It is notoriously risky to compare two large historical movements, especially recent or contemporary ones, and to claim to detect similarities between them: quite simply, like is not being compared with like. That said, present debates might benefit from a quite different perspective: a comparison between the current enthusiasm for "synodality" within the Catholic Church and the process of "perestroika" which occurred within the Soviet Union at a slightly earlier period. The purpose of this short article is to suggest that such a parallel, however farfetched or even outrageous it might seem, might give us some food for thought.