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
Mikhail Gorbachev carried out only personnel shifts rather than structural change. Andropov encouraged Gorbachev to expand into policy areas other than agriculture, preparing him for future higher office. With Andropov's encouragement, Gorbachev sometimes chaired Politburo meetings. In April 1983, Gorbachev delivered the annual Lenin's birthday speech; this required him re-reading many of Lenin's later writings, in which the first Soviet leader had called for reform, and encouraged Gorbachev's own conviction that reform was needed. In May 1983, Gorbachev was sent to Canada, where he met Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and spoke to the Canadian parliament. There, he met and befriended the Soviet