Glasnost, perestroika and Eastern Europe

Abstract

The dramatic economic and political reforms taking place in the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev are intimately connected with changes in Eastern Europe. Some of the Soviet reforms have been inspired by reforms in Eastern Europe; some are being pressed on the East Europeans, often in the face of reluctance or even outright hostility from East European leaders. However that may be, if Soviet-style refogrms are implemented in some of the East European states, there could be fundamental changes in the ways those societies are organized and run. Mr Gorbachev calls his reform programme for the Soviet Union 'restructuring' or perestroika. The economic side of perestroika includes a reduction in the role of central planning, the decentralization of decision-making, an expanded role for market mechanisms, and increased opportunities for private initiative in services and production. The political side includes greater openness and publicity in the media (glasnost), greater 'pluralism' of opinions in the political arena, competitive and secret elections for state (and perhaps even Party) bodies, and an enhanced political role for workers in state enterprises through 'self-management' and employee selection of managers and directors. Many of these ideas have already been advocated by reformers and dissidents in Eastern Europe. But past efforts to apply them have sometimes led to severe repression, as in Poland in 1981, or Soviet intervention, as in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The chances of such reforms succeeding now, with a Soviet leadership in place that is supportive rather than sceptical and fearful, are of course much greater.1 But even if substantial reforms in Eastern Europe do not take place, the 'new thinking' in the Soviet Union still promises dramatic and perhaps even revolutionary change in the nature of Soviet-East European relations. Gorbachev and his Politburo colleagues have called on the East European leaders to abandon old ways. They have begun to redefine the relationship between Moscow and the capitals of Eastern Europe. 'Socialist internationalism', the standard formula that was used to justify the Soviet interventions in Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan and which formed the core of the Brezhnev Doctrine of limited sovereignty, now seems to be being down-played. If the Soviet leaders mean what they say, and if the East Europeans take them at their word, Eastern Europe will move even further along the road of polycentrism as a result of the Soviet reform initiative. Furthermore, change and reform in Eastern Europe are likely to feed back into the Soviet Union, further accelerating the reform process there.