Abstract

In the 1987, thanks to the Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms, the Soviet Union began a democratization process in which various actors played a different role. The essay analyzes the role of the CPSU in specifically. How did the party respond to Gorbachev? How did the CPSU and the soviet democratization influence each other? The attempt is to overcome historiographic narratives according to which Gorbachev failed in his efforts to build a democracy because the party boycotted him. The essay suggests that the Soviet Communist Party executed quite faithfully the Gorbachev’s directions. In the 1991, the failure of Gorbachev should be read as the result of the interaction of his confusing political reforms, the internal climate created by glasnost’ and the deep crisis of Soviet economy