Gorbachev and the Dynamics of Change

Abstract

By six in the morning, queues are already beginning to form in front of the news-stands in Moscow and Leningrad. People may be queuing to buy Ogonek, a popular illustrated weekly which had no great readership until very recently, or a literary review which is publishing a work that has been held up by the censors for decades, or a long-awaited critical novel. They may even be queuing to make sure of getting hold of their usual daily, or sometimes even Pravda, if it contains an article or an interview that is out of the ordinary: they are afraid that it will be sold out within a few hours. Live television programmes are also becoming more common and the public, who are often invited to take part in them, follow them with an attention that was unknown in the past. Although they have a world-wide reputation for being indigestible, the Soviet press and mass media are suddenly enjoying immense public popularity, thanks to the policy of glasnost (openness) introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev. Is this phenomenon really only the tip of an iceberg? Are profound changes really at work in Soviet society? How far can the perestroika (reconstruction) inspired and led by the new General Secretary actually go?