Gorbachev

             Economic Reforms cause Russia's Decline.
             Throughout the years there have been many leaders and regimes in Russia. There had been a period of one ruling empires (tsars). Next, leading toward a massive revolution to instate communism. Communism was the idea of the government by the people and helping the people. This would be true if there we not any flaws in the government. Since there were flaws communism did not work out as smoothly as it should have. Although the system did have several defects, there was still hope to improvise and reform the government to meet the needs of the people. Mikhail Gorbachev was the leader who intended to change and reform the communist system in Russia. Through his liberal ways he climbed through the chain of power and became the leader of communist Russia. His political and economic views were seen as drastic changes to most communist "hard-liners". There were several reforms integrated throughout his leadership which included uskorenie (acceleration), glasnost (openness), and perestroika. Gorbachev's biggest mistake took place in his unwillingness to completely decentralize the economy.
             The decentralization of the Soviet Union is a very difficult task. Many institutions and attitudes have to be changed in order for it to succeed. Attempting a comprehensive price reform in a country with scarcity and imbalance is nearly impossible. Decentralization also leaves enterprise managers to find suppliers and customers on their own, something they are not accustomed to. Gorbachev took it into his own hands to make the change but "had no conception of the depth of the country's crisis." (p143). Gorbachev's half-hearted attempt to decentralize the economy doomed his attempt to reform before he even began. There could be no hesitation in Gorbachev's actions if he expected to properly reform Russia, but there was. It was his contradictions and hesitations which ultimately made Gorbachev's attempts to fix the economy a failure.