Reforms will continue— Gorbachev

Press, 7 April 1988, Page 8

Reforms will continue— Gorbachev

NZPA-Reuter Moscow { The Russian leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, in a new defence of his reform drive, has said - panic among' some sectors of the population would not halt his attempt to achieve “a qualitative breakthrough” in I Soviet life.

j Mr Gorbachev made his remarks on Tuesday during talks with the former West German Chancellor, Willy Brandt. His comiments followed publica'tion by the Communist iParty newspaper, i“Pravda,” of a major {commentary on ideology ‘and reform.

The official . news agency, Tass, quoted Mr Gorbachev as saying sup- ! port for reform, or {“perestroika”, was growing although there was also mental . confusion (about the process.

j “Some people are panicking. There are people (who think everything is collapsing,” he said.

■ “Just as at the start of ) the century ‘matter van- ) ished’ in some people’s i perceptions as a result of ) new discoveries in physics, now it seems to some that ‘socialism is vanishing’.” In its commentary, “Pravda” attacked opponents of reform who charged the Soviet leadership was undermining the principles of socialism through its restructuring drive.

The attack, which clearly had the backing of the ruling Politburo, denounced conservatives for defending the former dictator, Josef Stalin, and accused them of longing for the stagnation and corruption of the Brezhnev era out of egoism. In its farthest-reaching condemnation of Stalin so far, "Pravda” said he had orchestrated repressions

which took a terrible toll on the population and set back the country’s development, using methods which departed from' socialism. Mr Gorbachev said attempts at retform in the 1950 s and 19605, when Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, was in power, had foundered because the leadership failed to give the population an active role in the changes. "This is why we have placed chief emphasis on democratising society, on involving people in all processes: economic, political and ideological,” he said.

He said the main difficulty at present was "mental perestroika” — restructuring people’s thinking to cope with a . total revision of Soviet society.

“We say perestroika is a revolution because a qualitative breakthrough is taking place,” Mr Gorbachev said. i

He acknowledged it was possible that the leadership had made mistakes along the way, but said self-adjustment .would follow from experience gained during the reform process.

Mr Gorbachev said that while perestroika had aroused interest and sympathy abroad, “certain circles” in the West were seeking to disrupt the process out of fear of a more dynamic Soviet Union and its revised foreign policy. He said foreign opponents would be. wrong to think the reform process could be steered off course. ‘

“We will handle the problems which have accumulated . . . within the framework of the democratic process we have firmly chosen,” he said'.