'Perestroika' is the Russian equivalent of the term 'restructuring'. The term came into use in the year 1987 and at the time it referred too the Economic restructuring of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev. The perestroika program was essentially brought into place to rebuild the economy of the Soviet Union which many though was irreparable. Gorbachev during his first few years in power had tried to bring about reforms but had failed after which a new set of 'real' reforms had to be introduced to tackle communism. Some of the policies that were introduced at the time was the Law on Cooperatives which allowed the private ownership of various businesses, the Law on State Enterprise which gave the state enterprises the power to define output as well quite a few changes in the foreign policy of Russia at the time.