Some people—especially in the U.S. bloc—interpreted Gorbachev’s reforms as noble and enlightened, opening the way to free markets and free speech. In particular, the policy of glasnost offered the possibility of free speech, leading to lively television programming and newspaper investigations. In 1987 the weekly Ogonyok, whose name means “A Small Fire,” began publishing letters to the editor from actual readers. Before that, most letters to newspapers and magazines in the Soviet Union had been written by editors to tow the proper political line. The feature became so popular that within two years the magazine was receiving as many as 150,000 letters a year covering every situation imaginable—from corruption to waiting in line, from privileges given to officials to the shortcomings of Gorbachev’s reforms themselves. Presented here is a letter from a schoolteacher writing in 1988 about her own experience of glasnost.

As a member of the “Knowledge” Society and a deputy to the local soviet, I was asked to prepare a speech for the evening in honor of the Seventieth Anniversary of the October Revolution. I studied M. S. Gorbachev’s speech, “the October Revolution and Perestroika: The Revolution Continues,” thoroughly and collected material about exemplary production workers in our village. In my speech I pointed out not only the successes, but also the shortcomings of our village, district and school. I gave the speech on November 6, and a week later I was called into the Executive Committee of the village society. I was accused of being apolitical [disloyal] and told that I would not be allowed onto the podium . . . because I was airing dirty linen in public.

. . . [A]fter a rebuke like that I have lost my desire to tell the truth, especially since the Party organization of the Cheremkhovsky collective farm and the chairman of the village soviet have suffered because of me. They were both reprimanded for not checking my speech, and for letting me onto the podium. Apparently, glasnost and perestroika have not reached us yet.

Source: Letter of Z. I. Kupriyanova, January 1988, in Small Fires: Letters from the Soviet People to Ogonyok Magazine 1987–1990, ed. Christopher Cerf and Marina Albee (New York: Summit Books, 1990), 60.

Question to Consider

What aspects of Gorbachev’s policy does the speaker address in her letter, and what is the letter’s tone?