Resumen de Gorbachev as Late-Soviet Shock Therapist: The Scientific Technical Revolution and the Formation of Gorbachev’s Reform Coalition and the Drive to Reindustrialize the USSR
This paper argues that to understand Gorbachev’s early policy choices, one must place them into the political context of late-Soviet politics. Gorbachev and his coalition came to power seeking not to replace the previous era’s economic policy priorities but to fulfill them. Their program derived from a belief in the priority of new technology to Soviet growth and the role of the ossified socio-economic system from incorporating innovations into production. As such, Gorbachev’s early actions – including a now derided drive to discipline labor and boost investment into new capital – were the core of his agenda to rapidly reconstruct the socio-economic system. This narrative pushes against characterizations of Gorbachev and his allies as figures who knew better but were stymied by powerful entrenched interests.
