“Perestroika” through the prism of political-ideological relations: towards the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the USSR

The paper considers the period of “perestroika” in the USSR (1985-1991) from the point of view of the ideological justification of the political decisions taken by the party and Soviet bodies. It focuses on aspects that have not been sufficiently highlighted in the historical literature, in particular the theoretical quest of the Communist Party to interpret the real situation of the USSR and to define the objectives for its improvement in the preperestroika period, which was continued and developed by the party leadership in the years of “perestroika”. It is noted that its Rubicon came in 1987 with the proclamation of the principle of glasnost, after which events began to spiral out of control of the USSR leadership and led to its collapse. The phenomenon of the abrupt change in the Marxist-Leninist convictions among many party-state figures at the beginning of “perestroika” to bourgeois beliefs at the end of this period is revealed. As a result, the CPSU was never able to give an answer to the question of how socialism and the market should relate; the conclusion is drawn that the communist idea, despite its attractiveness, has not stood the test of practice and that, consequently, the arrangement of social life according to pre-established theoretical templates seems unpromising.