with border countries. Russia's participation in the Genoa, Hague, Moscow and Lausanne conferences. Diplomatic recognition of the USSR by the main capitalist countries.

Domestic policy. Socio-economic and political crisis of the early 20s. Famine 1921-1922 Transition to a new economic policy. The essence of NEP. NEP in the field of agriculture, trade, industry. Financial reform. Economic recovery. Crises during the NEP period and its collapse.

Projects for the creation of the USSR. I Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The first government and the Constitution of the USSR.

Illness and death of V.I. Lenin. Intra-party struggle. The beginning of the formation of Stalin's regime.

Industrialization and collectivization. Development and implementation of the first five-year plans. Socialist competition - goal, forms, leaders.

Formation and strengthening state system economic management.

The course towards complete collectivization. Dispossession.

Results of industrialization and collectivization.

Political, national-state development in the 30s. Intra-party struggle. Political repression. Formation of the nomenklatura as a layer of managers. Stalin's regime and the USSR Constitution of 1936

Soviet culture in the 20-30s.

Foreign policy of the second half of the 20s - mid-30s.

Domestic policy. Growth of military production. Emergency measures in the field of labor legislation. Measures to solve the grain problem. Armed forces. The growth of the Red Army. Military reform. Repressions against the command cadres of the Red Army and the Red Army.

Foreign policy. Non-aggression pact and treaty of friendship and borders between the USSR and Germany. The entry of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus into the USSR. Soviet-Finnish War. Inclusion of the Baltic republics and other territories into the USSR.

Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. First stage war. Turning the country into a military camp. Military defeats 1941-1942 and their reasons. Major military events. Surrender of Nazi Germany. Participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.

Soviet rear during the war.

Deportation of peoples.

Guerrilla warfare.

Human and material losses during the war.

Creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. Declaration of the United Nations. The problem of the second front. "Big Three" conferences. Problems of post-war peace settlement and comprehensive cooperation. USSR and UN.

Beginning of the Cold War. The USSR's contribution to the creation of the "socialist camp". CMEA education.

Domestic policy of the USSR in the mid-40s - early 50s. Recovery National economy.

Social and political life. Policy in the field of science and culture. Continued repression. "Leningrad affair". Campaign against cosmopolitanism. "The Doctors' Case"

Socio-economic development of Soviet society in the mid-50s - the first half of the 60s.

Socio-political development: XX Congress of the CPSU and condemnation of Stalin’s personality cult. Rehabilitation of victims of repression and deportation. Internal party struggle in the second half of the 50s.

Foreign policy: creation of the Department of Internal Affairs. Enter Soviet troops to Hungary. Exacerbation of Soviet-Chinese relations. Split of the "socialist camp". Soviet-American relations and Caribbean crisis. USSR and "third world" countries. Reduction in the size of the armed forces of the USSR. Moscow Treaty on the Limitation of Nuclear Tests.

USSR in the mid-60s - first half of the 80s.

Socio-economic development: economic reform of 1965

Increasing difficulties in economic development. Declining rates of socio-economic growth.

Constitution of the USSR 1977

Social and political life of the USSR in the 1970s - early 1980s.

Foreign policy: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Consolidation of post-war borders in Europe. Moscow Treaty with Germany. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Soviet-American treaties of the 70s. Soviet-Chinese relations. Entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. Exacerbation of international tension and the USSR. Strengthening Soviet-American confrontation in the early 80s.

USSR in 1985-1991

Domestic policy: an attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. An attempt to reform the political system of Soviet society. Congresses of People's Deputies. Election of the President of the USSR. Multi-party system. Exacerbation of the political crisis.

Exacerbation of the national question. Attempts to reform the national-state structure of the USSR. Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. "Novoogaryovsky trial". Collapse of the USSR.

Foreign policy: Soviet-American relations and the problem of disarmament. Agreements with leading capitalist countries. Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Changing relations with the countries of the socialist community. Collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact Organization.

Russian Federation in 1992-2000.

Domestic policy: “Shock therapy” in the economy: price liberalization, stages of privatization of commercial and industrial enterprises. Fall in production. Increased social tension. Growth and slowdown in financial inflation. Intensification of the struggle between the executive and legislative branches. Dissolution of the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies. October events of 1993. Abolition of local bodies of Soviet power. Elections to the Federal Assembly. Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993 Formation of a presidential republic. Aggravation and overcoming national conflicts in the North Caucasus.

Parliamentary elections of 1995. Presidential elections of 1996. Power and opposition. An attempt to return to the course of liberal reforms (spring 1997) and its failure. Financial crisis of August 1998: causes, economic and political consequences. "Second Chechen War". Parliamentary elections of 1999 and early presidential elections of 2000. Foreign policy: Russia in the CIS. Participation of Russian troops in the "hot spots" of the near abroad: Moldova, Georgia, Tajikistan. Russia's relations with countries far abroad. Withdrawal of Russian troops from Europe and neighboring countries. Russian-American agreements. Russia and NATO. Russia and the Council of Europe. Yugoslav crises (1999-2000) and Russia’s position.

Danilov A.A., Kosulina L.G. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XX century.