Stalin and Gorbachev

Joseph Stalin before the period of World War II continued the communist approach to run the country of the Soviet Union.  When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, he veered from the path with different ideas.  Although violence and animosity were prominent during both the reigns of Joseph Stalin and Mikhail Gorbachev as leaders, their political aims differed with democratization by Gorbachev and Stalin’s communism while the economic plan of Stalin was socialist, Gorbachev revised Stalin’s ways with a mix of central-planning and free-market mechanisms.

                Violence and hatred were major factors during the rule of both Stalin and Gorbachev.  Stalin wanted to eliminate Kulaks because they opposed his ideas of collectivization and combining farms.  Stalin also hated the Germans and he helped the Allies defeat the Germans in World War II.  Likewise, violence and hatred was found within Gorbachev’s Soviet Union.  Rebellions took place as people wanted national independence.  For example, in April 1980, troops with sharpened shoves charged into a rally of Georgian separatists in Tbilisi.  Opposition was apparent against both Stalin and Gorbachev.  People were against Stalin because of his radical ideas of communism and his violence.  Moreover, people were against Gorbachev because he was changing the policies of communism and taking a middle path.

                Politically, Gorbachev and Stalin differed greatly.  Gorbachev allowed openness of the government and the media.  Also, Gorbachev led the Soviet Union to something approaching free speech and free expression.  Moreover, Gorbachev democratized the Soviet Union and it led to the first free elections since 1917.  On the contrary, Stalin had a very different approach to running the country.  Stalin controlled the media and made sure that they did not publish anything that opposed the government.  He made the media only say good things about him and whoever criticized the government, was thrown into a Gulag.  Moreover, Stalin was anything but a democratic.  Stalin showed totalitarian leadership making the government control everything.  His ideas of human rights were the things needed for survival such as food and shelter.  Gorbachev on the other hand, brought in freedom of speech and expression.

                Economically, Gorbachev was swaying away from Stalin’s ideas and established an intermediate point between central planning and free-market.  Gorbachev permitted an easing of government price controls on some goods, more independence for state enterprises, and the setting up of profit-seeking private cooperatives to provide personal services for consumers.  On the contrary, Stalin had established different economic policies.  Centralized planning was dominant under Stalin’s Soviet Union.  His collectivization made farms combine and all the resources plotted from their lands were property of the government.  The government owned all the businesses and controlled all prices on goods.  No one was allowed to own land.   One similarity found between Gorbachev and Stalin was that they wanted to improve the conditions of ordinary citizens.

                To sum up, Stalin and Gorbachev both found violence and hatred under their rule of the Soviet Union but economically, Stalin held the ideas of centralized planning while Gorbachev chose more of a free-market path while politically, Stalin maintained a communist government while Gorbachev created a democratic type of government.  Both wanted to help ordinary citizens improve their conditions.