Word: perestroikas
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...ONLY NOW THAT THE REAL PERESTROIKA BEGINS...
What might be called Perestroika I has failed. The main reason: despite the ministrations and exhortations of its reformist rulers, the Soviet Union still has a command economy and a totalitarian political system. Managers instinctively wait for orders from above; regional leaders still look to Moscow; and everyone looks to the party, to that body that met and argued and finally bent to Gorbachev's will in Moscow last week: the Central Committee. The very word center has connotations in Russian with which Gorbachev is doing battle as he prepares for his next five years, for Perestroika...
...Gorbachev and his principal advisers have concluded that further reform and the continued existence of an all-powerful party are incompatible. Modernization requires the devolution of central power; the party, by its irredeemable nature, resists that devolution. Gorbachev has decided that the party is an obstacle to Perestroika II. Something had to give, and it gave last week...
...impart a tragic character" to the fateful decisions facing the plenum, but "the party will be able to fulfill its mission as a political vanguard only if it drastically restructures itself, masters the art of political work in present conditions and succeeds in cooperating with all forces committed to perestroika." No burst of thunderous applause greeted the end of his hour-long speech. After enduring a gauntlet of criticism at a plenum last December, Gorbachev was prepared to play to a tough audience again, with one major difference -- this time, a full transcript of the closed-door sessions...
...that Israel is counting on the surge of immigration to ensure its domination of its neighbors for decades to come. No matter how clearly the Arabs see that threat, their pressure is unlikely to force Gorbachev to choke off Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. The future success of perestroika will depend heavily on economic and technical assistance from the West, and part of the fee Gorbachev will have to pay for such help is to provide an open door for those of his countrymen who want to leave...