The influence of the Russian Communist Party changed over time, going from high influence at the start of the period after World War II, to the Party being in opposition from 1991. There was a slow decline in influence during the 1960s and 70s, which became a rapid decline in the 1980s. Overall, the role of individuals was the most significant factor, however, war was also an important factor due to it causing individuals to increase or decrease influence of the Russian Communist Party. In the 1990s Yeltsin inadvertently increased the Communist Party’s influence. In 1992 he tried to use shock therapy, the rapid privatization of state enterprises, to improve the economy. The policy created ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ which increased the influence of the Russian Communist Party as the ‘losers’ were attracted to the Communist Party’s promises of land and equality. However, this was only a temporary increase due to Putin’s popularity in the 2000s. During World War II, Stalin disappeared for ten days but then decided to stay in Moscow, even though it seemed as though the Germans would take control of the city. This increased the influence of the Communist Party due to Stalin’s presence and leadership raising the morale of the Soviet soldiers so they were more willing to fight for the Communist Party, suggesting the social influence of the Party had increased. In addition, Khrushchev strengthened the political …show more content…
In 1979, around 100,000 Soviet troops were sent into Afghanistan. However, many had not been trained effectively with only 3 months training. Furthermore, the soldiers were not used to the Guerrilla warfare used by the opposing side and wounded soldiers received minimal care. This meant the social influence of the Communist Party decreased as soldiers didn’t want to fight and the Russian public were angry with the Communist Party for going into what seemed to be a useless war without trained