ABSTRACT
The cultural program of the reformists includes "encouragement of a broad spectrum of opinions, a defense of the individual's rights to express these opinions and a willingness to address a wider array of social problems" than tolerated. Mikhail S. Gorbachev seems to be reaching for a form of pluralism that would retain the one-party state but stimulate genuine civic participation. Glasnost is an evolving process, and a consistent expansion of glasnost is a necessary condition of the democratic essence of a socialist order. Glasnost is vital to ensure the "irreversibility" of perestroika. In May 1988, Tass announced that henceforth Soviet citizens would be able to buy a number of Western publications at their local kiosks. Peter Reddaway describes a remarkable article by luri Bondarev, who has been targeted as a symbol of the stifling mediocrity of the "period of zastoi." William Pfaff argues provocatively that Americans, who treat history as "bunk," have difficulty understanding the Soviet preoccupation with their past.
