The Collapse ofthe Soviet Union

INTERVIEWER: NAME

INTERVIEWEE: NAME

WEAVER PERIOD 4 The statue of Lenin falling down in Kiev

The Soviet Union 1985-1990

Largest single nation in the world

Population: 290 million

Only half were ethnic Russians

Over 20 other ethnicities (Harbor)

Run exclusively by the Communist Party

Seen as unchanging and slow with decisions (Winters)

A map of the Soviet Union before it’s

dissolution in 1991

Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the USSR and General Secretary

of the Communism Party

Tatiana _________

11 years old in 1991

Yuryuzan, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Soviet Union

Ural Mountains region

Grew up in both the Soviet Union and Russia

Immigrated to the U.S. in 2003

My mom when she was younger

My mom in the present

The city where she lived

Childhood and Daily Life in the Soviet Union

Few people lived comfortably

Cities: people lived in cramped apartments

Monthly income: 3,000 rubles or 9 dollars

Schooling, employment, and housing was guaranteed (Harbor)

“My childhood was happy. All children are happy. My mother was a nurse, and my father was contractor. They also farmed potatoes and other vegetables. Everything we ate was grown on our farm. They sold milk from our cow in town” (Maskileyson).

Yuryuzan, the town my mom lived in

Industrial cites, rural plains, and freezing tundra (Harbor)

Shortages and Standing in Line“There were always shortages. We never had enough basic foods, clothes, or hygiene products. We were given government issued ration tickets to purchase the items we needed, which were not always available, even with the tickets. Goods that were in high demand … generally things that were not manufactured in the USSR, were things that we had to stand in lines for. Before the fall of communism, the lines were not as bad, but after they were longer. You would start at 2 or 3 AM to get what you needed by morning. If you had a bigger family, you would put each member in every item line you needed” (Maskileyson).

Grocery store in Vilnius (Lithuania) where there were extreme shortages

Imported goods were scarce and expensive Basic foods usually available Standing in line in front of stores for necessitiesMany feared famine (Harbor)

Food rationing Perestroika made

food less attainable (Harbor)

Supporting the Communist Party

Sped up industrialization

Government ran and owned everything

Classification started in primary school

Ordinary and higher education (Kort)

“My parents did not belong to the party, but they were not opposed to it either. If you opposed communism, you would be put in jail. In order to be a true member of the party, you had to reach a certain level in school. Your teachers would rate you. Before it fell, I reached the second level, Pioneer. As a child, you felt so proud of yourself. What it was eventually preparing you for was a be an active member of the Communist Party” (Maskileyson).School children in the

USSR wearing their Pioneer uniforms

Could not go against the party

Never forced to be a member (Winters)

The Media’s Role and ExpressionGlasnost created new forms of public speech

Newspapers Moscow News and Ogonyuk

The KGB

Censorship (Harbor)

“The media only portrayed good things. Television was controlled one hundred percent by the government. I never even knew that there were such things as offenses against the party. It was never reported or talked about. We knew nothing about the rest of the world before communism fell. But the news reported a lot on how good Gorbachev's plans were working like, Perestroika and Glasnost. They said how effective they were , but they actually hurt the economy and didn’t give any form of free speech” (Maskileyson).

Communism propaganda; translates to: “[We'll] raise a generation, selflessly

loyal to Communism.”

Foreign radio stations Critical ideas were bannedReligion was frowned upon

(Smith)

“All criticism was shut down by the KGB before it even occurred. They had such a wide spread spy system, but yes there were probably people who went against the Soviet Union but they were silenced by the police and the KGB before anything was

published” (Maskileyson).

The Coup of GorbachevAugust 18, 1991

Gorbachev arrested

Yeltsin attempted to reach for power

Lasted three days

Failed due to the lack of support (Winters)

“My most traumatic memory of the whole experience was the coup that happened the summer before. The coup made it real to me that our country was truly in trouble. After that, everything just kept happening and surprised no one. When the initial shock passed, people changed how they felt about communism. No one believed in it anymore; it made people lose faith in the whole system, their only belief system. It was really terrifying because before you thought that your life was all planned out. You thought that everything would be provided for you and all you had to do was work for it and believe in it. Then it all collapsed” (Maskileyson).

