A Brief History of Russia(Soviet Union)

The Soviet Union was the world's largest country, stretching from Eastern Europe into Asia. The country was a major economic power and producer of oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds, iron ore, coal, and platinum. Its military power influenced events around the world. The change that shook the Soviet Union affected North Americans and people elsewhere in the world.

 The Soviet Union, in many ways had much in common with North America. By the late 1980's, their countries faced many of the same problems. Overall, the Soviet Union was in far worse economic shape, unable to meet the basic needs of its people. In some key areas, however, its problems matched those of North America. Living standards were rising very slowly and lagged far behind people's hopes and expectations. Productivity and economic growth was poor compared to those in the successful economies of Japan and Germany.

 The first serious attempts to modernize Russia and to develop the country's industries occurred under Peter the Great (ruled 1682-1725). Peter was the first tsar to travel to Europe and study Western European ways of doing things. He began to introduce new ideas about how to turn Russia into a great power when he returned from Europe. His ideas about modernization and development were continued by his successors.

 Russians were experiencing many changes in their country in 1881. New schools were opened to educate the children of the nobility, the newly emerging professional classes, and some peasants. New books, journals, newspapers, and magazines were appearing in print. Many Russians were now traveling to Europe to study and work.

 Perhaps a great achievement occurred under Khrushchev was the start of the space age. Nikita Khrushchev, was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union became the first nation to launch an artificial satellite to circle the earth. The satellite was called Sputnik I. This historic event surprised the capitalist West and started a technological race in space between the Soviet Union and the United States. Some people used the Soviet Union's achievements in space to argue that communism was better than capitalism.

 In the same year as Sputnik 1, the Soviet Union launched a spacecraft carrying a dog in into space. Soon after, satellites were sent into space to orbit the sun. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the earth. In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. In 1964, a Soviet spacecraft with three cosmonauts (astronauts) orbited the earth. In 1965, Aleksei Leonov became the first man to walk in space. In 1966 the Soviet Union became the first nation to land a spaceship on the moon. In the early years of the space race the Americans were unable to match the Soviet Union's achievements in space.

 In the Soviet Union, the government (or state) owned and controlled nearly all means of production. The government owned all of the country's natural resources (land), controlled the work force (labor), and owned all manufacturing facilities, communications, transportation systems, power stations, banks, and stores (capital). The state was the sole employer. Private ownership and control of these means of production was not permitted. All major economic decisions were made by a small group of planners and government leaders. These decisions about what, how, for whom, and how many goods and services were to be produced and how fast the economy should grow were written in a document called "The Plan". All state factories and farms had to follow the plan.

 In June 1991, the first truly democratic elections in Russia's history occurred. Almost eight million voters in the Russian Republic went to the polls to vote for a president of their republic. There were six candidates to choose from. The most popular candidate was Boris Yeltsin. No longer a member of the Communist Party, Yeltsin campaigned on a platform calling for the end of the entire Soviet system. He wanted the Soviet economy to become a market economy, to give the republics the right to leave the Soviet Union, and to end the Communist Party's control over the economy and government.

 On January 1, 1992, the end of the Soviet Union was officially announced with the creation of a Commonwealth of Independence States. The principal leaders of this new group of independent countries were Boris Yeltsin and Russian Republic and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine.

 Creating a market economy could be the greatest problem for these new countries in the 90's. Much will depend on how successful their leaders are at replacing the old system of central planning with a market economy. The need is great to increase the production of basic consumer goods and to improve people's living standards. In addition, the government must find a way to sell off state-owned shops, farms, and factories to private individuals. Increasing food production will be an important problem also. There is now a great need to encourage more private farming to increase food production. Until private farming becomes more wide spread, these newly independent countries will need to import large amounts of food from Western Europe, the United States, and Canada.