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Then, too, we should be aware of the contradictory nature of progress and of the conflict between consumerism and nature.
I really don't even want to attempt a detailed forecast of what will happen to the U.S.S.R. Our future will depend on the present; where we end up will depend on how we come through this extremely critical passage that we're making right now as we introduce radical changes in our society, all in the context of world civilization.
We are only now really beginning to feel that perestroika is a revolution. That is why some people are beginning to panic. They shout about anarchy; they predict chaos, war, total ruin and so on. They're intellectually unprepared for the kind of major changes that are objectively necessary. That's one reason I have recently stressed the role in perestroika of science and education. They can help us change the mentality of society and free ourselves from the grip of outdated, sometimes fundamentally erroneous concepts of economics, politics, culture, morality and philosophy. I'm thinking, for example, about old egalitarian principles that reduce everyone to the same level and old approaches to public wealth that excessively stress the distribution of goods at the expense of other considerations.
No amount of agitation or propaganda can break those shackles. Changing our < mentality has turned out to be the greatest problem for perestroika.
The Soviet people have the strength to implement perestroika. The success of perestroika will lead to a fundamentally healthier international environment and therefore to more favorable conditions for every country to address its own problems better.
I believe that in the 21st century the Soviet Union will be a profoundly democratic state, and its economy will form an important and integral part of a new global economy. I see a society that has found a way to harmonize its relations with nature. I see a country on the way to moral stability -- a country that has revived its old spiritual values and enriched them with new ones.