Was Gorbachev responsible for the fall of the USSR?

by Sid_Vacant

A claim I've seen a lot is that Gorbachev's reforms partly accelerated the decline of the USSR, and that the policies of Perestroika were responsible for the subsequent liberalization of the economy under Yeltsin. Is there any truth to this claim or is it just propaganda from CPSU hardliners who didn't like Gorbachev?

voyeur324

/u/Kochevnik81 had previously answered :