Gorbachev and Reform

Perestroika and Glasnost

When Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet General Secretary in 1985, the USSR was in deep trouble: economic stagnation, technological backwardness, an unwinnable war in Afghanistan, and a gerontocratic leadership that had died in office three times in three years.

Gorbachev launched two interconnected reform programs:

• Perestroika ('restructuring'): Economic reforms to decentralize planning, allow limited private enterprise, and integrate the USSR into the global economy. The reforms were too timid to create a market economy but radical enough to disrupt the planning system — producing shortages and discontent.

• Glasnost ('openness'): Political liberalization allowing freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Gorbachev believed transparency was necessary to fight corruption and mobilize support for economic reform. But glasnost unleashed forces he could not control: demands for national independence across the Soviet republics, revelations about Soviet history (the Holodomor, the Gulag), and open criticism of the Communist Party itself.

The Revolutions of 1989

Gorbachev's most consequential decision was abandoning the Brezhnev Doctrine — the Soviet policy of intervening militarily to prevent communist governments from falling (as in Hungary 1956 and Czechoslovakia 1968). When he signaled that the USSR would not use force to prop up Eastern European regimes, the dominoes fell with astonishing speed:

• Poland: Solidarity wins semi-free elections (June 1989)
• Hungary: Opens its border with Austria (September 1989)
• East Germany: The Berlin Wall falls (November 9, 1989)
• Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution (November 1989)
• Romania: Violent overthrow of Ceausescu (December 1989)

These revolutions were overwhelmingly peaceful — a remarkable historical achievement. Gorbachev's restraint in not sending tanks was essential to this outcome.