Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev became the Communist Party General Secretary. He was elected by popular choice. Gorbachev, at the age of 54, was younger then the people that were elected before him. He spoke about change for the Soviet Union, and introduced two Russian words to the SU international vocabulary: "perestroika", meaning restructuring, and "glasnost", meaning openness. Gorbachev idea of glasnot ended the totalitarian government that was established by the past leaders and made the government open. People had the freedom to say what was on there mind to make the country better. This system allowed churches to become open again, libraries could print banned books, and reporters had the right to freedom of speech. They could publicly view there thoughts and critize the government. Under his policy of perestoika mangers were allowed to rein freely over their farms and factories. Civilians were able to open there own small businesses. Before perestokia people were demotivated because no matter how productive they were they still weren't making enough money, and maked the country better.