The 500 Days Program (russian: программа "500 дней") was an ambitious program to overcome the

economic crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

by means of a transition to a market economy.

History

The program was proposed by

Grigory Yavlinsky Grigory Alekseyevich Yavlinsky ( Russian: Григо́рий Алексе́евич Явли́нский; born 10 April 1952) is a Russian economist and politician. He authored the 500 Days Program, a plan for the transition of the Soviet regim ...

and further developed by a work group under the direction of Stanislav Shatalin (an economic advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev). Before beginning work on the project, Shatalin had been assured by Gorbachev that he was serious about radically reforming the

Soviet economy The economy of the Soviet Union was based on state ownership of the means of production, collective farming, and industrial manufacturing. An administrative-command system managed a distinctive form of central planning. The Soviet economy was ...

. Therefore, in August 1990, the group issued a 400-page report titled "Transition to the Market". It was based on the earlier "400 Days Project" prepared by Yavlinsky and became known colloquially as the "500 Days Program" as it intended to create the groundwork for a modern market economy in 500 days. The report called for creation of a competitive market economy, mass

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

, prices determined by the

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

, integration with the world economic system, a large transfer of power from the Union government to the

Republics A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

, and many other radical reforms. The 500 Days Program immediately gained the complete support of

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

and a more skeptical support from Mikhail Gorbachev; soon after, Nikolai Ryzhkov, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, openly repudiated it. The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union delayed in adopting the program, eventually accepting a more moderate program for economic reform, titled: "Basic Guidelines for Stabilization of the Economy and Transition to a Market Economy". The new program contained many measures from the 500-Days Program, but most notably lacked a timetable and did not mention the division of economic power between the Union and Republics.

Authors

* Stanislav Sergeyovich Shatalin, * Nikolai Yakovlevich Petrakov, * Grigory Alekseyovich Yavlinsky, * Sergey Vladimirovich Aleksashenko, * Andrey Petrovich Vavilov, * Leonid Markovich Grigoryev, *

Mikhail Mikhailovich Zadornov Mikhail Mikhailovich Zadornov (born 4 May 1963 in Moscow) is a Russian economist, Chairman of the Management Board of Otkritie FC Bank, President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB 24 in the years 2005–2017, government official, Russ ...

, * Vladlen Arkadyevich Martynov, *

Vladimir Mashchits Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

, * Aleksey Yuryevich Mikhailov * Boris Grigorevich Fyodorov, * Tatyana Vladimirovna Yarygina, * Yevgeniy Grigorevich Yasin,

References

Works cited

External links

{{in lang, ru Reform in the Soviet Union Economy of the Soviet Union 1990 in the Soviet Union Grigory Yavlinsky

History

Authors

See also

References

Works cited

Further reading

External links