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Still, Gorbachev has given little public sign of recognizing what nearly all Western experts, and a few in the U.S.S.R., consider the prime necessity for any rapid rise in Soviet living standards: a loosening of the suffocating central controls on what and how much is produced and at what prices. In the interview, he declined even to repeat the sharp criticism of past failures in economic planning that he has voiced inside the Soviet Union. That may merely reflect well-advised caution by a leader who has seen past efforts at reform, notably Andropov's, sabotaged by the bureaucracy. For all his decisiveness, Gorbachev is the head of what really is a collective leadership, not a Stalinist dictatorship. His reluctance to take on the planners may also reflect a concern that economic decentralization implies an easing of political controls, which Gorbachev does not intend or feels he cannot risk at this point.
In foreign policy, too, Gorbachev has been sending out mixed signals. He knows the world outside the U.S.S.R. better than nearly any of his predecessors did on coming to power. Even in his Stavropol days Gorbachev made official trips to Italy, West Germany, Belgium and France, a rare honor for a young provincial Soviet administrator. As a Politburo member, he led Soviet delegations to Canada in 1983 and Britain in 1984 and submitted to sometimes hostile questioning by members of the Parliaments of both countries. Gorbachev on those occasions showed flashes of a quick temper. When a British Tory asked him about religious freedom in the U.S.S.R., Gorbachev testily replied, "You persecute entire communities . . . You govern your society. You leave us to govern ours." But on the whole he impressed his hosts as one Soviet official who could discuss touchy issues in a businesslike fashion.
Gorbachev appears to tailor his messages carefully to the particular foreign audience he is trying to reach. He has spared little effort in wooing India, a nonaligned but friendly country. When Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Moscow in May, Gorbachev appeared in person at the door of Gandhi's Kremlin apartment ten minutes before they were to begin talks in another part of the Kremlin. He threw an arm around Gandhi and said, "Spring is here. I suggest we skip the limousines and walk to our meeting. You and I can take care of the protocol boys." The two later signed economic agreements providing an immediate Soviet credit of $1.2 billion to India and paving the way for scientific and technical cooperation through the year 2000.
In dealing with some other Third World leaders, Gorbachev has shown the iron teeth rather than the broad smile. He told Pakistan's Zia ul-Haq that continued Pakistani assistance to guerrillas battling Soviet troops in Afghanistan would affect relations with the U.S.S.R. "in the most negative way." Said Zia: "Gorbachev was twisting my arm." Zia did not yield.