THIS IS MY HISTORY NOTES, SO IGNORE THIS!!
(its really long, so really really ignore it.)
BEWARE: historical psychobabble PLUS use of hokkien lingo.
very very dangerous, and self combustible.

REASON FOR PERESTROIKA AND GLASNOST:
their economy was screwed!!
+the factories were not producing quality products
-so all their products were
lao ya pok-TeeVo, radios, clothes were expensive
-a car could cost up to SEVEN YEARS WAGES (isaac and chuan, thank God you live in 2007)
+high prices of consumer goods led to a thriving black market
-black market meant that the
zheng hu could no get income from sales taxes.
+as
tao of warsaw pact, USSR had to lead the defense of other Eastern European states
-led to bankruptcy (haha. idiots.) and lost of support from those countries
+USSR had inefficient food distribution methods
-had a lot of agricultural resources but food lay rotting on roadsides (USSR big la)
-starving minions of USSR
-irony irony, they had to import food to feed the people
-led to further loss in revenue, revealed inefficiency of the
zheng hu+USSR liked to race against USA
-look, honey. you had peanuts and USA was only about the richest country in the world then
-USSR had no moolah to be a superpower
-but they still compete with USA (i told you they were stupid.)
-space race, nuclear arms race, supporting communists brothers like Cuba, fight wars against USA in Afghanistan.
-to get moolah to compete with USA, USSR needed to sell its goods.
-but its goods were not good enough to be sold. (AHAHA!!! LOSERRR!!!)
WHAT IN THE NAME OF GORBY
IS PERESTROIKA?* Perestroika = economic restructuring in the Soviet Union
-replace the Command Economy with Demand Economy
-Command Economy = i say, you make, they buy
-Demand Economy = you make, i like, i buy
-D.E. encouraged competition
-in 1987, trade was taken place with individual profit (which is SO totalleh against communism, Gorby dumbest.)
-wanted to encourage competition and boost the Soviet economy
-did not want state controlled monopolies/subsidies
-reduced amount spent on the militia
-1987, signed disarmament treaty with USA to allow for greater cuts on nuclear weapons
-1988, announced that the
zheng hus for those of Warsaw Pact were now on their own
-USSR no longer sent red army to fight fight and keep laws.
AND WHAT IN THE NAME OF GORBY
IS GLASNOST?*Glasnost = openness
- introduced to restore the people's faith in the zheng hu and in communism
-wanted to end corruption
-denizens of USSR would be informed of reasons for decisions and not just be forced to obey
-Gorby toured the streets of Moscow to explain/debate his reasons
-free elections held for the first time in 1990 (PLEASE LAH, this is SO capitalist. posuers.)

-censorship was relaxed
-persecution against dissidents ended-Andrei Sakharov (his picture is the freaky looking man on the extreme right) was released from prison in 1986. (this freakish dude was the leading dissident of USSR. and his face is disturbing.)
-the powers of the KGB were restricted and abolished eventually
-notorious Lubyanka prison was closed down
-Western ideas and music were no longer discouraged :D and even Ronald McD made his home in Moscow
-restrictions were lifted in the Russian Orthodox church :))))))))) and the freedom of worship was allowed!!! :D
REASONS FOR GORBY'S FAILURE
(other than plain stupidity)Speed of reforms
Lack of Western support
Opposition from hardliners
Oppsition from the people
Multi-ethnicity of Russia
Size of problems
(SLOOMS, think: mushrooms)
Speed of Reforms:
-Gorby tried to tackle all the problems at once
-the zheng hu cannot tahan the big change
-problem damn big
-35 billion rouble deficit
-24000 out of 46000 factories/businesses were running at a loss
-10% or Soviet workers arrived to work drunk regularly
Lack of Western Support:
-Gorby was popular with the capitalist-West and even won the Nobel Peace prize
-but all talk, no action, no moolah, no change
-attempted to reduce Soviet arms and stop arms race
-Westerners support support but didn't provide loans to help out
Opposition From Hardliners:
-many hard line communists were SHOCK SHOCK HORROR HORROR-ed by the seemingly capitalist reforms
-believed he was endangering the USSR by reducing armaments and withdrawing support from Warsaw Pact
-withdrawal of support meant that other WP states could abandon communism
Opposition from Soviet People:
-Gorby had hoped Glasnost would give people faith to trust the zheng hu again
-HOWEVER, people saw more problems and turned their backs on the zheng hu
-Pandora's box was open and there was no way of closing it again
-Gorby had promised openness, and the people were taking more than he was prepared to give
-people were not used to democracy and openness
-too used to being ruled by communism's Iron Fist
Multi-ethnicity of USSR:
-G&P revealed important weakness of USSR
-not a union of willing/equal partners
-different people, different cultures, different nationalities
-only bond? dominion of Red Army
-1989, Red Army was falling apart
-war losses and disarmaments and reduction of war cash
-unable to pay soldiers' salary
-so poor, army was bought over by West Germany
-Red Army had no control. USSR was zheng hu-less
Size of Problems:
-economic reforms did not work because inefficiency and corruption was so deep-rooted
-not many willing to change
-many managers feared that increased inefficiency would threaten their jobs
-so they prevented reforms from happening
HEY EVERYONE!! THIS IS MIKHAIL GORBA-STUPID-CHEV!!

qian bian right, his face? hahahahhahaha. OKAY! i'm done with history for today :) genius, me. i'm off to do physics, then maybe sleep by like 3, because i have to wake up damn early to go for 4 hours worth of A Math tuition. grawr.
a two second long phone call has got me smiling like an utter moron.
and trust me, i know a moron when i see one.