The end came quickly to Soviet socialism. General Secretary (later President) Gorbachev's perestroyka (restructuring) campaign, initially designed to reform and rationalize the existing socialist system of state ownership and management, has become a program of destatization and political and economic liberalization. Central to this transformation is the definition of property rights, among state organs, among individuals, and between individuals and the state. To an extent unprecedented in Soviet history, the authorities have blessed the substitution of private property for state-owned or -controlled production.
Citation
Paul B. Stephan, <em>Perestroyka </em>and Property: The Law of Ownership in the Post-Socialist Soviet Union, 39 American Journal of Comparative Law 35–66 (1991).