John Stockwell: The CIA & Perspectives During the Age of Glasnost (April 9, 1989)

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The age of Glasnost, particularly in 1989, marked a pivotal moment in history, notably for the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev. Glasnost, which translates to "openness" or "transparency," represented a significant shift in Soviet policy, advocating for increased freedom of speech, press, and political openness.

During this time, there was a considerable thaw in the strict controls over information and expression that had characterized the Soviet system for decades. It allowed for more open discussions about social, political, and historical issues that were previously taboo. Glasnost aimed to foster public participation in governance, promote accountability, and address societal problems by acknowledging and discussing them openly.

In 1989, views on Glasnost were diverse. Some saw it as a promising step towards democratization and modernization within the Soviet Union. They believed it could lead to a more engaged and empowered citizenry, offering hope for positive reforms and an eventual shift towards a more liberal society.

However, others viewed Glasnost with skepticism or even opposition. Critics, both within and outside the Soviet Union, were concerned about the potential destabilizing effects of openness. There were fears that loosening the reins on information could lead to social unrest, challenge the authority of the Communist Party, or even lead to the disintegration of the Soviet state. Conservative factions within the USSR perceived Glasnost as a threat to the established order and the ideology that had maintained control for decades.

Internationally, the age of Glasnost sparked both hope and caution among global observers. Many saw it as an opportunity for improved relations between the East and the West, fostering greater dialogue and cooperation. However, there were also concerns about the uncertainties that accompanied such radical changes in a geopolitical landscape that had been defined by Cold War tensions for so long.

Ultimately, the age of Glasnost was a period of profound transformation and uncertainty, characterized by shifting perspectives on the potential for openness and reform within the Soviet Union and its implications both domestically and on the global stage. It set the stage for the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union and reshaped the dynamics of international relations in the post-Cold War era.

Glasnost (/ˈɡlæznɒst/; Russian: гласность, IPA: [ˈɡlasnəsʲtʲ] ⓘ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissibility of hushing up problems. In Russian the word 'гласность' has long been used to mean "openness" and "transparency". In the mid-1980s, it was popularised by Mikhail Gorbachev as a political slogan for increased government transparency in the Soviet Union within the framework of perestroika, and the calque of the word entered into English in the latter meaning.
Historical usage

In the Russian Empire of the late-19th century, the term was used in its direct meanings of "openness" and "publicity" and applied to politics and the judicial system. Some reforms were introduced towards reforms permitting attendance of the press and the public at trials. After some liberalization under Alexander II of Russia, the openness of trials started to be restricted again. [1] Human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva writes that the word glasnost has been in the Russian language for several hundred years as a common term: "It was in the dictionaries and lawbooks as long as there had been dictionaries and lawbooks. It was an ordinary, hardworking, non-descript word that was used to refer to a process, any process of justice or governance, being conducted in the open."[2] In the mid-1960s it acquired a revived topical importance in discourse about the necessity of changing the cold-war era internal policy of the Soviet Union.
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The first public rally near the KGB building in Moscow on Lubyanka Square in a memory of Stalin's victims on the Day of Political Prisoners, 30 October 1989
The dissidents

On 5 December 1965 the Glasnost rally took place in Moscow, considered to be a key event in the emergence of the Soviet civil rights movement.[citation needed] Protesters on Pushkin Square led by Alexander Yesenin-Volpin demanded access to the closed trial of Yuly Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky. The protestors made specific requests for "glasnost", herein referring to the specific admission of the public, independent observers and foreign journalists, to the trial that had been legislated in the then newly issued Code of Criminal Procedure. With a few specified exceptions, Article 111 of the Code stated that judicial hearings in the USSR should be held in public.

Such protests against closed trials continued throughout the post-Stalin era. Andrei Sakharov, for example, did not travel to Oslo to receive his Nobel Peace Prize due to his public protest outside a Vilnius court building demanding access to the 1976 trial of Sergei Kovalev, an editor of the Chronicle of Current Events and prominent rights activist.[3]
Gorbachev

In 1986, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his advisers adopted glasnost as a political slogan, together with the term perestroika. Alexander Yakovlev, Head of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, is considered to be the intellectual force behind Gorbachev's reform program.[4]

Glasnost was taken to mean increased openness and transparency in government institutions and activities in the Soviet Union (USSR).[5] Glasnost reflected a commitment of the Gorbachev administration to allowing Soviet citizens to discuss publicly the problems of their system and potential solutions.[6] Gorbachev encouraged popular scrutiny and criticism of leaders, as well as a certain level of exposure by the mass media.[7]

Some critics, especially among legal reformers and dissidents, regarded the Soviet authorities' new slogans as vague and limited alternatives to more basic liberties. Alexei Simonov, president of the Glasnost Defence Foundation, makes a critical definition of the term in suggesting it was "a tortoise crawling towards Freedom of Speech".[8]
Various meanings

Between 1986 and 1991, during an era of reforms in the USSR, glasnost was frequently linked with other generalised concepts such as perestroika (literally: restructuring or regrouping) and demokratizatsiya (democratisation). Gorbachev often appealed to glasnost when promoting policies aimed at reducing corruption at the top of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, and moderating the abuse of administrative power in the Central Committee. The ambiguity of "glasnost" defines the distinctive five-year period (1986–1991) at the end of the USSR's existence. There was decreasing pre-publication and pre-broadcast censorship and greater freedom of information.

