How Change Has Affected the Former USSR

The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), or the Soviet Union, was a socialist regime that existed from 1922 until 1991. It included Russia, Azerbaijan , Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Tajikistan, Lithuania, Kyrgyzstan , Moldova, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. The USSR was a result of civil unrest in Russia brought about by the imperial government's refusal to accept constitutional monarchy and grant absolute freedom to peasants. 

After the death of Konstantin Chernenko and the war in Afghanistan, there was increasing discontentment from the people because the economy was failing, and the regime was just not able to move the state forward. The last of the Soviet leaders, Mikhail Gorbachev , implemented many huge initiatives for the Soviet Union.  

• Education was made a primary objective for its people, with many of them seeking higher education and a better understanding of the world outside.
• Western ideas were embraced and to alleviate the massive debt the Soviet Union had accumulated; Gorbachev introduced two policies: Glasnost, which opened doors to the world in the areas of media freedom and free elections, and Perestroika, which called for economic re-planning and re-structuring.
• The implementation of the Law of Cooperatives allowed private ownership of businesses and encouraged foreign businesses to establish markets in the Russian Federation.

After the Soviet Union Republics expressed their desire to be free from Russian control in 1991, Boris Yeltsin set them free, as he initiated democratic leadership. It was during this time that he, along with the support of his government, dissolved the Soviet Union. The aftermath of its collapse mainly dealt with the citizens of the Russian Federation and the 14 newly formed countries, which found themselves suddenly thrown into a new world. There was no socialism, no dictatorship, no government or ruler telling them what to do. All of a sudden, they found themselves independent and free, but those were times of confusion and difficulties because the life they knew had been based only on communist ideologies based on Marxist-Leninism .

·          The people of the Russian Federation and the 14 newly independent states experienced a period of uncertainty and disorder in the early 1990s.

• They began to embrace religion, particularly Christianity, which was something they had not done for more than 75 years.
• Privatization of corporations proved disastrous to some businesses because of their lack of management and operational skills. There was also no real financial planning for most.
• Unemployment became rampant between 1990-1994 because of the decline of industrial production and the soaring of inflation rates. As a result, many individual and businesses became financially unstable.
• The transition from socialism to democracy was very difficult for the people because they had no experience about how to run a democratic government. 

The nonviolent dissolution of the Soviet Empire was indeed something that most people had waited for a long time. Yet, it eventually proved quite a challenge for them, and the economy did not do well thereafter. While it's true that many suffered during this time of change, it should not overshadow the fact that the collapse was instrumental in bringing peace and unity for the Russian Federation and the 14 other countries. It truly helped the people attain the freedom they craved.