Soldiers supporting the coup against Gorbachev

80 percent of army replaced

Communist Party was shattered (Winters)

The Collapsing EconomyNo private property

Protests became more serious

1991: Ukraine and Kazakhstan miners strike

80,000 industrial workers in Belorussia

People were not producing enough goods

Central planning (Harbor)

“Our town was doing pretty good. After communism fell is when it got bad. Our town had industry and factories. They were making bullets and other equipment. I don't know what they made exactly because it wasn't disclosed. During, we didn't always have enough food, but we had jobs and places to live. Nobody had everything, but basic things people had. But during all of this I was a child, so I didn't notice anything major”

(Maskileyson).Ukrainian miners go on

strike for better conditions

High reliance on the black market

Perestroika Democratization (Smith)

December 25, 1991Gorbachev was no longer president

Soviet Flag at Kremlin took down

Communist Party was destroyed

Soviet economy was in shambles

Idea of communism failed

(Harbor)

“It wasn't Christmas because there was no religion. It was a normal school day, nothing got cancelled. I don't remember much, but I was shocked and nervous. Since the coup, everyone kind of expected this to happen, but there was still a shock. The entire town was scared. People are afraid of change. My town was far from Moscow, so we were experiencing it second hand, watching it on TV and hearing about it on the radio. Everyone tried to keep life going as normal as best they could. But then people stopped getting paid, it was all a gradual process. Our economy went back to the bargaining system. My family was okay though, because of our farm”

(Maskileyson).Statue of Lenin falling

in Kharkiv, Ukraine

USSR flag waving at the Kremlin

Symbols of communism were taken down all over the republics

15 republics (Smith)

(“The Rise and Fall)

Rebuilding the EconomyMost republics wanted capitalism and democracy

Conflicts between republics

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Smith)

Republics were happy with their new independence

Russia was the richest republic (Kort)

“After it all collapsed, the ratings in school stopped, so I didn’t see a point in all the hard work. School determined what you were qualified to do. If you weren't getting closer to being a member of the party, what were you doing it for? What was to encourage us to keep working and doing the right thing? That was what communism did, and we didn't know what to do without it. After, factories had all closed, people had no jobs by 1992. Although it fell, my town seemed to still be run under communistic ideals. I left before I could witness a real change. The main reasons for leaving for me was that communism fell. I had no future anymore. That’s when we really noticed the change from communism; Everything was

left to uncertainty” (Maskileyson). The 15 republics that

made up the USSR

CIS argued over the division of USSR military

Trade among the new countries was problematic (Smith)

Living in Russia VS. the USSRGovernment no longer provided services

No jobs or housing

Unemployment rose from 100,000 to 1,000,000

Finding food was a major concern (Smith)

“After it fell, crime went up, there was no more economical stability, and we started to get real information. We got information on the news and movies from the other countries. The problem with the movies was that they weren't rated, so children like me were watching like R-rated movies. As a child, this new rush of information and exposure was very exciting but also overwhelming. Basically the difference between living in the USSR and Russia was that before all we had was communism and it was the only way of life. After, there was such an insane amount of information and culture we were getting that it was almost incomprehensible how we lived so long

in the dark” (Maskileyson).

June 12th, Moscow, Russia Day; celebrates the Russian Federation

Barter system No central planning or

regulation (Kort)

A Final Message“After communism fell, I realized how much

of a part it played in what people did. During, there was no religion, there was only communism. That was the belief system. So when it collapsed, the people lost the only thing they had faith in. There was no moral code. That was the worst part of it all, losing the one thing we all had faith in. When you live in a vacuum, because that's what it was, a closed society where everything is regulated, once that vacuum was open it is a complete shock to what people never had in their lives. It takes years to readjust. I think it was adults, especially young adults, that were most effected by this. All their lives they believed and almost got the chance to have their lives planned a specific way, and then everything changes. All they thought is completely destroyed. So maybe as a child it's

scary, but it’s not as bad as your entire life turning upside down” (Maskileyson).

The Russian flag waving at the Kremlin

A citizen of the former Soviet Union taking down a monument to Lenin

Bibliography

Harbor, Bernard. The Breakup of the Soviet Union. New York, New Discovery, 1993.

Kort, Michael. The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union. New York, Franklin Watts, 1992.

Maskileyson, Tatiana. Interview. 15 Oct. 2016.

“The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union.” SAFARI Montage. National Geographic, 1994. 24 October 2016.

Smith, Brenda. The Collapse of the Soviet Union. San Diego, Lucent Books, 1994.

Winters, Paul A. The Collapse of the Soviet Union. San Diego, Greenhaven Press, 1999.