Gorbachev’s new thinking and how its interaction with perestroika in the republics catalysed the Soviet collapse

ABSTRACT

The introduction of the ‘New Thinking’ (NT) marked a radical departure from the foreign-policy traditions adhered to by Soviet leaders since the Bolshevik Revolution. Launched by General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, his policy approach of NT changed the nature of East-West relations paving the way for the end of the Cold War. A lesser known facet of NT was the perestroika (restructuring) of Soviet foreign policy – especially the devolution of decision-making from the centre to the union republics. It first intended to release the potential of the Soviet people and improve the ‘economic mechanism’, but soon it became a communist survival strategy in the context of glasnost and demokratizatsiya that had unleashed the centrifugal forces of nationalism. Indeed, NT proved to be a great gamble: by empowering the republics to conduct their own foreign affairs, it allowed national movements to bring their claims to international fora which in turn undermined the legitimacy of the regime. In this vein, NT not only played a pivotal role in defusing East-West antagonism, but ultimately contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union – with all its wider implications for the Baltic arena, Northern Europe, and the world at large.

KEYWORDS:

• Soviet Union
• end of the Cold War
• new thinking
• perestroika
• Baltic states

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See for example the discussions in Hopf, “Getting the End of the Cold War Wrong”; Wohlforth, “Realism and the End of the Cold War”; Pons, Reinterpreting the End of the Cold War; and Brooks, “Power, Globalization, and the End of the Cold War.”

2. Brown, The Gorbachev Factor; English, Russia and the Idea of the West.

3. Herman, “Soviet Foreign Policy Revolution”; Holloway, “Gorbachev’s new thinking”; Larson, “Shortcut to Greatness”; Risse-Kappen, “Ideas do not float freely”; Dallin, “New Thinking”; Brown, New Thinking in Soviet Politics; Grachev, Gorbachev’s Gamble; and Patman, “Reagan, Gorbachev.”

4. Spohr, Wendezeit; Sarotte, 1989; Spohr, “NATO Enlargement Question”; Kansikas, “Dismantling the Soviet Security System.”

5. Holloway, “Gorbachev’s New Thinking”; Larson, “Shortcut to Greatness”; Rey, “Gorbachev’s New Thinking”; and English, “The Sociology of New Thinking.”

6. The term ‘perestroika’ was never cleary defined. In Seven Years, 11–17, Archie Brown identifies three or even four key areas of perestroika: economy, political system, federal structure, and the military-industrial complex.

7. Pravda, “The Collapse.”

8. Kramer, “The Collapse.”

9. English, The Idea of the West; Chernyaev, Six Years.

10. Taubman, Gorbatšov, 338.

11. Suny, The Revenge of the Past; Beissinger, Nationalist Mobilization. Source material on the evolution of Gorbachev’s thinking: Veber, Soiuz mozhno bylo sokhranit’. A view of a perceptive Western observer, Braithwaite, Across the Moscow River, 150–154.

12. On perestroika, Rosefielde, Russia Since 1980; Åslund, Gorbachev’s Struggle; and Taubman, Gorbatšov, 342.

13. Brown, The Gorbachev Factor, 146, 156.

14. Pravda, “The Collapse of the Soviet Unio,” 356−77.

15. Bergmane, “Diplomacy and Diasporas”; Beķere, Kristīne “Latvian Diaspora’s”; and Ruutsoo, “Rahvarinnete välispoliitikast.”

16. Grachev, Gorbachev’s Gamble, 9–12.

17. Article one, chapter one of the Soviet constitution of 1924, http://constitution.garant.ru/history/ussr-rsfsr/1924.

18. Nichol, Diplomacy; Nove, “Soviet constitutional theory”; Aspaturian, “Soviet federalism”; Aspaturian, “Union Republics and Soviet Diplomacy”; Kuznetsov, Theory and practice of paradiplomacy; Uibopuu, “International legal personality”; Tannberg, “Miks Hans Kruusist ei saanud”; and Piirimäe, “1944. aasta ‘autonoomiaseadused’”.

