Glastnost

Glasnost
Russian	гла́сность
Romanization	glasnost
Literal meaning	publicity

In the Russian language the word glasnost (Russian: гла́сность, IPA: [ˈɡɫasnəsʲtʲ]) has several general and specific meanings. In its meaning of "publicity", in the sense "the state of being open to public knowledge", it has been used in Russian at least since the end of the eighteenth century. In the Russian Empire of the late-nineteenth century, the latter meaning was particularly associated with reforms of the judicial system, ensuring that the press and the public could attend court hearings and that the sentence was also read out in public. It was made popular in the 1980s by Mikhail Gorbachev as a slogan for increased government transparency.

Glasnost, explained Soviet human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva, is a word that "had in the Russian language for centuries. It was in the dictionaries and lawbooks as long as there had been dictionaries and lawbooks. It was an ordinary, hardworking, nondescript word that was used to refer to a process, any process of justice or governance, being conducted in the open."

In 1986 the term was used by Mikhail Gorbachev as a political slogan for increased openness and transparency in government institutions and activities in the Soviet Union.Glasnost reflected a commitment to getting Soviet citizens to discuss publicly the problems of their system and seek solutions. Gorbachev encouraged popular scrutiny and criticism of leaders, as well as the airing of mass media. Critics aware of the term's recent history regarded the Soviet authorities' new slogan as a vague and limited alternative to more basic liberties; According to Alexei Simonov of the Glasnost Defence Foundation, "Glasnost is a tortoise crawling towards freedom of speech".

In the six years when the USSR attempted to reform itself, glasnost was often linked with the similarly vague slogans of perestroika (literally: restructuring or regrouping) and demokratizatsiya (democratisation). Glasnost was frequently invoked by Gorbachev in connection with policies aimed at reducing corruption at the top of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, and moderation of the abuse of administrative power in the Central Committee.

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