The "Era of Glasnost" saw greater contact between Soviet citizens and the Western world, particularly the United States: restrictions on travel were loosened for many Soviet citizens which further eased pressures on international exchange between the Soviet Union and the West.[9]
International relations

Gorbachev's interpretation of "glasnost" can best be summarised in English as "openness".[citation needed] While associated with freedom of speech, the main goal of this policy was to make the country's management transparent, and circumvent the holding of near-complete control of the economy and bureaucracy of the Soviet Union by a concentrated body of officials and bureaucratic personnel.[citation needed]

During Glasnost, Soviet history under Stalin was re-examined; censored literature in the libraries was made more widely available;[10][11] and there was a greater freedom of speech for citizens and openness in the media. It was in the late 1980s when most people in the Soviet Union began to learn about the atrocities of Stalin, and learned about previously suppressed events.

Information about the supposedly higher quality of consumer goods and quality of life in the United States and Western Europe began to be transmitted to the Soviet population,[12] along with western popular culture.[13]
Outside the Soviet Union

Glasnost received mixed reception in communist states, especially outside the Eastern Bloc.
Support

Glasnost had a trickle-down effect on Eastern Europe and lead to democratic reforms, namely in Poland and Czech Republic.[14] Glasnost and similar reforms were applied in the following communist states:

Bulgaria[15]
Czechoslovakia
East Germany[16]
Hungary[17]
Mongolia[18]
Poland[19]
Vietnam (see đổi mới)[20]

Furthermore, in the socialist state of Yugoslavia, similar reforms also existed, with the first major reforms beginning in Slovenia.[21]
Opposition

Glasnost or similar reforms were not applied in the following communist states:

China (had its own non-Soviet-inspired reforms)[22][23]
Cuba
Laos
North Korea[20]
Romania (opposed by Nicolae Ceaușescu)[24]

In Russia since 1991

The outright prohibition of censorship was enshrined in Article 29 of the new 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation.[25] This however has been the subject of ongoing controversy in contemporary Russia owing to heightened governmental interventions restricting access to information for Russian citizens, including internet censorship. There has also been pressure on government-operated media outlets to not publicize or discuss certain events or subjects in recent years. Monitoring of the infringement of media rights in the years from 2004 to 2013 found that instances of censorship were the most commonly reported type of violation.[26]
See also

1965 Glasnost rally
Demokratizatsiya (Gorbachev's "Democratization")
Glasnost Bowl
Perestroika (Gorbachev's "Restructuring")
Uskoreniye (Gorbachev's "Acceleration")
Common knowledge (logic)
Mutual knowledge
Pluralistic ignorance
Stag hunt

Notes

"Гласность" . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.
Alexeyeva, Lyudmila; Goldberg, Paul (1990). The Thaw Generation: Coming of Age in the Post-Stalin Era. Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 108–109.
"Before the Trials of Kovalyov and Tverdokhlebov, March-October 1975 (38.2)". 7 March 2016.
"Alexander Yakovlev, 81". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Archived from the original on 20 October 2005. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
Milestones in Glasnost and Perestroyka: Politics and People. Brookings Institution Press. 1991. ISBN 0-8157-3623-1.
H., Hunt, Michael (26 June 2015). The world transformed : 1945 to the present. p. 315. ISBN 9780199371020. OCLC 907585907.
H., Hunt, Michael (26 June 2015). The world transformed : 1945 to the present. p. 316. ISBN 9780199371020. OCLC 907585907.
"Фонд Защиты Гласности". www.gdf.ru.
Arefyev, V.; Mieczkowski, Z. (1991). "International Tourism In The Soviet Union In The Era Of Glasnost And Perestroyka". Journal of Travel Research. 29 (4): 2–6. doi:10.1177/004728759102900401. S2CID 154312740.
Bruhn, Peter (1989). "Glasnost im sowjetischen Bibliothekswesen" [Glasnot in Soviet library]. Journal for Library and Bibliography. 36 (4): 360–366.
Shikman, Anatoly Pavlovich (1988). "Совершенно несекретно" [Completely unclassified]. Soviet Bibliography. 6 (231): 3–12.
Shane, Scott (1994). "Letting Go of the Leninist Faith". Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. pp. 212 to 244. ISBN 1-56663-048-7. "All this degradation and hypocrisy is laid not just at the feet of Stalin but of Lenin and the Revolution that made his rule possible."
Shane, Scott (1994). "A Normal Country: The Pop Culture Explosion". Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. pp. 182 to 211. ISBN 1-56663-048-7. "...market forces had taken over publishing..."
"Gorbachev's glasnost: the Soviet media in the first phase of perestroika". Choice Reviews Online. 37 (08): 37–4301-37-4301. 1 April 2000. doi:10.5860/choice.37-4301. ISSN 0009-4978.
Kamm, Henry (3 October 1987). "Back Seat for Glasnost Amid Bulgarian Drive". The New York Times.
Hager, Kurt (1990). "Glasnost Comes to East Germany". World Affairs. 152 (4): 198–207. JSTOR 20672242.
"Hungary Jumps Gun on Glasnost". 6 December 1988.
Henze, Paul B. (January 1989). "Mongolia faces glasnost and perestroika".
"GORBACHEV'S POLICY OF OPENNESS CHEERED BY POLISH LEADERS". The Journal of Commerce. 24 February 1987. Archived from the original on 9 November 2022.
"Can Vietnam's Doi Moi Reforms Be an Inspiration for North Korea? | Australian Strategic Policy Institute | ASPI".
"Slovenes set reform pace. In Yugoslavia, there is a group for nearly every cause as activists test limits of one-party state". Christian Science Monitor. 13 September 1988.
"China's Gorbachev phobia". 2 September 2022.
"A glasnost moment? Unlikely. The Chinese remember what happened to the". Independent.co.uk. 16 November 2013.
TISMANEANU, VLADIMIR (1987). "Ceausescu Against Glasnost". World Affairs. 150 (3): 199–203. JSTOR 20672144.
"Поиск по сайту | Конституция Российской Федерации". www.constitution.ru.

