““Deng’s judgment about the importance of strong economic growth was later validated by a series of studies of the collapse of the USSR conducted by party scholars in the 1990s. These scholars concluded that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) fell for four main reasons: • The economy did not grow fast enough, leading to frustration and resentment, and this failure resulted from insufficient use of market mechanisms. • The CPSU’s propaganda and information systems were too closed and ideologically rigid, preventing officials from getting accurate and timely knowledge about conditions both inside and outside the Soviet Union. • Decision-making was far too centralized, and hence far too slow. • Once reforms started under Gorbachev, they undermined the core principle of the party’s absolute monopoly on political power.14””
![“Gorbachev was acutely aware of the [USSR] economic problems, and…” quote by David Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/83b/david-hoffman-38227_economic_gorbachev-was-acutely-aware-of-the-ussr_2878329.jpg)
