What if Gorbachev Saved the Soviet Union

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#Gorbachev #sovietunion #coldwar
In honour of the death of Gorbachev, here is a scenario where his attempted reforms have the intended effects of somewhat revitalising the Soviet economy and political structure. He takes a more tactical approach than he did in our own timeline. In our timeline he started Glasnost and Perestrojka around the same time, meaning that while the economy was collapsing in a massive way and failing all around, Gorbachev gave the politicians, people and press the means to complain about the system and the party.

Instead in this timeline he would focus on the economic side of the Union for the first decade of his rule, while also definitively ending the Cold War. Gorbachev, in his attempts to save the Soviet Union, would try to repair relations with China, while boosting relations with Europe and America. The new Soviet economy wouldn't be fundamentally altered, still being a largely planned economy led by bureaucrats, but state owned companies would no longer be subsidised no matter what by the Soviet leadership. This would finally give motive for even the state owned companies to innovate somewhat. The weaker state owned companies simply collapsed, while the more efficient ones would expand and innovate.

Exports of oil and gas to Europe would be the fundamental of the Soviet economy, while the Soviet industry gets revitalised to take care of the domestic demand, while exporting the surplus to Europe as well, again giving the companies a profit motive beyond producing what the state demands of them.

By the end of the scenario the Soviets would still be fundamentally flawed in many ways, but they survived. They would be a mix between our timeline's Russia and China. They would be richer and freer and Russia, while being poorer and freer than China.

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[possiblehistory]

Leave a like and a comment, even just commenting "hi" helps the channel out massively! Interactions boost how much the algorithm likes my video. As always to see more consider subscribing, there will be a new alternate history video every Friday.

[liborkozak]

I'm little sad when I remember how he "opened" Pizza Hut in Moscow only to see it being closed because of sanctions

[angrymanwithsillymoustasche]

Soviet union dissolved on 91
Gorbachev died at age 91
Soviet Union was created in 1922
Gorbachev died in 2022.
RIP

[AttaVonKissinger]

Here in Germany, Gorbachev is something of a hero for being the man who basically allowed Germany to become one nation again. Just about the only soviet leader I don't have an issue with tbh. I personally think much of the problems with Russia today that people attribute to Gorbachev could more rightly be attributed to Yeltsin. But honestly, what else could you do with a rotting carcass?

[girlwithaguitar]

I think an underrated factor in the fall of the Soviet Union was Chernobyl. Like, right after he eases tensions and opens up criticism of the government, the people see that the government hid a nuclear meltdown and exposure for two weeks. Without something so immediately jarring happening at the beginning of Glasnost, the urge to leave/revolutionize is likely not as strong or fast.

[agonzalez]

If the USSR survived then it could impact the nature of modern political discourse with Socialism and communism being considered less of a "failed ideology" as the main socialist superpower doesn't crash and burn

[Ocelot]

Good scenario, but I think you slightly downplayed significance of Soviet foreign affairs in 90's. I doubt Moscow would be completely apathetic to Yugoslav wars or Persian Gulf War especially if it would went on as in our timeline. Also what about Afghanistan? After all Soviets continued their financial and political support for Najibullah's government even after withdrawal. Would ADR even fall in 1992 if their only main supporter on world arena did not seized to exist?

[duckpotat]

How would this imapact India, Cuba and North Korea? I think India would still open it's economy but in a controlled fashion like China, potentially making it weaker in the short term but less dependent on foreign capital in the long term. I think Cuba and NK might go down a similar path to Vietnam. This would add way more legitimacy to "state capitalism" than in our own timeline, making it one of the 3 dominant ideologies along with Liberal capitalism and Social democracy.

[deron]

I honestly think if he followed this path the world would be a lot better. Wealth given to the people instead of the oligarchs we see now. Idk how he would react to Yugoslav wars and if 9/11 happens and usa goes down the same path and later invades iraq would the ussr intervene or no?

[eagleowl]

Imagine the 2017 100th year Revolution Celebration and the 2022 Soviet Union 100th year anniversary celebrations.
That would be interesting

[jubmelahtes]

Large state owned companies CAN be very profitable and beneficial for the population just look to Norway. The state owned companies can be directed and politically controlled if needed while they are still autonomous. The difference is who owns it, some rich old man or the people through the state.

[petersmythe]

I think part of the issue you have with the Soviet system is that the centrally planned economy was, well, not.
Five year plans were created and factory managers had absolutely no obligation to even aim for that target past the 50s. The world that the Soviet planners lived in was pretty much an economically alien one to what was actually produced, how much, and when. They had de facto devolved production targets to elected management which is the absolutely unworkable sort of "market without a market" that sets prices without accurate statistical information, creates complex plans that will never happen because a critical component is missing, over or underproduces components for a product because this or that factory decided not to follow the plan...

You don't have a failure of too much central planning but of the initially slow but later quite fast increase in the power and autonomy of individual factory managers to the extent they already acted almost like small capitalists BEFORE Gorbachev came to power.

[TheArctofireHD]

I'm really loving this channel's content. I hope it continues to grow!

[bestrafung]

I'd love to see a part 2 video that goes more in depth on Soviet foreign policy. I could see former Warsaw Pact countries forming some kind of neutral buffer zone between the USSR and NATO.

[hunterbolton]

The main issue I see with this scenario is the Baltic and Caucasus nations. The Baltic states would still demand independence, Georgia might too (though this is questionable), and ethnic tensions between Armenians and Azeris would probably still explode like they did in our timeline. If Europe/Soviet relations wanted to drastically improve, the Baltic States would probably have to be granted independence.

[Ulyanov.]

Good video, although an issue that I had about it was the lack of mentioning of the New Union Plan, since the August Coup took place merely a day before it was set to come into fruition

[DeanmC]

I always thought that it was too little too late and it would’ve had to be started earlier under Kruschev, but the failure of the virgin lands campaign contributed to him getting booted..

[CapzL]

Thank you for making such interesting scenarios!

[spaghettiking]

As they like to say of Jimmy Carter, 'The best leader for the worst time.'

[adderallbroad]

this is some really great and thorough alternate history, keep it up champ