This policy got rid of Stalinist oppressions such as banning books or the secret police. He also issued the policy of perestroika, or economic restructuring. He believed the best way to revive the economy was to loosen the governments grip on it, which allowed for better wages and conditions. People could own businesses for the first time since the 1920’s. Gorbachev also backed out of the arms race with the United States, hoping for a better relationship that would benefit the Soviet economy. He lessened the military presence of the Soviets in Eastern Europe and Warsaw Pact countries, and eventually, small groups and ethnicities began to declare independence, frustrated with the collapsed Soviet economy.
At last, all of the remaining republics left the USSR and the Soviet Union had finally fallen.