Glasnost

Quick Facts: Who was Glasnost?

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Glasnost

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Soviet policy promoting openness and transparency, popularized by Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s.

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Origins & Early Life

Glasnost ( GLAZ-nost; 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 glasnost 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 word came to be used in English in the latter meaning. 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.

Career & Major Achievements

Some reforms were introduced 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. 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." 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. 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.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Protesters at 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 Russian SFSR Code of Criminal Procedure. Article 111 of the Code stated that, with a few specified exceptions, 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.

Chronological Milestones & Life Events

1. 1965: 1965 Milestone — 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.
2. 1976: 1976 Milestone — 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.

Notable Quotes by Glasnost

“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.”

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Glasnost

True or False: “The primary goal of Glasnost was solely to achieve immediate political independence from Soviet control.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): While promoting openness, its main stated goal was to make the country's management transparent and circumvent concentrated bureaucratic control.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Glasnost