Category History & Events

Why is it said that the Chernobyl disaster caused the people to lose trust in glasnost?

Memories of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl still send shock waves through the world. The disaster occurred on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl power station in Prypíyat, now in Ukraine. Its radioactive fallout was 400 times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, reaching over most of the western U.S.S.R and even other European countries.

The Chernobyl disaster brought a moment of disillusionment for the people who had felt jubilant over the policy of glasnost. Glasnost had promised more open communication, but what happened now was that the Communist Party officials suppressed information about the disaster and its dangers. May Day parades were held as planned in the affected areas, in spite of the radiation risks. Gorbachev issued an official statement on the disaster only on May 14, eighteen days later. He said in it that the Chernobyl incident was a misfortune, but blamed the Western media for spreading lies. But people in the fallout zone and beyond were actually suffering the after-effects of radiation, and the policy of glasnost lost the public’s trust.

Picture Credit : Google

Why did the U.S.S.R. come to an end?

The Soviet Union ceased to exist on December 25, 1991, as President Mikhail Gorbachev announced its dissolution. The day also marked the birth of the Russian Federation with Boris Yeltsin as its first president.

The world’s largest communist state, the mammoth power that had influenced international politics for so long, was dissolved to form 15 independent republics. What brought the giant down? There were many factors that led to this – political, economic, social and military. The Soviet economy had been suffering for a long time, and the country’s bureaucracy was inefficient. Mikhail Gorbachev, who was appointed the general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, wanted to give the system a strong push. He brought in two major policies, ‘glasnost’ (which means ‘openness’) and ‘perestroika’ (‘restructuring’). Glasnost gave people the freedom of speech, and religion was restored. Hundreds of former dissenters were released from prison. The aim of perestroika was to adopt a mixed economic system of communism and capitalism. All this was strange and too sudden for the hitherto closed Soviet system, and created social and economic tensions. Under the Soviet economy, all sources of industrial and agricultural production were under the control of the government, and this idea was shaken by the new reforms. Nationalist parties soon raised their heads in the constituent republics posing a threat to the Soviet monolith.

Picture Credit : Google

What was the Cold War?

World War II was won by the combined might of the Allied Forces which included Great Britain, France, the USA and the Soviet Union. However, this bond of friendship was not to last long, and the capitalist western countries and the communist U.S.S.R soon drifted apart; so did their respective allies. This developed into a deep rivalry that was open, but controlled. This peculiar form of international hostility came to be known as the ‘Cold War’.

The term ‘Cold War’ first appeared in an article written by the English writer George Orwell. He was using it to describe a possible nuclear stalemate between two or three monstrous super-states. This usage was introduced into the United States in 1947, by Bernard Baruch who was a financier and adviser to the president, in a speech at the State-House in South Carolina. Soon ‘Cold War’ became part of the common parlance in international politics.

The countries of Eastern Europe, liberated by the Soviet Red Army during World War II, were put under communist governments. They were under the control of the U.S.S.R. The western powers feared this Soviet domination in Eastern Europe, and they also perceived a threat of the Soviet influence spreading to other democracies. By 1947-48, the Cold War had become a reality to live with, as the U.S. brought the western European countries under its influence. In 1949, the U.S.A and its European allies formed a military alliance named the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to resist any possible threat from the Soviet bloc.

The Cold War mostly operated on political and economic grounds, with propaganda as a weapon. There was only very limited use of real weapons, and the world is lucky it did not develop into a ‘Hot War’. Ultimately, the dissolution of the U.S.S.R brought an end to the Cold War.

Picture Credit : Google

Who was Joseph Stalin?

Joseph Stalin was the iron ruler of the U.S.S.R, who made the country a formidable military and industrial superpower.

Born in Gori, Georgia in 1878, he played an active role in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Lenin chose Stalin to head the Workers’ and Peasants’ inspectorate, which made him a powerful man. He was appointed the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 3rd April, 1922.

In the beginning he acted as part of a collective leadership. But by the 1930’s Stalin had become a dictator. He consolidated his absolute power by shrewdly manoeuvring and isolating those who stood in his way, and by using police terror. Towards the end of the 1920’s, he had established a totalitarian rule that prohibited all sorts of opposition. His brutal reign is held responsible for the deaths of millions.

He made clever use of nationalism to strengthen his rule and promoted some aspects of Russian history, some national heroes and the Russian language.

Joseph Stalin ruled the country from 1929 to 1953, until his death.

Picture Credit : Google

What were the main changes brought about by the Bolshevik Revolution? How did Russia fall into a Civil War?

Russia was waking up to a new dawn in its history. A new government was formed by the Bolsheviks which was led by Vladimir Lenin. The whole structure changed for the nation as well as for the society. The Bolshevik Party was now renamed as the Russian Communist Party. They did not allow any private property and nationalized all the industries and banks. Power of the nobility was gone forever, and peasants were allowed to seize land owned by noble families. Also, the rich in the cities were forced to partition their large houses as per family requirements. The aristocracy was no longer allowed to use their old titles. Russia had only a single party now, the Communist Party which had full control over the trade unions. The new government made Five Year Plans for the development of the country based on a centralized planning system.

After the Revolution, Russia also withdrew from World War I, but that did not exactly bring in peace. Disturbances were brewing up within the country. Many groups came up opposing Lenin and the Bolsheviks, like the anarchists and militarists, and this led to a brutal civil war in Russia. The Russian Civil War lasted three years, between 1918 and 1921. The main opponents were the Red Army and White Army. The Red Army was obviously formed of communists, and the White Army was anti-communist. The communists won, ultimately, but at a heavy cost of millions of lives.

Picture Credit : Google

What is known as the October Revolution?

The February Revolution brought an end to the tsarist regime in Russia, but things were not to stop there. The country was now ready for a complete overhaul of the social and economic pattern – a total revolution.

As months passed, Lenin felt convinced that the people were ready for another revolution, even though many other Bolshevik leaders did not quite agree with that. A secret meeting of the Bolshevik leaders was held on October 10, 1917, in which Lenin presented his strong arguments in favour of an armed uprising. When a vote was taken the next morning, most favoured a revolution. The stage was now set for the historic October Revolution of Russia, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution.

The people were indeed ready, and the revolution started in the morning of 25th October, 1917. The telegraph, power stations, important bridges, post offices, train stations, and the state bank were all soon under the control of troops supporting the Bolshevik Party. This happened without any violence. Leaders of the Provisional Government stayed within the Winter Palace. Alexander Kerensky, who was then the prime minister, managed to escape the next day, and troops supporting the Bolsheviks entered the Winter Palace. After this coup, the Bolsheviks became the new rulers of Russia. To a cheering population, Lenin announced that they would end the war, abolish private ownership of land and bring the factories under control of the workers.

Picture Credit : Google