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Introduction: Glasnost: What It Is and Isn't
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12623 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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6 / 1987 |
581 Words |
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As the United States and the Soviet Union continue to confront one another on key issues such as arms control, human rights, and communist aggression in countries like Afghanistan, the question of what glasnost is and is not takes on special significance. Is glasnost true "openness," which will lead to a more open and democratic society in the Soviet Union? Duke University scholar Jerry Hough argues that glasnost is a fundamental reform, a change in strategy rather than tactics, that reflects the deep-seated political needs of the Soviet leadership. Mikhail Gorbachev, Hough argues, has been driven to this reform because the economic problems of the Soviet Union are so severe and seem so far from solution.
Soviet expert Robert Pfaltzgraff takes a more skeptical position, arguing that glasnost is not a radical departure from the Soviet past but a more efficient means toward the end goal of socialism. Gorbachev, asserts Pfaltzgraff, could not "radically transform the vast Soviet state with its entrenched governing apparatus short of destroying the foundations on which his rule is based." In the field of foreign policy, he says, glasnost is a latter-day version of the discredited policy of détente.
Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky does not deny that glasnost will bring changes in the Soviet Union but asks, "Are the changes temporary or permanent?" He argues that the Soviet rulers are pragmatists who will do whatever is necessary to get through the economic crisis presently confronting the Soviet Union. If the only way to get the West to pay for Soviet mistakes is to become liberal and "open," they will do precisely that. Bukovsky asserts that the most important thing for the West is to formulate criteria for real changes in the Soviet Union. With regard to trade, he suggests that the Soviets should make their currency convertible and also recognize their liability in international courts. He points out that despite the damage of Chernobyl to nations and peoples outside the Soviet Union, no one can sue them for damages.
In addition, in this Special Report, two Europeans consider the impact of glasnost on their part of the world. Hans Huyn of West Germany quotes extensively from the statements and documents of Soviet leaders to show that the Soviets are using glasnost to conceal their historic plan to bring about a Marxist world. He argues that only steps to safeguard the right of peoples to self-determination, from Afghanistan to Berlin, can lead to a genuine détente.
Dutch journalist Peter Michielsen reports on the varied
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