How Much of a New Elite?

When M. S. Gorbachev came to power in March 1985 he quickly became associated, by both Soviet and Western media, with an expectation of reform; indeed it was easy for the two media in combination to exaggerate the scope and pace of this reform, and to obscure its specific thrust. Even some 18 months later, when the slogan perestroika ¹ (reconstruction) had become firmly attached to Gorbachev’s program, it was not easy to summarise all its specific themes and methods. In many ways people have been reminded of Khrushchev — for instance, in the rapid replacement of high officials, the reorganisation of top institutions, ² or the appeal to popular enthusiasm implicit in the campaign against alcohol, or in slogans such as chelovecheskii faktor (the human factor). There are other ways, however, in which Gorbachev is very clearly different from Khrushchev: his use of public relations, for example, is incomparably more sophisticated, and there is little sign that he would include increased social mobility among the incentives of a restructured economy. ³