19. Miner, Stalin’s Holy War.

20. Eggeling, “Das Sowjetische Informationsburo“; Tannberg, “Dokumente”; and Piirimäe, “Tugev Balti natsionalistlik keskus.”

21. Nichol, Diplomacy, 14; on the membership of Ukraine and Belarus in the United Nations, Piirimäe, The Baltic Question, 133–135.

22. Mälksoo, Illegal Annexation, 138–139.

23. Made, Rootsis Nõukogude saatkonnas, 16.

24. Nichol, Diplomacy, 17.

25. Made, Rootsis Nõukogude saatkonnas, 24; interviews with Eimar Rahumaa (20 September 2017 in Tallinn, transcript in author’s possession) and Enn Liimets (19 November 2014 in Kohila, transcript in author’s possession). Vaino Väljas was Soviet ambassador to Venezuela (1980–1986) and Nicaragua (1986–1988), probably the highest-ranking diplomat of Baltic origin, but he was a typical party official in this position rather than a career diplomat.

26. For the definition of the term ‘active measures’ in the Soviet lexicon, Mitrokhin, KGB Lexicon, 251.

27. Interviews with Rahumaa, and Aadu Must (28 April 2016 in Tartu, transcript in author’s possession).

28. This is based on the correspondence of the collection Eesti Rahvusarhiiv, Tallinn (Estonian National Archives, hereafter ERA) R-1970 for the early 1980 s (e.g. ERA.R-1970.1.403; 424; 426), and Vahe, “Eesti Nõukogude.”

29. See for example ERA.R-1970.1.443.

30. Vinogradov, “The Diplomacy of Russia.” The number of twin cities was smaller before perestroika.

31. Pagel, “Finnische Touristen.”

32. English, The Idea of the West.

33. Taubman, Gorbatšov, 250–251.

34. Vinogradov, “The Diplomacy of Russia,” 55; and Taubman, Gorbatšov, 251.

35. Protocol 6 of the foreign commission of the Supreme Soviet of Soviet Estonia, 18 July 1986, Eesti Rahvusarhiiv, Tallinn (Estonian National Archives, hereafter ERA) R-3.13.157.

36. Report about the results of a scientific-practical conference, 18 January 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.438; Vinogradov, ‘The Diplomacy of Russia’, 55.

37. Protocol 6 of the foreign commission of the Supreme Soviet of Soviet Estonia, 18 June 1987, ERA.R-3.13.187, p. 2.

38. Ibid.

39. Gorbachev, Izbrannye Rechi i Stat’i, vol. 3, 419–460. See also the speech to the participants of the Xth anniversary of the American-Soviet Commercial-Economic Council on 10 December 1986, Ibid., vol. 4, 259–261.

40. Izbrannye Rechi i Stat’i, vol. 7, 48–65.

41. Stöcker, “Economic ‘Westernization,”’ 447–476; and Stöcker, Bridging the Baltic, 253.

42. Saharov, “Contractual Work Experiment.”

43. Answer to the appeals of the participants of the Soviet-American initiative ‘Walk for Peace’, 15 July 1987, Izbrannye Rechi i Stat’i, vol. 5, 221–222.

44. Greeting to the participants of the first meeting of the twin cities of the USSR and the US in Tashkent, 29 May 1989, Izbrannye Rechi i Stat’i, vol. 7, 557.

45. Gorbachev’s speech at the State Department on 9 December 1987, Izbrannye Rechi i Stat’i, vol. 5, 507–511.

46. Ibid., vol. 6, 540–564, see also Ibid., vol. 7, 503–506.

47. Reports of the Latvian Mid for the years 1987–1989, Latvijas Valsts arhīvs, Riga (Latvian State Archive, hereafter: LVA) 1051.1.156.

