Word: perestroika
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...piece meetings typical of East bloc politics. That prediction is buttressed by the presence among the delegations of fiery and independent-minded public figures. These include Boris Yeltsin, whom Gorbachev ousted late last year as Moscow party leader, apparently for being a bit too outspoken in favor of perestroika. Yeltsin was nevertheless elected a delegate from a remote district on the Finnish border...
Soviet intellectuals are hoping for short, sharp debate at the conference rather than an interminable series of droning speeches. They anticipate secret ballots of uncertain outcome, not the usual unanimous show of party cards. Many delegates are convinced that the conference will decide not only the future of perestroika but also the very course of world Communism. "If conservative forces manage to cut short our revolutionary perestroika and throw us backward, it would mean the moral death and destruction of our party, the party of Lenin," wrote Playwright Alexander Gelman, a Gorbachev supporter. If the conference fails, Gelman warned, "society...
...strong words reflect Gorbachev's own analysis of what the General Secretary has called a pre-crisis situation that must be resolved by conference support for his policies. He has spoken repeatedly of a vaguely defined but supposedly powerful "opposition," of "antagonists" determined to "put a brake on perestroika." Addressing Soviet media officials last month, he warned, "Our antagonists are making their own plans and calculations" in the choice of delegates to the conference. "Our position is that ardent supporters of perestroika, active Communists, should be chosen as delegates . . . There must be no more quotas, as was the case...
...heavyweight contest: Reformer Gorbachev in one corner, bureaucratic conservatism in the other. "It is a game of perceptions," says a Western diplomat in Moscow. "If afterward the perception is that the conservatives have scored some points, it will be a setback for Gorbachev. If the perception is that perestroika is irreversible, a lot of fence sitters will join Gorbachev's bandwagon...
...straw men are the "oppositionists" he so often criticizes. Whether they actually exist or are merely the creations of a canny political illusionist, they are effective in winning him support. They inspire perestroika's enthusiasts to greater effort and at the same time put pressure on nervous provincial leaders who want to avoid falling into the dread category of opposition...