Gorbachev's New Thinking: Glasnost, Perestroika and Reform in the USSR
Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in March 1985, inheriting a country weakened by years of high military spending, an unwinnable war in Afghanistan, and a stagnant economy. He introduced two major reform policies: glasnost ('openness'), which relaxed censorship and allowed greater freedom of speech, press and criticism of the government, and perestroika ('restructuring'), which introduced limited market-style changes to the centrally planned Soviet economy, such as allowing some private enterprise. In foreign policy, Gorbachev pursued what he called 'New Thinking', seeking to reduce Cold War tensions, cut military spending, withdraw from Afghanistan, and allow Eastern Bloc states more freedom to reform their own governments without fear of Soviet military intervention, a clear break from the Brezhnev Doctrine of 1968.
Before you start
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Method
- Learn glasnost and perestroika as two distinct but connected policies, and be able to define each precisely: glasnost meant greater openness, relaxed censorship and freedom to criticise the government and its history; perestroika meant restructuring the economy with limited market-style reforms, such as permitting some private enterprise and reducing rigid central planning.
- Learn why Gorbachev introduced these reforms: the Soviet economy had stagnated for years, unable to compete with the West while also funding a huge military and the costly, unwinnable war in Afghanistan, and Gorbachev believed only real reform, not just cosmetic change, could fix these problems.
- Learn 'New Thinking' in foreign policy as the international side of the same reform project: Gorbachev sought arms reduction agreements with the West, withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan (completed February 1989), and cut military spending to free up resources for domestic reform.
- Learn the crucial change in policy toward Eastern Europe: Gorbachev broke from the Brezhnev Doctrine (1968), which had asserted the USSR's right to intervene militarily to protect communism in satellite states, and instead allowed Eastern Bloc countries to pursue their own reforms without the threat of Soviet invasion.
- For 'explain two consequences of...' questions, distinguish domestic consequences (freer speech and press inside the USSR, some economic experimentation) from international consequences (reduced Cold War tension, and the loosening of Soviet control over Eastern Europe that allowed the revolutions of 1989).
- For 'explain two of the following: importance' questions, be ready to argue that glasnost's openness, by allowing public criticism of the Communist Party for the first time, was arguably as important for the USSR's eventual collapse as perestroika's economic changes, since it let long-suppressed nationalist and reformist movements organise openly.
Worked example
Explain two consequences of Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika for the Soviet Union.
- Identify two different consequences: one about how the reforms changed Soviet society, and one about how they affected the USSR's control over its own territory and Eastern Europe.
- Write consequence one: glasnost allowed open criticism of the Communist Party and Soviet history for the first time in decades, which encouraged the growth of nationalist and reformist movements within Soviet republics that had previously been suppressed.
- Support consequence one with detail: newspapers and citizens began openly discussing past Soviet failures, including Stalin's crimes and economic mismanagement, weakening the Communist Party's authority and its claim to always act in the people's best interests.
- Write consequence two: Gorbachev's 'New Thinking' meant the USSR no longer threatened military intervention to keep communist governments in power in Eastern Europe, unlike under the Brezhnev Doctrine.
- Support consequence two with detail: this made it possible for the popular revolutions of 1989 across Eastern Europe, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, to succeed without Soviet troops intervening to crush them, something that would have been unthinkable a decade earlier.
Practice questions
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Q1In what year, and month, did Gorbachev become General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party?Show answer
Answer: March 1985.
Q2What does 'glasnost' mean, and what did it involve?Show answer
Answer: 'Openness'; it involved relaxing censorship and allowing greater freedom of speech, press and criticism of the government.
Q3What does 'perestroika' mean, and what did it involve?Show answer
Answer: 'Restructuring'; it involved limited market-style reforms to the Soviet economy, such as allowing some private enterprise and reducing rigid central planning.
Q4Name three goals of Gorbachev's 'New Thinking' in foreign policy.Show answer
Answer: Reducing Cold War tensions, cutting military spending, and withdrawing Soviet troops from Afghanistan (also acceptable: allowing Eastern Bloc states more freedom to reform).
Q5Which earlier Soviet policy did Gorbachev's approach to Eastern Europe break away from?Show answer
Answer: The Brezhnev Doctrine (1968), which had asserted the USSR's right to intervene militarily to protect communism in satellite states.
Q6Give one economic problem in the USSR that Gorbachev's reforms were designed to address.Show answer
Answer: A stagnant economy that could not compete with the West while also funding heavy military spending and the war in Afghanistan.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE History exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two consequences of glasnost for the Soviet Union.
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Explain two of the following: (a) The importance of glasnost for change within Soviet society. (b) The importance of perestroika for the Soviet economy. (c) The importance of 'New Thinking' for the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe. You must answer on two options.
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