48. A note by Vladimir Kravets, International Affairs 3 (1989), 24.

49. The Politburo discussed the Baltic situation on 11 May, see Service, The End of the Cold War, 455. Gorbachev’s conclusions at the politburo session can be found in V Politbiuro TsK KPSS, 459–460.

50. Shevardnadze’s report at a MID’s scientific-practical conference on 25 July 1988, Vestnik Ministerstva Innostrannykh Del SSSR 22 (1 December 1988), 45.

51. The speech of Arnold Green at the Conference ‘The new thinking and Soviet diplomacy’ from 26 to 31 October 1987, ERA.R-1970.1.438.

52. A note by Vladislovas Mikučiauskas, International affairs 3 (1989), 23.

53. Nichol, Diplomacy, 32–33.

54. Arnold Green’s letter to Aleksandr Besmertnyi about the plans for 1988, 21 January 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.473, p. 1–2. It took another two years, until September 1988, that tourist groups, but not individual travellers, were allowed to enter socialist bloc countries with internal Soviet passports, see Shevardnadze at the conference of consular officers, International Affairs 3 (1989), 12.

55. ‘Relations between Finland and the Estonia SSR’ (report of a delegation of the Finnish foreign ministry from a visit to Estonia), 26 October 1987, Baltian kysymys v. 1986–1989, Ulkoasiainministeriön arkisto, Helsinki (Finnish Foreign Ministry archive, hereafter UMA); Usmanov, “Diplomacy of Tajikistan,” 36.

56. About relations between Ukrainian and Slovak districts, 26 May 1987, Tsentralnyi derzhavnyi arkhiv hromadskykh orhanizatsii Ukrainy, Kyiv (Central State Archive of Public Organizations of Ukraine, hereafter TsDAHO) 1.32.3199.

57. Taubmann, Gorbatšov, 255.

58. Ibid., 252.

59. Karavayev, “Foreign Economic Reserves of Perestroika,” 49–58. According to Soviet own estimates, trade had declined by thirty percent in 1986 alone primarily due to the decline in the price of energy, which made up ca eighty percent of Soviet export, Yuri Shiryaev, ‘CMEA: Restructuring the Multilateral Cooperation Mechanism’, International Affairs, 20–26, 32. See also Savranskaya, “The logic of 1989,” 7–8.

60. The speech of Arnold Green at the Conference ‘The new thinking and Soviet diplomacy’ from 26 to 31 October 1987, ERA.R-1970.1.438, 24–31.

61. E. Truve (Services Ministry) to A. Green, 4 November 1987, ERA.R-1970.1.438. This was noted at the seminar ‘Perestroika and International Cooperation’ in October 1987 in Helsinki (sic).

62. Protocol 3 of the operative commission of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR, 1 February 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.471, 8–9.

63. A. Peego (ETKVL) to A. Green, 26 January 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.481.

64. Saul, Meie aeg, 230. Saul had already met the Slovak Prime Minister Peter Colotka while on vacation in 1987, Ibid., 194–195.

65. Terk, Privatization in Estonia, 20, but cf. Saharov, ‘Contractual Work’, 9. Hungary occupied a special place in the transfer of knowledge and practices, as at it had the longest continuous experience, from 1968 onwards, in reforming command economy.

66. See Protocol no 8 of the foreign commission of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR, 24 December 1987, ERA.R-3.13.189.

67. Green to deputy foreign minister Boris N. Tshaplin, 4 January 1989, ERA.R-1970.1.498, 1–2; In January 1988 Green was still hoping to receive the authority to engage directly with the capitalist countries, Green to Aleksandr Besmertyi, 21 January 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.473, 1–2.

68. Latvian report for 1987, LVA 1051.1.156.

69. ‘At the foreign commission of the Estonian Supreme Soviet’, Eesti NSV Ülemnõukogu ja valitsuse teataja, 31 December 1987 no 48[825], 1039.

