Question 4

To what extent were economic problems the main reason for the collapse of Soviet power in Eastern Europe?

• You must deal adequately with the given factor even if you want to argue that other factors were as or more significant.
• In relation to the given factor, discuss the longer term development of economic strains in the USSR since the mid 1970s when its industrial production began to fail and the technological lead of the West accelerated.
• The strains on the Soviet economy because of its international commitments, not least the war in Afghanistan also took their toll.
• Also refer to the economic motives that resulted in perestroika and the encouragement of reform amongst the Soviet Union’s allies.

• Balance discussion of economic difficulties by setting them in the context of Gorbachev’s reforms:

• the repudiation of the Brezhnev Doctrine and policies of perestroika and glasnost,
• the beginnings of the break-up of the Soviet Union and their implications for/impact on Eastern Europe,
• pointing to, the legalisation of Solidarity in Poland along with democratic elections there and in Hungary,
• followed by the collapse of communist regimes elsewhere.

• Point to the contrast with the wealth and freedom of the West, the growth of dissidence in Eastern Europe and the impact of the Soviet Union’s inability to compete militarily with the USA.