Life in the Late Soviet Union

Following Stalins death, there were 2 leaders before the fall of the Soviet Union. The poliecies began to change and living conditions became much greater for the people, lots of the core Soviet Ideologies had been abandoned so the fall of the Union was impending


Stalins Successors
 Stalin had not agreed upon his successor, but the position went to the highest ranking Communist Party Official Nikita Khrushchev. Who introduced De-Stalinization, a process where they had to eliminate Stalins cult of personality, ending Labour camps  ending forced labour, improving living conditions, and putting an end to the Stalinist Political system. Khrushchev Introduced many economic and cultural policies that improved living conditions dramatically. Khrushchev was booted from office in 1964 when signing a treaty to keep Russian missiles out of Cuba, this caused embarrassment to the nation. Leonid Brezhnev Followed as leader. Brezhnev signed a few Treaties with the west to ease the tention, but at the same time was very focused on Military. Brezhnev died in 1982, leaving 2 successors, whose terms had been cut short due to the of old age. To break this trend of old leaders, Soviets turned to the next generation and picked Mikhail Gorbachev, who would go on to eliminating the Union.

Technological Advances during the Cold War

   The Soviet Union had a goal of surpassing the West in technology.  Launching the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 in 1957; a living dog, Laika in 1957; the first human being, Yuri Gagarin in 1961; the first woman in space,Valentina Tereshkova in 1963; Alexey Leonov, the first person to walk in space in 1965; the first soft landing on the moon by spacecraft Luna 9 in 1966 and the first moon rovers, Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2. Lenin had a belief that they would never surpass the west in living conditions if their technology didnt advance. Soviet Authorities followed that belief and invested heavily in science. The Soviet Union had some of the worlds best scientists that varied from knowledge about: Medicine, Space, Mathematics, and Military Tech.

Education and Health
  The late Soviet power had acknowledged that education was necessity to building the New Soviet Man. Education became more accessible and every child had to go to school. Unfortunetly only 20% of students were only able to make it into university, forcing the rest simply into the work force straight from school.
  Health care was heavily criticized  for the reason that the quality of service was poor, making the health of society poor. After a socialist revolution, the heath care system sky rocketed, and over passed the quality, and availability of the west, and for a short time had a longer life expectancy then the west.

Religion and Culture
  For Most of the Soviet Union religion had been suppressed  and banned. Religion in Russia began to have more freedom in the Leonid Brezhnev era. Leonid made a relationship between the Orthodox Church and the Soviet Government, aswell as the Brezhnev government twice honored Orthodox Patriarch Alexy I with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. Although the Soviet Government was easing up on anti-religious laws, most of this freedom was in Russia, and still banned in other Soviet Nations.
  Following the Khrushchev Thaw of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Living conditions for the citizens became better. Censorship had been diminished, and government allowed for experimentation in art works,  loosened its emphasis on socialist realism, and allowed for a conformist public life and intense focus on personal life. But,  Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost significantly expanded freedom of expression in the media and press.

End of the Soviet Union
  As soon as Gorbachev came to power he worked to putting an end to the cold war. Taking troops out of a 9 year war in Afghanistan  and tearing down the Berlin wall. Gorbachev worked to setting up a legislation that would allow free elections, and in 1989, Boris Yeltsin was the official president of Russia. Gorbachev made a New Union Treaty, that would loosen the power of the Union, and have the republics take control of themselves. Later the  Commonwealth of Independent States agreement was signed by leaders of each republic, that would dissolve the Soviet Union. Gorbachev resigned as the President of the USSR, declaring the office extinct. Leaving the Presidential power to Boris Yeltsin.

Was the Soviet Union an Enlightenment period?
  The Soviet Union brought leadership to a country that was lacking it. The people were ignored, the land was owned by a few wealthy people and people were stuck in a poor social class. Industries were doing poorly and innovation was falling behind. The Soviet Union brought Russia to the top in Industrialization  Militarization  and revived its economy. The Soviet Union pushed forward technology, medicine, and innovation further then what could have been achieved by the Tsarist government. The only down fall of the Soviet Union was some the power hungry leaders that believed keeping power was more important then the lives of their people, and dehumanization of their citizens would make them into working machines that, for the price of the persons well being, would bring Russia into the lead of Industrialization.