Death Of An Empire - Episode 2

Episode two examines Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s age of reform in the 1980s and the first cracks in the Soviet State as the Baltic States bid for independence. Former professor at Trinity College, Ron Hill followed Gorbachev’s career and tells us why Gorbachev began his reforms of glasnost and periostrioka. “Gorbachev introduced reforms that changed the system and developed, eventually ended it. How could that happen in a system where everything was controlled?” Ron Hill.

Seamus speaks to Cesolvas Stankecivius, the deputy speaker in the Lithuanian parliament, who was part of the struggle to re-gain Lithuanian independence. Actress Joan Sheehy vividly describes the historic tour by the Abbey Theatre while Sinead O’Marcaigh, then a young student living in Moscow says daily supplies like food were always challenging to find.