This research examines and compares agricultural policy in the Soviet Union for two different periods. These periods are (1) the contemporary period, which began in March 1985, with the election of Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) Central Committee, and Chairman of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Council of Defense, and (2) the March 1953 to October 1964 time period, during which Nikita Khrushchev held the office of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
Agricultural policy in the Soviet Union is of particular interest in early 1989, because it is a part of perestroika, the master policy through which Gorbachev hopes to restructure the country's economic and political systems (Gorbachev, 1987). A comparison of contemporary agricultural policy with that of the Khrushchev years is relevant, because it was under his leadership that the last meaningful attempt at agricultural reform in the Soviet Union was made (Paxton, 1988).
The following discussion presents a brief summarization of the treatment of perestroika in the west, and of comparisons (when they have been made) with past reform in the Soviet Union. The examination and comparison policy in the two periods are then presented.
SUMMARY OF WESTERN ASSESSMENT
Western assessment of perestroika runs the gamut from fawning praise the minority to a highly negative skepticism which holds that it is not likely to be successful in the long run the majority (Galuszka, 1987; Pearson, 1985). The wide spectrum of opinion between the extremes of the continuum most often contends that perestroika is the result of communism's failures, and that whether or not perestroika is successful, the communist system will not survive (Minard & Brimelow, 1986). It is probable that none of these opinions is particularly close to the mark.
With respect to agriculture, t...