The official beginning of perestroika is considered to be January 1987. Then, at the next plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, perestroika was proclaimed the main direction of development of the USSR. However, that event was preceded by almost 2 years of reforms that began in the country.
Instruction manual
1
Realistically, perestroika began when the new General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev came to the leadership of the USSR in March 1985. By that time, global changes had ripened in the country. Few people then did not understand this. A long period of relatively prosperous Brezhnev stagnation gradually began to move into the stage of overt degradation of the state.
2
The economy of the USSR was in a state of stagnation. Despite the annual statistics on the steady growth of all indicators, the real situation was getting worse and worse. There were less and less goods on store shelves, and absolutely empty ideological slogans urging citizens to suffer a little more in the name of a near bright future no longer worked. The people wanted change.
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Therefore, the people perceived the coming to power in the camp of a new young, by the standards of big politics, energetic person, as a good sign of the harbinger of change for the better.
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Despite the fact that in his first speech at the new high post, Gorbachev assured everyone that he would continue to continue the policy of the Communist Party, no one believed him. He spoke so vigorously and energetically, while only hinting at the upcoming reforms.
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During the first three months after coming to power, the new secretary general changed almost the entire top party leadership. Brezhnev’s elderly associates were replaced by completely new people. Two extremely dubious state projects appeared in terms of feasibility and perspective: on the struggle against panism and accelerating the country's economic development.
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And there is a concept hitherto completely unheard of by the Soviet people - glasnost. Then, at the dawn of perestroika, there were only her little glimpses. But the people were immensely happy about this. In the official party press and on television, much earlier completely inaccessible to mere mortal information began to appear. On the one hand, positive materials began to be given about life in Western countries. On the other - criticism of the party and Soviet bodies.
7
Major changes are taking place in foreign policy. For the first time in nine years, the head of the USSR has met four times with the President of the United States in 2 years. Meetings are also taking place with other heads of the Western powers. People around the world have a fragile hope for an end to the Cold War and the arms race.
8
But the real changes in Soviet society, which are commonly called perestroika all over the world, began only in 1987.
