Mikhail Gorbachev

The communist rulers in the Soviet Union were coming to an end when the leaders started getting older. The Communist Party had to choose someone else to take charge because the previous leader, Leonid Brezhnev had died. Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to take over which is when he started to improve the Soviet Union. One of the things that Gorbachev did was put a Glasnost policy into action. Glasnost means openness which mean that Gorbachev encouraged other reformers to bring in ideas to improve the political and economic systems. Many Soviet citizens took advantage of this policy and started to complain about many things that they wished would be improved or fixed.
Another action that Gorbachev did was introduce the idea, Perestroika. Perestroika means economic restructuring. During this time Gorbachev started making changes to the economy and the way things work such making people put up small businesses in an effort to improve the economy.
Gorbachev also introduced a third new policy known as democratization. This was meant to loosen up the hold on the political system so that it can improve. This policy called for a new legislative body which allowed people to vote from a list of candidates instead of them being chosen by the communist party.