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On taking office in 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev faced one problem more daunting than all others combined. The Soviet economy had been in a period of decline for two decades and was in desperate need of reform. Gorbachev choose to adjust the old system with a period of perestroika or restructuring in the hope of making it more efficient. The country was in desperate need of social and more importantly economic transformation for it was in serious trouble with shortages of even the most basic items like bread. Gorbachev’s plan was to introduce policies designed to begin establishing a market economy by encouraging limited private ownership and profitability in Soviet industry and agriculture. Politically Gorbachev wanted to keep the Soviet Union communist at the same time making it a socialist democracy. He also wanted to decentralize the government thus giving more power to the people. Gorbachev’s reforms sounded very promising to his people who were searching for any relief from their poverty. These reforms turned out to be anything but the answer to years of disorder and economic decay. They only put the country in a deeper state of turmoil. There are many reasons for Gorbachev’s reforms not working. Gorbachev’s fir