ELECTING THE USSR CONGRESS OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES

In: Problems of communism, Band 38, Heft 6, S. 51-56

Abstract

THE SPRING 1989 ELECTIONS TO THE CONGRESS OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES IN THE SOVIET UNION DID NOT SHIFT POWER AWAY FROM THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND THE EXISTING ADMINISTRATIVE APPARATUS, BUT THEY DID ENHANCE THE POWER OF GENERAL SECRETARY MIKHAIL GORBACHEV. THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN WAS SEEN AS A WAY TO CULTIVATE NEW PATTERNS OF POLITICAL BEHAVIOR, WITH THE STORMY DEBATES IN THE NEW CONGRESS BEING THE MOST SALIENT RESULT SO FAR.