ABSTRACT
The process of perestroika reflected a country in economic duress, Glasnost enabled that duress to be widely acknowledged, with potential remedies being advanced from many quarters. In the pre-Gorbachev era, Western scholars possessed little information about Soviet citizens' assessments of the national economy and of their personal economic situations, but there were numerous signs of widespread and fundamental satisfaction. While nearly half the Russian respondents perceived a worsening of their personal economic situations, the counterpart figures were closer to three in ten for Ukrainians and Lithuanians. The Lithuanians' especially critical views of the government could hardly be considered surprising in light of the already exacerbated Moscow-Vilnius negotiations on Lithuanian independence. The greatest negativism was expressed by Russians and the least by Lithuanians, who were undoubtedly cheered by the prospect of their republic's imminent sovereignty. Though widespread, concern about personal finances paled in comparison to negativism about the state's economy.
