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Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World

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This book (Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World) was written just a few years before the Soviet Union collapse, yet provides vital clues to explain the then impending collapse. In the first 30 pages of the book, Gorbachev provides a searing indictment of Soviet society. The economy couldn't produce useful goods and services. The people were demoralized. And the Communist Party, which controlled the government, perpetuated these and numerous other dysfunctional social systems through its top-down mode of operation.

Attempting to revitalize Soviet society, in the mid 1980's, the party finally began its "glasnost" (opening up) and "perestroika" (restructuring) campaigns. Glasnost was an attempt to allow people to freely criticize the government. Perestroika was the attempt to reform and restructure the economy. But these were either too little or too late. The collapse came anyway.

The mystery in the Western world was why it seemingly happened so quickly, and why no one in the West anticipated it. Gorbachev's description of Soviet society illuminates that the collapse did not happen quickly; it had been developing for decades. In a simple phrase, socialism as practiced by the Soviets just did not work. Gorbachev attributes the problems in Soviet society to the government's top-down management style. Orders came from the top. Everyone else was conditioned to simply obey.

Gorbachev argues that with perestroika the Soviet Union would create a new type of democratic socialism that would remedy all the flaws he saw in the existing system. In many gracefully written passages, he explains that he envisions that power and creative ideas would flow up from the people and invigorate the government. The democratic socialism he envisioned would be a far different system than the top-down Soviet style of government. Missing in his book, however, is any description of how the Communist Party itself would have been restructured. It is hard to imagine how the unreformed ruling party could ever have directed the changes Gorbachev says were needed.

Gorbachev discusses at length his belief that the possibility of catastrophic nuclear war forces a new way of thinking about foreign policy and war. The possibility that life on earth could be destroyed requires new concepts that rise above traditional ideological thinking of capitalism vs. socialism. There would be no winners in a nuclear war. We must learn to accept and tolerate our differences. He thinks we can live in peace despite our differences. He discusses the proposals he made to President Reagan to eventually eliminate Soviet and USA nuclear weapons. Although he was unsuccessful in achieving such an arms agreement with Reagan, he is optimistic that such an agreement will eventually come about.

It is unusual for government heads to write books while they are still in power. History too easily makes fools of those who do. In this book you see the thinking of a very charming and optimistic man who is oblivious to the fate that history was about to thrust upon him. But knowing what is about to happen to Gorbachev and the Soviet Union makes the reading of this book all the more interesting.

It has been almost twenty years since this book was written and shortly after that, the Soviet Union fell apart. That political entity known as the Soviet Block suddenly was no more, going out more with a soft pop than anything approaching a bang. There are those who believe that the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable, they cite technological advancement and the superiority of the capitalist system as the root causes.
All that is true, but as we saw when several of the hard-line communists tried to stage a coup, the collapse of the Soviet Union could have been very bloody. For all of that Gorbachev deserves to get far more credit than history has so far granted him. He could have clamped down the political controls while easing the economic ones. In fact it can be argued that it would have been better for the subsequent Russian nation had he been more politically forceful as the Soviet Empire was falling apart.
This book is a description of Gorbachev's political and economic philosophy, but more important, it is a statement of how he viewed the Soviet presence in the world. For it is in this book that one can see the seeds of the destruction of the Soviet Empire, when he made it clear that he would not use force to maintain it. Once the fear of political repression was removed, there was little to keep it together.
I read this book when it first came out in 1988 and was impressed with Gorbachev. Unlike others who seem to consider him a historical nonentity, my opinion of him is higher than it was in 1988. It was his vision that allowed the transition to take place and if he is guilty of anything, it is a lack of vision as to how quickly it would lead to dramatic change. But at the time, there were very few people who can claim that level of clairvoyance.

An interesting account, by Mikhail Gorbachev, on "Glasnost" and "Perestroika". The former meaning tranparency and the latter restructuring. Together these would form the foundation of a new Russian politico-economical system. Growing up as a teenager during the Cold War I was exposed to a very different USSR, a country of no shades only absence of colour known as black. Yet, in this colourful account, we see a proud, hard working peoples no different from ourselves. They feel, think and most of all wish to be respected. The central theme of the book is that Lenin's political programme, socialism, was neverly adequately established in the USSR being mired in bureacracy, inefficiencies, and pessimism. These obstructions need to be removed with glasnost and perestroika as starting points. The former leader of the USSR then muses how this could set an example for the world leading to appropriate distribution of resources rather than concentration in a few hands, the latter being responsible for many a revolution and civil strife.

The most striking aspect of the book is how the soviet perspective of world events differed markedly from that broadcast by western media.

The seminal work that launched Gorbachev's reform movement. It is written by a young and enthusiatic reformer. This is before the setbacks and opposition to his reforms as being too radical or not radical enough ruined his career and sidetracked the entire program. This book is a good historical review of the failures of Soviet economic policies up to the Brezhnev era. It is an optomistic appeal to save communism by turning it into a socialist democracy. Unfortunately it didn't work out for him or his country. This book is a valuable glimpse into the man and his times and will no doubt become an important work in the historiography of the latter 20th century. Any understanding of the fall of communism and the collapse of the USSR is incomplete without reading it.

The book was shipped promptly and the seller followed up very nicely to make sure that I was satisfied with the purchase. Excellent Service!

The only reason it isn't 5 stars is because I have a slight disagreement regarding condition of the book. It was listed as "Used-New" but really I don't think it was "Used-New". However, it is in good condition and was only 1 cent, so I am happy.

I would do business with this seller again.

perestroika
{pe-ruh-stroy'-kuh}

Perestroika (Russian for "restructuring") was the term used by Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to describe his program of political and economic reforms, implemented between 1985 and 1991. It was closely linked to his concepts of glasnost (openness) and democratization. The aim of perestroika was to rejuvenate the Soviet system. Instead, the forces of change unleashed by Gorbachev's reforms led to the breakdown of the system and the dissolution of the USSR. The political reforms included a restructuring of the Soviet central government, a relaxation of censorship, and an end to the Communist party's monopoly of power. Among the economic changes were a reintroduction of limited private enterprise, a more flexible price structure, and decentralization of economic decision making. In foreign policy, perestroika led to the breakup of the Soviet satellite system in Eastern Europe and the end of the cold war with the West. At home the partial dismantling of the system crippled it altogether, causing a series of crises that ended in the failed coup of August 1991 and the subsequent demise of the Soviet Union.

Glasnost (Russian for "publicity" or "openness") was the word used by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to characterize his program of liberalizing the strict censorship policy of the USSR and allowing greater freedom of speech. The glasnost policy, by which he hoped to reform and strengthen the stagnating Soviet system, served instead to hasten its downfall. Moving away from the rigid thought control that had formerly been the rule, Gorbachev, starting in 1985, introduced a new tolerance for criticism, a broader range of opinions in the press and in the arts, and a more accurate rendering of Soviet history. Glasnost was seen as an essential first step in the carrying out of Gorbachev's economic and political reforms (perestroika), encouraging people to contribute to the debate on what kind of reforms were needed. The relaxation of censorship and resulting free exchange of ideas were important factors in bringing about the revolutionary changes that developed from Gorbachev's initial modest reform program. These included not only the end of the decades-long cold war between the USSR and the West and the dissolution of the Soviet satellite system in Eastern Europe but also the eventual repudiation of communism in the USSR and the breakup of the Soviet Union itself in 1991.