(18 of 19)
Restructuring the command-type economic system in our country is an extremely complex matter. Without market relations and elements of competition, we are bound to see serious shortages, inflation and other negative phenomena. Our country is already experiencing economic difficulties; everywhere, food and other necessities are in short supply. Another thing troubles me greatly: the zigzags on the road to democracy. Gorbachev is trying to gain control of the political situation and strengthen his personal power by compromising with the forces opposed to perestroika instead of relying on democratic reforms. That's extremely dangerous. Only a nationwide swell of initiative can give substance to democracy, and our "chiefs" have shown they're not ready for this.
The gradual replacement of key personnel, the country's objective need for perestroika, and the fact that "the new always beats the old" (to quote Stalin's famous phrase) should all work in Gorbachev's favor. He has four levers he can use to move the country forward: glasnost (this is proceeding under its own steam); the new personnel policies; the new international policies aimed at slowing the arms race; and democratization.
My positive attitude toward perestroika is not accepted by everyone: it especially upsets some dissidents in the U.S.S.R. and some emigres in the West. One Russian-language newspaper in New York City printed an article with the headline THE PARDONED SLAVE HELPS HIS MASTER, or something of the sort.
On Feb. 5, 1987, a delegation organized by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations came to see me. I stressed the West's vital interest in having the U.S.S.R. become an open, democratic society. Henry Kissinger posed a blunt question: "Is there a danger that the U.S.S.R. will first effect a democratic transformation, accelerating its scientific and technological progress and improving its economy, and then revert to expansionist policies and pose an even greater threat to peace?"
I replied that what people should fear is not the development of an open, stable society with a powerful peacetime economy in the U.S.S.R. but a disruption of the world's equilibrium and the single-minded military buildup of an internally closed and externally expansionist society. I believe the West should actively support the process of perestroika, cooperating with the U.S.S.R. on disarmament and on economic, scientific and cultural issues. But this support should be given with eyes wide open, not unconditionally. Opponents of perestroika should understand that a retreat from reform would mean immediate termination of Western assistance.
In a futurological article I wrote in 1974, "The World After 50 Years," I concluded, "I hope that mankind will be able to put an end to the dangers threatening us and to continue its progress while preserving everything that makes us human." I would like to conclude this book too with those words. Today, as I approach the eighth decade of my life, my personal aspirations and my entire existence center on my beloved wife, my children and grandchildren, and all those who are dear to me.
This volume of memoirs is dedicated to my beloved Lusia. What matters most is that she and I are together.