The Extension of Glasnost

• Gorbachev extended glasnost from 1987-1988.
• Initially, he had only criticised Stalin, which was not new as Khrushchev had done so in 1957.
• Tsypko went further and publicly criticised Marx and Lenin, attacking the foundations of Communism.
• From 1988, citizens were allowed to listen to foreign radio and newspapers.
• The Nineteenth Party Congress of June 1988 admitted the scale of problems facing the USSR, including inadequacies in health and education and poverty in rural areas.
• This was a huge contrast to traditional high profile meetings which claimed the Communist Party was consistently successful in improving the lives of all.
• The scale of the weaknesses shook the public faith in the Communist Party.