Dissolution of the Soviet Union and decisions of specific individuals (usually Gorbachev and Yeltsin). One characteristic example of intentionalist writing is historian Archie Brown's "The Gorbachev Factor", which argues Gorbachev was the main force in Soviet politics at least in the period 1985–1988 and even later largely spearheaded the political reforms and developments as opposed to being led by events. This was especially true of the policies of "perestroika" and "glasnost", market initiatives and foreign policy stance as political scientist George Breslauer has seconded, labelling Gorbachev a "man of the events". In a slightly different vein, David Kotz and Fred Weir have contended that Soviet
19th All-Union Conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 19th All-Union Conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The 19th All-Union Conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a party conference held by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 28 June to 1 July 1988. There were 4,991 delegates at the conference. The General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, declared in his opening speech that political reform was the key issue. Gorbachev wanted to achieve the "democratization of the life of the state and society", and wanted the Soviet Union to "move along the path of the creation of a socialist state under the