The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by the Communists and the formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1924-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openess) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya. The election changed the conditions for political and economic reorganization of the country. Soviet president Gorbachev using his power without much influence had been obliged to come to terms with the transition of the Soviet Union.
Looking beyond their present struggle just to survive the people of the former Soviet Union hope to develop market based economies on the same level of those in the western democracy. The main purpose of this report is to examine the economic difficulties and problems that the Soviet Union faces and compare them to the problems that earlier America had experienced in reaching its current brand of capitalism. .
Capitalism can't exist without corruption and inequality and gradual economic transformation increases chances for failure as opposed to an abrupt change in economic policy. .
A HELPING HAND.
The debate between those who believe the transition to capitalism will be some kind of democratic planning and those who believe it is not is well known in many circles. The purpose here is not to review that debate. Instead we will consider how to approach an economic program, strategy tactics in the here and now.