ABSTRACT
The crisis leading to the dissolution of the USSR was deeply rooted in the central planning system. However, it also had political causes, especially the enormous discrepancy between the programmes established by Communist Party leaders and the human and material resources used to implement them. The political and generational changes that brought Mikhail Gorbachev to the leadership of the Politburo represented an attempt to revive the socialist dream in a profoundly changed society. Despite all its weaknesses, the USSR was a country where the urban population was double the rural population. In a country that saw a return to forms of barter, the new Russia formed its society and economy around these enormous personal fortunes, and on a “real” power that was able to influence official power. From a strictly economic point of view, Russia essentially re-formed around the energy industry.
