The Collapse of the Soviet Union INTERVIEWER: NAME INTERVIEWEE: NAME WEAVER PERIOD 4 The statue of Lenin falling down in Kiev A map of the Soviet Union before it’s The Soviet Union 1985-1990 dissolution in 1991
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)
Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the USSR and General Secretary of the Communism Party The city where she lived Tatiana ______
11 years old in 1991 Yuryuzan, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Soviet Union My mom when she was younger Ural Mountains region Grew up in both the Soviet Union and Russia Immigrated to the U.S. in 2003
My mom in the present Childhood and Daily Life in the Soviet Union
Few people lived comfortably “My childhood was Cities: people lived in cramped apartments happy. All children are happy. My mother was a Monthly income: 3,000 rubles or 9 dollars nurse, and my father was Schooling, employment, and housing was guaranteed (Harbor) contractor. They also farmed potatoes and Industrial cites, rural other vegetables. plains, and freezing tundra Everything we ate was (Harbor) grown on our farm. They sold milk from our cow in town” (Maskileyson). Yuryuzan, the town my mom lived in Shortages and Standing in Line “There were always shortages. We Imported goods were scarce and expensive never had enough basic foods, Basic foods usually available clothes, or hygiene products. We were given government issued ration Standing in line in front of stores for necessities tickets to purchase the items we Many feared famine (Harbor) needed, which were not always available, even with the tickets. Goods that were in high demand … generally Food rationing things that were not manufactured in Perestroika made the USSR, were things that we had to food less attainable stand in lines for. Before the fall of communism, the lines were not as (Harbor) 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 Grocery store in Vilnius bigger family, you would put each (Lithuania) where there member in every item line you were extreme shortages needed” (Maskileyson). Supporting the Communist Party “My parents did not belong Sped up industrialization to the party, but they were not Government ran and owned everything opposed to it either. If you opposed communism, you would Classification started in primary school be put in jail. In order to be a true member of the party, you had to Ordinary and higher education (Kort) reach a certain level in school. Could not go Your teachers would rate you. against the party Before it fell, I reached the second level, Pioneer. As a child, Never forced to be you felt so proud of yourself. a member (Winters) What it was eventually preparing you for was a be an active member of the Communist Party” School children in the (Maskileyson). USSR wearing their Pioneer uniforms “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 The Media’s Role and Expression who went against the Soviet Union but they were silenced by the police Glasnost created new forms of public speech and the KGB before anything was published” (Maskileyson). Newspapers Moscow News and Ogonyuk “The media only portrayed good The KGB things. Television was controlled one hundred percent by the government. I Censorship (Harbor) never even knew that there were such things as offenses against the Foreign radio stations party. It was never reported or talked Critical ideas were banned about. We knew nothing about the Religion was frowned upon rest of the world before communism fell. But the news reported a lot on (Smith) how good Gorbachev's plans were working like, Perestroika and Communism propaganda; translates to: Glasnost. They said how effective they “[We'll] raise a generation, selflessly were , but they actually hurt the loyal to Communism.” economy and didn’t give any form of free speech” (Maskileyson). The Coup of Gorbachev August 18, 1991 “My most traumatic memory of the whole experience was the coup that Gorbachev arrested happened the summer before. The Yeltsin attempted to reach for power coup made it real to me that our country was truly in trouble. After that, Lasted three days everything just kept happening and surprised no one. When the initial Failed due to the lack of support (Winters) shock passed, people changed how 80 percent of army they felt about communism. No one replaced believed in it anymore; it made people lose faith in the whole system, their Communist Party only belief system. It was really was shattered terrifying because before you thought (Winters) that your life was all planned out. You thought that everything would be Soldiers supporting the provided for you and all you had to do coup against Gorbachev was work for it and believe in it. Then it all collapsed” (Maskileyson). The Collapsing Economy No private property “Our town was doing pretty good. Protests became more serious After communism fell is when it got bad. Our town had industry 1991: Ukraine and Kazakhstan miners strike and factories. They were making 80,000 industrial workers in Belorussia bullets and other equipment. I don't know what they made People were not producing enough goods exactly because it wasn't Central planning (Harbor) High reliance on the black disclosed. During, we didn't always have enough food, but we market had jobs and places to live. Perestroika Nobody had everything, but basic Democratization (Smith) things people had. But during all of this I was a child, so I didn't Ukrainian miners go on notice anything major” strike for better conditions (Maskileyson). December 25, 1991
Gorbachev was no longer president Symbols of “It wasn't Christmas because there was no religion. It was a normal school day, Soviet Flag at Kremlin took down communism were taken down all nothing got cancelled. I don't remember Communist Party was destroyed much, but I was shocked and nervous. over the republics Since the coup, everyone kind of Soviet economy was in shambles 15 republics (Smith) expected this to happen, but there was still a shock. The entire town was scared. Idea of communism failed People are afraid of change. My town was far from Moscow, so we were (Harbor) 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 USSR flag waving gradual process. Our economy went at the Kremlin back to the bargaining system. My family Statue of Lenin falling was okay though, because of our farm” in Kharkiv, Ukraine (Maskileyson). (“The Rise and Fall) Rebuilding the Economy “After it all collapsed, the ratings in Most republics wanted capitalism and democracy school stopped, so I didn’t see a point in all the hard work. School determined what you Conflicts between republics were qualified to do. If you weren't getting Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Smith) closer to being a member of the party, what were you doing it for? What was to Republics were happy with their new independence encourage us to keep working and doing the right thing? That was what communism did, Russia was the richest republic (Kort) and we didn't know what to do without it. After, factories had all closed, people had no CIS argued over the jobs by 1992. Although it fell, my town division of USSR military seemed to still be run under communistic Trade among the new ideals. I left before I could witness a real countries was problematic change. The main reasons for leaving for me was that communism fell. I had no future (Smith) anymore. That’s when we really noticed the The 15 republics that change from communism; Everything was made up the USSR left to uncertainty” (Maskileyson). Living in Russia VS. the USSR
Government no longer provided services “After it fell, crime went up, there was no more economical stability, and we No jobs or housing started to get real information. We got Unemployment rose from 100,000 to 1,000,000 information on the news and movies from the other countries. The problem Finding food was a major concern (Smith) with the movies was that they weren't rated, so children like me were watching like R-rated movies. As a child, this new Barter system rush of information and exposure was very exciting but also overwhelming. No central planning or Basically the difference between living in regulation (Kort) 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 June 12th, Moscow, Russia Day; insane amount of information and culture celebrates the Russian Federation we were getting that it was almost incomprehensible how we lived so long in the dark” (Maskileyson). “After communism fell, I realized how much of a part it played in what people did. During, A Final Message 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 A citizen of the former Soviet Union was the worst part of it all, losing the one thing taking down a monument to Lenin 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 The Russian flag waving scary, but it’s not as bad as your entire life at the Kremlin turning upside down” (Maskileyson). 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.