1: V O T E

Just kidding. I acquire a weapon, find Gorbachev, and murder him. This might not save the Soviet Union, but I figure he has a 100% chance of destroying it while whoever replaces him will have a less than 100% chance of destroying it, so it's probably my best bet. Plus, since it isn't a conspiracy there isn't a huge chance of the KGB finding out what I'm up to until it's too late - stochastic, individual acts of terror are very difficult to stop.

2: If I'm the General Secretary, I assume that means I have the political base to push some kind of agenda, because without the support of a large faction you're going to eventually end up inside the Russian White House getting blown up by Yeltsin's tanks.

So the way I see it the primary problem within the party is that it was far too calcified. The people were aware of the staggering excess of the first world in the 1980s, and the leadership was too set in their ways to consider any kind of economic agenda that might attempt to deliver something comparable to them. As Parenti put it, the USSR never properly transitioned away from siege socialism towards "consumer socialism", and I would make that transition my goal.

Step one is to churn new people from all walks of life into the Party. Institute mandatory retirement for party officials after a certain number of years of service, mandatory replacement for comrades whose careers don't advance after a certain amount of time, and widespread recruitment and expansion of regional branches of the CPSU and government. I want it to be like China, where every workplace has at least one Party representative who can act like a union/government rep, and where Party officials start out their career in government by doing things like outreach to the poorest rural areas of the Union. I expect this will be chaotic while it's being implemented, but should breathe new life into the USSR's political ecosystem.

Step two is to transition some of the industrial albatrosses around the USSR's neck into "light industry", ie washing machines and plastic shit. Reduce the amount of military spending, convert military factories into consumer goods factories, and give more flexibility to people on the ground to control production. I'm hoping that this will turn into the kind of noticeable quality of life increase that generates broad support among people who don't follow politics too closely - if your life seems to be getting better, you probably don't want things to change.