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Agence France-Presse

The momentous era of ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who has died aged 91, was often defined by buzzwords and slogans.
Perestroika
Shorthand for Gorbachev’s drive to modernise the Soviet economy and society, perestroika means change or reform.
In early 1985, Gorbachev said in a speech: “It’s obvious, comrades, that we all need to change. All of us”.
He used a verb that means changing formation when marching or changing lane when driving.
The noun perestroika is also used to refer to reconstructing buildings.
The word was taken up and became a slogan encapsulating the era.
Gorbachev says US grew ‘arrogant’ after Soviet Union collapsed
Glasnost
Glasnost means making information public as a topic for discussion. The term was initially used about reforms in the tsarist era.
Gorbachev first talked about this in February 1986. At first it referred to ordinary Soviet citizens being able to criticise state and Communist Party organisations.
But later the word came to mean much more: an end to official censorship and blocking of foreign radio stations as well as publishing previously banned literature.
No sex?
A Soviet woman’s response to a question from an American on a popular talk show aired in both countries in 1986 has gone down in history as expressing prudish and naive attitudes allegedly present in the Soviet Union.
“Commercials have a lot to do with sex in our country. Do you have commercials on television?” an American woman asked on a show with all-women studio audiences hosted by Phil Donahue and Vladimir Pozner.
A woman in the audience in Leningrad, Lyudmila Ivanova, responded: “We don’t have sex and we are categorically against this”.


Another woman in the audience promptly shouts: “We do have sex. We don’t have commercials!”
Ivanova in 2010 told newspaper Metro that she had added “we have love” but the phrase was cut from the show.
Gorbymania
In Russia, Gorbachev is normally referred to by his name and patronymic: Mikhail Sergeyevich. But in the mid-1980s, Western media began shortening his name to Gorby and referring to his rising popularity as “Gorbymania”.
Sobriety
One of Gorbachev’s most unpopular reforms aimed to address the Soviet Union’s economic woes by cutting down on excessive drinking. In 1985, a central committee resolution was passed and printed in all the newspapers. The slogan was “Sobriety is the norm of life”.
To make alcohol harder to buy, Gorbachev ordered limits on hours that alcohol could be sold in shops, causing huge queues.
He also ordered the destruction of many of the country’s vineyards, hitting the legal drinks industry hard and encouraging people to make their own moonshine. The campaign eventually petered out.


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Buzzwords of the Gorbachev era: perestroika, glasnost and ‘no sex’

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990. File photo: AFP 

Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War, dead at 91

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev addresses a group of 150 business executives in San Francisco in June 1990. Photo: AP

 Mikhail Gorbachev and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in 2004. File photo: AP 

Mikhail Gorbachev, left, and then US President Ronald Reagan meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1986. File photo: AP

Mikhail Gorbachev in Berlin, Germany in 2014. File photo: dpa

Mikhail Gorbachev says US grew ‘arrogant’ after Soviet Union collapsed

Soviet army tanks parked in Moscow’s Red Square after a coup toppled Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991. File photo: AFP


Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Photo: AFP

Soviet army tanks parked in Moscow’s Red Square after a coup toppled Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991. File photo: AFP

Gorbachev urges Putin, Biden to aim for deeper curbs on nuclear weapons

The Avangard hypersonic vehicle blasts off during a test launch in Russia. File photo: AP

Russia’s Vladimir Putin (right) with Joe Biden. File photo: AFP

News

World

Russia & Central Asia


Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the course of history by triggering the demise of the Soviet Union, died in Moscow aged 91
From perestroika to glasnost to ‘Gorbymania’, here are five of the best-known buzzwords from his leadership era



The momentous era of ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who has died aged 91, was often defined by buzzwords and slogans.


Diplomacy