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> Perestroika in the Soviet Union: 30 Years On > > Documents show extraordinary achievements, Spectacular missed opportunities > > Newly published records include report on Chernobyl, Gorbachev meetings > with Mitterrand and Bush, and Gorbachev appeal for international aid in 1991 > > National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 504 > > > Washington, DC, Posted March 11, 2015 -- Thirty years ago today, in the > Kremlin, the Soviet Politburo unanimously elected its youngest member, > Mikhail Gorbachev, to the pinnacle of Soviet power -- General Secretary of > the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This election > ushered in the "perestroika" period of revolutionary change, which led to > the end of the Cold War, democratization of the Soviet Union, and > ultimately -- to the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet empire, as detailed > in an extraordinary selection of documents from Soviet, American and other > sources published today by the National Security Archive at George > Washington University (www.nsarchive.org). > > Gorbachev had come to Moscow only a few years earlier, in 1978, to serve > as the party secretary for Agriculture. His rise was indeed meteoric. Under > General Secretary Yuri Andropov (1982-84), Gorbachev essentially became > number two in the party and a perceived successor to Andropov. According to > the documents as well as diaries and memoirs, Gorbachev was a straight > arrow, not a dissident, but a reformer within the system. His top > priorities were to reform the Soviet economy, end the war in Afghanistan, > and end the nuclear arms race to direct the peace dividend to domestic > reform. It helped him that at the time, the entire Soviet elite was ready > for change and saw in him the potential to make the Soviet system stronger > and more vibrant. The documents published here show Gorbachev's first > efforts to achieve his goals -- from the conversation with Afghan Communist > leader Babrak Karmal to the launch of the anti-alcohol campaign, to the > first conversation with President Ronald Reagan. > > This selection of documents from all seven years of the perestroika era > attempts to give the reader a sense of the scope of this revolutionary > transformation, not just of the Soviet Union, but of the world. The > documents cover the most important issues that confronted Soviet leaders in > this period -- the reform of the Warsaw Pact and relations with socialist > allies from the beginning and to the crumbling of the Pact, arms control > and the key U.S.-Soviet interactions, relations with West European > countries, and Soviet activities in the Third World. > > > Check out today's posting at the National Security Archive - > http://www.nsarchive.org/NSAEBB/NSAEBB504/ > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
