Glasnost’ and Perestroika
uGorbachev first seemed content to copy Andropov’s crackdown on corruption, unseating some longtime comrades of Brezhnev and Chernenko and announcing a campaign to curb alcohol
consumption.
uIn 1986, dissatisfied with the results
of previous
decisions and troubled by revelations of incompetence related to the Chernobyl’ nuclear disaster, Gorbachev decided to head off in a much more
radical direction.
uHe called for glasnost’ (openness or
candor) in
the media and culture and for a far-reaching perestroika (restructuring) of
the nation’s
economy and political system.
