The Dying Bear: The Collapse of the Soviet Union Quiz

Answer: The structure of industrial planning hadn't changed since Stalin died

In the Soviet Union, strict control of the economy was maintained by GOSPLAN, a committee of Communists in charge of setting targets on everything created by industry, from tanks to bras. This policy had first been implemented by Stalin and nobody had bothered to change it since. Party officials liked having control and the politburo back in Moscow wanted to keep them happy.

However, Central Planning proved a problem in the late 20th Century; GOSPLAN simply couldn't adapt to change very quickly. An example of this occurred with the production of bras; GOSPLAN carefully worked out the numbers of the different bra sizes that would be needed. However, their hard work was completely undone due to the changes in physical shape of Soviet women. Despite all their careful planning, their were still shortages in the most popular sizes.

Answer: Pig Iron

Pig iron is iron with a high carbon content and is the first product of the smelting process before the purer iron products are formed. On its own, pig iron is pretty much useless as a material although when oxidised by an electric current (which removes the impurities), crude steel can be manufactured.

However, by the 1980s, steel, cement and pig iron were a bit old hat. The USSR, with its Stalinist style economy was designed to produce these in huge quantities. This meant that when it came to microchips or computers, it was completely out produced by the the more technologically advanced USA.

Answer: Alcoholics

The Communist Party were growing increasingly concerned over the lack of discipline in their workforces. Many workers didn't bother turning up for work and when they did show up, did the barest minimum before sloping off back home at the end of the day. Then there was alcoholism. Between 1940-1980, the population of the USSR increased by 25% and alcohol consumption by 600%! The causes: dull jobs, boredom and the continuing misery of living in the Soviet Union. The result: by 1987, there were an estimated 20 million alcoholics.

Worried by all this, the party decided to step in. The General Secretary, Yuri Andropov, had previously been head of the KGB so, naturally, decided that the answer to the problems in industry was to get tough. Officials conducted random spot checks; the only effect this had was that it made the workforce more resentful.

Answer: He was terminally ill and in declining health

For the last two years of his life, Andropov was connected at all times to a kidney dialysis machine. Incredibly, he was still General Secretary and still took part fully in politburo meetings! Despite being terminally ill, no one seemed to think that that was a good enough reason for him to resign.

The reason for this seemingly bizarre attitude dates back to the very beginnings of Communist rule. Since the time of Lenin, the party leader had been venerated to an almost religious level. Therefore, it would have been sacrilege to remove the head of the party. Besides, all Communist leaders (with the exception of Khrushchev) had become ill in their latter months; it was a Soviet tradition!

Answer: 54

By the 1980s, the USSR was being run by an ageing gerontocracy, made up exclusively of men. For obvious reasons, they were often unable to understand the needs of the country's younger generations and were simply content to stagnate peacefully alongside the Soviet Union. In 1984 (the year before Gorbachev was elected), 7 out of the 11 politburo members were over 70. Aged 54, no wonder they looked on Gorbachev as a young whipper-snapper!

Lack of understanding was not the only problem that dogged the Politburo. Old minds and old bladders found long meetings tricky; in response, the Politburo met for just 40 minutes, hardly enough time to sort out the country!

Answer: Lie

Gorbachev called his new reforms perestroika, which means restructuring. In order to do this, he was guilty of a small deception. For the first time private enterprise was to be allowed in the USSR, although only on a small scale. However, knowing that his (very) conservative colleagues wouldn't stand for even small scale capitalism, Gorbachev cleverly called his new initiatives co-operatives. His colleagues were deceived by the communistic title and didn't bother to find out what they actually entailed.

Perestroika also encouraged joint ventures with western companies although many were put off by all the Russian red tape. Even so, some companies did take the plunge; Moscow got its first McDonald's in 1990.

Answer: Sabotage

The sabotage was not the work of western agents but was perpetrated by Leningrad's own Communist officials. Unhappy at supplying such capitalist institutions, the officials decided to act. Their actions were rather bizarre; they took all the sausages being stored in Leningrad warehouses - and buried them! True, none of the Co-operatives had any sausages - but neither did anyone else! No one even knows for sure why they picked sausages; perhaps they considered them too decadent.

Unhelpful officials were not the only problem. Co-operatives soon became the targets for criminals in all of Russia's major cities. Gangsters, who'd already made fortunes trafficking illegal spirits now began to run extortion rackets. You paid up or ...

Answer: True

Incredible as it may seem, neither reformers or conservatives liked Gorbachev very much. Part of the trouble was that Gorbachev refused to side with either group and, in an effort to preserve unity, normally sat on the fence. This understandably caused frustration on both sides.

Gorbachev's worst opponent was the charismatic Boris Yeltsin. Despite Yeltsin's problems with alcohol, he was still a voracious enough reformer to cause Gorbachev a major headache. At the Plenum of the Communist Party's Central Committee in 1987, Yeltsin (who may or may not have been under the influence of alcohol) even took the unprecedented step of verbally attacking Gorbachev during the General Secretary's speech. This made Gorbachev look even weaker.

Answer: Socialism would be rejuvenated

As strange as it seems, Gorbachev genuinely believed that people in the satellite states would continue to choose to be Communist, despite previous attempt in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland to overthrow the communist regimes. When the Communist leaders of the satellite states were informed, they were understandably appalled. Without Soviet support, the communist regimes in the other eastern bloc countries quickly collapsed.

Nevertheless, Gorbachev deserves credit for keeping his half of the bargain. Despite pressure from conservatives, Gorbachev stood firm and did not order the Russian military to suppress the new anti-communist governments. In fact, when the Polish people voted in a non-Communist party, Gorbachev sent messages of encouragement.

Answer: On holiday

The principle plotters in the August Coup were the Vice-President, the head of the KGB and the Minister for Defence. They also had the support of some (but crucially not all) of the leading Red Army officers. They held Gorbachev under house arrest whilst declaring a state of emergency and quickly passing through a number of repressive measures.

Unfortunately for the plotters, the plot backfired catastrophically. They were openly ridiculed by reporters at their opening press conference whilst Yeltsin organised mass protests on the streets. Crucially, the army refused to open fire, and obeyed Yeltsin's order to return to their barracks.