70. Latvian report for 1987.

71. Protocol no 3 of the operative commission of the presidium of the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR, 1 February 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.471, 8–9; and protocol no 8, 4 April 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.471, 22.

72. See Ritvanen’s contribution in this volume.

73. Green to Aleksandr Besmertyi, 21 January 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.473, 1–2.

74. Reports of the Latvian Mid for the years 1987–1989, LVA 1051.1.156.

75. Protocol no 8 of the foreign commission of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR, 24 December 1987, ERA.R-3.13.189. Teesalu, Paths of Friendship.

76. A. Green to the first deputy of the Soviet Foreign Minister A. G. Kovalyov, 23 February 1988, ERA.R-1970.1.483, p. 21.

77. Latvian report for 1988, Reports of the Latvian Mid for the years 1987–1989, LVA 1051.1.156, 8.

78. Williams, “Baltic Sea co-operation.”

79. H. Lumi (Tallinn city committee) to I. Toome (Chairman of the Council of Ministers), 24 November 1988 (in Russian), ERA.R-1970.1.505, 1; Toome to Engholm, handed over to the consul-general of West Germany in Leningrad on 26 January 1989, ERA.R-1970.1.505, 4 (the letter is in German with a translation to Russian). Nevertheless, for the purpose of furthering relations with Schleswig-Holstein a new Soviet-style friendship society was established in Estonia, Tark, “Cultural Diplomacy.” Such friendship socities would soon be defunct. The report on the visit of the chairman of the Gosplan R. Otsason to Hamburg, 8–12 February 1989, ERA.R-1970.1.498, 38–41.

80. Latvian report for 1988, 11.

81. Sukhumi, Abkhazia, from 26 to 31 October 1987, titled ‘The New Thinking and the Soviet Diplomacy’.

82. Interview with Eimar Rahumaa. In the conversation with Rahumaa Rein Ristlaan, the secretary for ideology of the Estonian Communist Party (ECP), even acknowledged the occupied status of Estonia.

83. Beķere, “Latvian Diaspora’s Involvement”; Ruutsoo, “Rahvarinnete välispoliitikast”; interviews with Rein Taagepera (6 May 2015, Tartu, transcript in author’s possession) and Trivimi Velliste (14 January 2015).

84. Report on the Ukrainian delegation’s meeting with Ukrainians in the United States, TsDAHO 1.32.2462.

85. Taubman, Gorbatšov, 392.

86. Chernyaev, Six Years, 201.

87. Ibid., 227.

88. The definition is based on Johnston, “Generations, Microcohorts,” 10.

89. Graf, Impeeriumi lõpp, 20–42. Interview with Vaino Väljas in Tootsen, Tegijad, 100–103.

90. Pravda, “The Collapse of the Soviet Union,” 356−377 (the semi-democratic elections to the Congress of People’s Deputies in March 1989, the democratic elections to local assemblies in December 1989 and to the Supreme Soviet in March 1990).

91. Rüütel, Tuleviku taassünd, 97–98; Brazauskas, Scheidung; and Gerner, The Baltic States, 137–140.

92. IME kontseptsioon, 32. On the idea of economic self-management in Lithuania, see Brazauskas, Scheidung, 62.

93. Eestimaa Rahvarinne, 15.

94. Popular front of Estonia.

95. Ruutsoo, “Rahvarinnete välispoliitikast,” 115; and Bošs, “Aligning with the unipole’.”

96. Eestimaa Kommunistliku Partei Keskkomitee platvorm, 3–4. The ECP regarded the democratization of the nationality policy as the key to ‘revolutionary social restruction’, Ibid., 9.

97. V Politbiuro TsK KPSS, 493. About the plenum, see Brown, The Gorbachev Factor, 267; and Taubman, Gorbatšov, 412.

98. Vaba Eestlane, 25 August 1988, referring to the article ‘Estonia tests the limits of glasnost’ by Toronto Star from 21 August 1988.

