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The Collapse of the Soviet Union Cold War (1947-1991)

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The Collapse of the Soviet Union
Print The Collapse of the Soviet Union Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print The Collapse of the Soviet Union Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.48

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		glasnost, perestroika, communism, communist, policies, discontent, nuclear, unrest, ownership, prosperous, democracy, further, absolute, sickle, original, market
	content words:		Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Cold War

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The Collapse of the Soviet Union By Sharon Fabian

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¹     From the time communist rule began in the Soviet Union, there were problems. The ideals imagined by the original communists never came about. Soviet communist party leaders ruled with absolute power. They took control of farms and factories. Workers did not become more prosperous as they had expected. Instead, they were treated harshly and punished cruelly. Discontent and unrest were problems in the Soviet Union early on, and these problems worsened as the years went on.
 
²     The economy worsened in the Soviet Union. Workers who were still poor were no longer motivated to work hard. Not enough products were being made, and not enough food was being grown. People could not buy the things that they needed. The situation went from bad to worse.
 
³     In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union. He tried to make changes that would improve the economy. He began two new policies. One of them was called glasnost, a Russian word that means openness. People were now allowed to speak out against the government. The other new policy was known as perestroika, which means restructuring. This was a change towards more individual ownership of business.
 
⁴     However, Gorbachev's changes did not bring about the improvement in the economy that people hoped for.

Paragraphs 5 to 11:
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Cold War
(1947-1991)

Cold War (1947-1991)

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