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into practice.
February Y. Andropov’s death. K. Chernenko was
1984 elected the General Secretary of CC CPSU.
September, 7 Yosyp Slipyi’s death in Rome. He was a
1984 patriarch of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church
and a cardinal. Myroslav Lyubachivsky
became his successor.
March K. Chernenko’s death. M. Horbachyov
1985 became the General Secretary of CC CPSU.

THEME 17. Ukraine on its way to independence.

April The plenum of CC CPSU took place, where
1985 the Soviet government, headed by M.
Horbachyov, proclaimed a strategic course
of perestroika of Soviet society, acceleration
of social-economic development of the
country. Introducing reforms, the CPSU
leaders thought that it would be enough to
correct a few negative points of the Soviet
system. Officially, the concept of perestroika
had been generally formed by 1988. The
course was proclaimed, oriented at two
interrelated issues: 1) a radical economic
reform; 2) democratization of social life,
glasnost. The final goal to be achieved was
the construction of humane and democratic
socialism combining market and centralized
planning, political pluralism and the leading
role of the CPSU, the sovreignty of republics
and conservation of the united union state.
Since 1988, the centre of perestroika driving
forces was shifted from top-down. Perestroika

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