ABSTRACT
Western analyses of the contemporary Soviet scene frequently portray Mikhail Gorbachev as but the latest in a long line of reforming tsar-autocrats, from Peter the Great to Iosif Stalin, who have sought to impose radical and coercive programs of modernization on a passive, backward, and recalcitrant society. Gorbachev’s initial reform strategy was animated by the need for serious and comprehensive economic reform to arrest the deterioration of Soviet economic performance that jeopardized both domestic stability and international power. By the late 1970s, the erosion of confidence in the Soviet regime within the broader society, and in Leonid Brezhnev’s political leadership within the broader elite, was apparent to Soviet citizens and foreign observers alike. Rapid urbanization was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the educational levels attained by the Soviet population.
