ABSTRACT
Mikhail Gorbachev’s reform program includes a radical economic reform, reconstruction of political institutions, cuts in defense spending, and new foreign policy guidelines—and dramatic changes in the realm of ideology. In practice, Third World communists were frequently sacrificed to short term diplomatic advantage, or fell victim to the consequences of mistaken political analyses. Gorbachev’s impact on Soviet Third World studies thus has several elements, and the pressures for change or adjustment of ideology come from several different directions. Georgii Mirskii, a well-known analyst of Third World “socialists,” was among the first to challenge the noncapitalist path’s Leninist credentials. In January, 1989, Gorbachev ridiculed “absurd accusations” that the Soviet Union was abandoning either socialism or “the interests of the national liberation movement.” Without a record of Third World successes to celebrate, Soviet scholars are left with little guidance if their task is to devise socioeconomic strategies that will secure beneficial practical results.