"mediaconflictsinrussia.org - mediaconflictsinrussia Resources and Information". ww16.mediaconflictsinrussia.org.

References
Look up glasnost in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Cohen, Stephen F.; Katrina Vanden Heuvel (1989). Voices of Glasnost: Interviews With Gorbachev's Reformers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-30735-2.
Gibbs, Joseph (1999). Gorbachev's Glasnost: The Soviet Media in the First Phase of Perestroika. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0-89096-892-6.
Horvath, Robert (2005). The Legacy of Soviet Dissent: Dissidents, democratisation and radical nationalism in Russia. London & New York: Routledge Curzon. ISBN 0-415-33320-2.

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Revolutions of 1989
Internal
background

Era of Stagnation Communism Anti-communism Criticism of communist party rule Eastern Bloc Eastern Bloc politics Eastern Bloc media and propaganda Emigration from the Eastern Bloc KGB Nomenklatura Shortage economy Totalitarianism Anti-communist insurgencies in Central and Eastern Europe

International
background

Active measures Cold War List of socialist states People Power Revolution Predictions of the collapse of the Soviet Union Reagan Doctrine Soviet Empire Terrorism and the Soviet Union Vatican Opposition Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

Reforms

Uskoreniye Perestroika
Demokratizatsiya Khozraschyot 500 Days New political thinking Sinatra Doctrine Glasnost Chinese economic reform Socialism with Chinese characteristics Đổi Mới

Government
leaders

Ramiz Alia Nicolae Ceaușescu Mikhail Gorbachev Károly Grósz Erich Honecker Miloš Jakeš Egon Krenz Wojciech Jaruzelski Slobodan Milošević Mathieu Kérékou Mengistu Haile Mariam Ne Win Denis Sassou Nguesso Heng Samrin Deng Xiaoping Todor Zhivkov Siad Barre

Opposition
methods

Civil resistance Human chains Magnitizdat Polish underground press Political demonstration Protests Samizdat Strike action

Opposition
leaders

Lech Wałęsa Václav Havel Alexander Dubček Ion Iliescu Liu Gang Wu'erkaixi Chai Ling Wang Dan Feng Congde Tank Man Joachim Gauck Sali Berisha Sanjaasürengiin Zorig Vladimir Bukovsky Boris Yeltsin Viacheslav Chornovil Vytautas Landsbergis Zianon Pazniak Zhelyu Zhelev Aung San Suu Kyi Meles Zenawi Isaias Afwerki Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Pope John Paul II

Opposition
movements

Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation Charter 77 New Forum Civic Forum Democratic Party of Albania Democratic Russia Initiative for Peace and Human Rights Sąjūdis People's Movement of Ukraine Solidarity Popular Front of Latvia Popular Front of Estonia Public Against Violence Belarusian Popular Front Rastokhez National League for Democracy National Salvation Front Union of Democratic Forces Inter-regional Deputies Group Alliance of Free Democrats Hungarian Democratic Forum

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Individual
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Jeltoqsan 1987–1989 Tibetan unrest 1988 Polish strikes Polish Round Table Agreement April 9 tragedy Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria Hungarian Round Table Talks Pan-European Picnic Baltic Way Monday Demonstrations Alexanderplatz demonstration Fall of the Berlin Wall Fall of the inner German border Malta Summit Black January 1990s post-Soviet aliyah Helsinki Summit Revolution on Granite Reunification of Germany January Events in Lithuania January Events in Latvia Transnistria War 1991 protests in Belgrade 1991 Belarusian strikes Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact August Coup Tajikistani Civil War Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

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Human rights in the Soviet Union

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Cold War

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1990s

Mongolian Revolution of 1990 Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident Gulf War Min Ping Yu No. 5202 German reunification Yemeni unification Fall of communism in Albania Breakup of Yugoslavia Dissolution of the Soviet Union
1991 August Coup Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

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Historians

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