перестройка

In Russian, perestroika simply means restructuring or rebuilding—pere (re-) plus stroika (building, construction). It's the kind of word you might use for renovating a house. But when Mikhail Gorbachev adopted it in 1985 as the name for his reform program, it became one of the most consequential words of the 20th century.

Gorbachev believed the Soviet system could be reformed from within. Perestroika aimed to decentralize the economy, allow limited private enterprise, and modernize the bureaucracy. It was paired with glasnost (openness)—more transparency, less censorship. Together, they were meant to strengthen Soviet socialism.

Instead, they accelerated its collapse. Once people could speak freely, they said things the system couldn't survive. Once the economy loosened, it revealed how dysfunctional it had become. By 1991, the Soviet Union had dissolved into fifteen independent nations.

The word entered English instantly—untranslated, because "restructuring" couldn't capture the magnitude. Time magazine named Gorbachev its "Man of the Decade." Perestroika became shorthand for well-intentioned reform that triggers unintended revolution.