gorbachevs new thinking

cold war created a crisis in ussr...

-arms race with usa was very expensive

-soviet goods were of poor quality

-communist government were becoming corrupt and unable to give same living standards as west

1985 mikhail gorbachev became general secretary of communist party

he was more open to west

introduced 2 major policies:

perestroika:'restructuring'

-he wanted to make the soviet economy more efficient

-moved away from the centralisation of industry

-allowed soviet businesses to trade with western…