99. Vaino Väljas, ‘Eesti – sild ida ja lääne vahel’, Rahva hääl, 17 January 1990. Neilands’ note at a meeting at MID, International Affairs 12 (December 1989), 128.

100. Ibid.

101. V Politbiuro TsK KPSS, 476–477.

102. Medvedev, “One more year of perestroika,” 74–81.

103. Report for 1989, Reports of the Latvian Mid for the years 1987–1989, LVA 1051.1.156, 4.

104. Ruutsoo, “Rahvarinnete välispoliitikast,” 140–141.

105. Interview with Rahumaa.

106. Pankin, “In Sweden”, 54–64, claiming that there was a consensus among all Swedish parliamentary parties on supporting perestroika in the Baltic republics.

107. See above 104.

108. Ahlander, Mäng Baltikumi pärast, 60–61, 63. At the meeting with Landsbergis the Swedish foreign minister understood that the majority in the Baltic states supported independence.

109. Küng, Baltikumile elatud aastad, 231–236. That the majority supported independence was made clear by a joint article by the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian PFs in Dagens Nyheter on 13 December 1989.

110. Koivisto, Witness, 118–125, 128–129, 136–138; and Rausmaa, Kultuuri sildi all, 24–34, 91–101.

111. Interview with Yu. Kuplyakov, chief of the USSR, Foreign Ministry Union Republics Department, by M. Yusin: ‘The Republics Enter the International Arena’, Izvestiya, 21 November 1989.

112. Izvestiya, 21 November 1989, 3.

113. See Neilands’ information at a meeting in MID, International Affairs 12 (December 1989), 127.

114. Lennart Meri’s diplomatic passports issued by the MID are preserved in the private archive of Meri’s son Mart (I am grateful to Mart Meri for access).

115. Eek-Pajuste, Teine tulemine. 2.

116. Gronbjerg. “The Baltic Independence Struggle”; Stöcker, Bridging the Baltic Sea, 250–252; and Grachev, Gorbachev’s Gamble, 70–75, 221–233. See also Mikkel Runge Olesen’s contribution in this volume.

117. ‘Arnold Green: iseseisvus pole loosung, vaid tõsine töö’, Päevaleht, 11 March 1990.

118. Viljar Meister, ‘EV välisministeeriumi struktuurist’, 3 June 1991, the private archive of Enn Liimets, Kohila, Estonia. The foreign ministry had additional personnel with short-term contracts. Estonia may have been slightly ahead of Latvia and Lithuania, but the processes in the other Baltic states, as well as many other republics, were essentially similar. See for example ‘The Ukraine, the UN and World Diplomacy’ [interview with the Ukrainian foreign minister Anatoly Zlenko], International Affairs 12 (December 1989), 3–14.

119. Nichol, Diplomacy, 18, 32.

120. ‘Theme of the month. Inter-ethnic relations in the USSR’, International Affairs 11 (1989), 74–78; Shmagin and Bratchikov, “Perstroika in the USSR foreign ministry,” 42–53.

121. Medvedev, “One more year of perestroika,” 77; and Chernyaev, Six Years, 201.

122. Nichol, Diplomacy, 41–42.

123. Ibid, 33. About conservativism in the MID, interview with Enn Liimets, 19 November 2014, Kohila (transcript in author’s possession).

124. See for example Taubman, Gorbatšov, 402–403; on the ineffectiveness of the Politburo, Ibid, 412.

125. For Gorbachev’s reaction, see Koivisto, Witness, 169. Gorbachev told Koivisto: “Keep your eyes open. The Fascists are on the move.”

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia [Decision number 331274] and Estonian Research Council, PRG 942 “Self-Determination of Peoples in Historical Perspective.

Notes on contributors

Kaarel Piirimäe

Kaarel Piirimäe (b. 1979, PhD University of Cambridge) is Associate Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Tartu. He has written on diplomacy during the Second World War, 20th century Estonian history, Nationalism and National Self-Determination, propaganda and military history. Currently he is researching the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.