“GLASNOST” AND “PERESTROIKA”

“GLASNOST” AND “PERESTROIKA”

By Van Nguyen

 

Destabilization was in full swing with the ascension to power of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republic (1981-1991). He was a member of the Politburo from 1980.  He was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission during the Chernenko administration from 1981 to 1985). He became secretary- general of the Communist Party from 1985 and president of the Supreme Soviet from 1988. An advocate for renovation, he introduced liberal political and economic reforms “glasnost” and “perestroika” inside the union and attempted to halt the arms race abroad. He became head of State in 1989.  In March 1990, he was formally elected to a five-year term as executive president with greater powers. At home, his executed plans for economic and political reforms as conceived.

    Glasnost (openness) defines Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of liberating various political aspects of Soviet life such areas as introducing greater freedom of expression and information and opening up relations with Western countries. Glasnost involved the lifting of bans on books, plays, and films, the release of political dissidents, the tolerance of religious worship, a reappraisal of Soviet history, the encouragement of investigative journalism ton, the uncovering of corruption, and the sanctioning of greater candor in the reporting of social problems and disasters. Journalists‘s rights to access are guaranteed. There is a right to reply. Citizens have the rights to receive information from abroad

 Under legislation adopted in 1990, censorship of mass media is abolished; however, publication of State secrets, calls for the overthrow of the State by force, incitement of national and religious hatred and State interference in people’s private lives are prohibited. In the economic sphere, Mikhail Gorbachev failed to avert a food crisis in the winter of 1990-91 and his desire to preserve a single, centrally-controlled USSR. He restructured the Party and State bureaucracies

He met with resistance from Soviet Baltic republics Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania seeking more independent government systems. In the foreign affairs domain, his achievements gained him reputation.  He was also faced with calls for cession from the Soviet Union and was forced to reconsider his earlier opposition to a multiparty system.  Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. However, his reputation suffered as a result of harsh repression of nationalist demonstrations in the Baltic States in early1991. His peace initiative during the Gulf War during February 1991 gained him a positive stance among Arab leaders.

In the economic sphere, from 1987, Gorbachev pressed for his wide-ranging domestic economic and political programs of restructuring, “Perestroika.”  The term was first proposed at the 26^th Party Congress in 1979 and actively promoted by Gorbachev himself from 1985. In the economic sphere, perestroika was conceived as involving “the switching on to track of intensive development “by automation and improved labor efficiency.”  It specifically evolved to attend increasingly to market indicators and incentives 0f a gradual dismantlement of the Stalinist central-planning system.  Decision-making authority was devolved to self-financing enterprises. A form of “market socialism” came into being.

As the Soviet economy disintegrated during 1991, his political strength declined. Gorbachev was able to counter a short-lived coup in the winter of that year and regained some stature by helping to coven the Middle East peace conference in Spain in November 1991. Soviet might nevertheless gradually deteriorated following successive violent political developments leading to the collapse of the Eastern Europe Bloc in the later years of the 1980’s.

     A New Vision

“Glasnost,” Kien Van noted, “is the catchword for the new openness about problems in the Soviet Union and the greater tolerance of dissent. Gorbachev has allowed the Soviet press to publish exposes about the failures of and corruption in the Soviet system. He has brought Andrei Sakharov back from internal exile and has released a few other prominent dissidents. He has increased the number of Jews allowed to emigrate and has given exit visas to Soviet citizens divided from their spouses in the West. All these steps have been widely hailed in the West. These developments are significant and represent a welcome change from the past. But we should always remember that the literal translation of the “glasnost” is "transparence." Repression remains the keystone of the Soviet system. While fewer than 100 political dissidents have been released, another 40,000 still languish in prison camps. While more criticism of the system is permitted, it is all officially sanctioned criticism. It is no accident that those who are criticized under Glasnost never argue back.” (Kien Van. Doan Ket, February 1988, No.38pp.44-49).

In the views of Richard Nixon, “Gorbachev's purpose is three-fold. He wants to create a more favorable attitude toward the Soviet Union in the West in order to facilitate his pursuit of more important goals, agreements on trade and arms control. He wants to use Glasnost to weed out his political opponents. He wants to create a new spirit among intellectuals and particularly young people in the Soviet Union. Glanost is a small price to pay.

Gorbachev's speeches overflow with praise to democracy. But what he means by democracy is different from what we mean by it. He wants to open up the system; he wants to encourage people to step forth with new ideas; but his has no intention of relinquishing any of the power and prerogatives of the Communist Party. There is no real democratization outside the party. He wants to shake up the system to get it moving again. But it will not lead to anything remotely resembling a Western democracy.

This slogan for economic reform literally means restructuring. Gorbachev has spoken in sweeping terms about this program. He has called for the dismantling of much of the central planning apparatus. He has endorsed the idea of joint ventures with private Western firms. He has proposed giving greater decision-making power to factory managers. He has pushed for allowing some opportunities for very small enterprises to make private profit. But he has so far achieved little. The day-to-day workings in the Soviet Union still run by the dictates of the old regime. That Gorbachev seeks to take a new approach to Soviet problems does not mean that he rejects the basic premises of his system. He believes that the system is fundamentally sound but needs to be made more effective. We must remind ourselves that the reforms themselves tell us nothing about Gorbachev's intentions. Their purpose is not to move the Soviet Union toward more freedom at home or a less aggressive abroad, but rather to make the Communist system work better. He wants the system to be more efficient, not less Communist (Richard Nixon, 1989: 39-40).