History of the Soviet Union (1982–91) the people. It was still that this country was governed and kept together, as a structure, as a government structure, by the fear from Stalinist times." The principal elements of the old Soviet political system were Communist Party dominance, the hierarchy of soviets, state socialism, and ethnic federalism. Gorbachev's programs of "perestroika" (restructuring) and "glasnost" (openness) produced radical unforeseen effects that brought that system down. As a means of reviving the Soviet state, Gorbachev repeatedly attempted to build a coalition of political leaders supportive of reform and created new arenas and bases of power. He implemented these measures because he
19th All-Union Conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 19th All-Union Conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The 19th All-Union Conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a party conference held by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 28 June to 1 July 1988. There were 4,991 delegates at the conference. The General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, declared in his opening speech that political reform was the key issue. Gorbachev wanted to achieve the "democratization of the life of the state and society", and wanted the Soviet Union to "move along the path of the creation of a socialist state under the