Question

A communist country decides to give its people more economic freedom in an attempt to improve its failing economy. What outcome is the government most likely worried about in this case?
A. People will want to leave the country.
B. People will want more political freedom.
C. People will want to spend more for necessary items.
D. People will want to move to rural areas.

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is B.

Explanation:

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, becoming the Soviet leader. Gorbachev found out that the Soviet economy was going through hard times, affected by inefficiency, low productivity, low quality goods, and excessive bureaucracy. He sought to reform the centrally planned economy by adopting some market mechanisms, which he felt would improve efficiency and alleviate some of the worst bottlenecks of the system. Gorbachev deemed this series of reforms perestroika, or "restructuring" in Russian.

Gorbachev felt that in order to better tackle the problems of the country, open discussion of said problems was necessary. To this end, he also pushed forward glasnost ("openness"), which gave more freedom of expression. However, the new openness led to open talk about topics which were formerly considered forbidden or taboo, like nationalism, multiparty elections, or replacing the the socialist system with a capitalist one. Eventually, the ideas of glasnost spread all over the Eastern European socialist bloc, which led to the restoration of capitalism in these countries by the late 1980s - early 1990s. The Soviet Union itself was dissolved on 25 December, 1991.

Given this historical example, while giving more economic freedom and allowing some market mechanisms in a socialist economy could be beneficial, this could be seen as the ruling communist party loosening its power, which could lead to a political movement against the communist government.