Mikhail Gorbachev on Women and the Family

Abstract

his book Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and World, Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of CPSU (Communist Party of Soviet Union) Central Committee, discusses rationale and prospects for farreaching economic and social reforms initiated in Soviet Union since 1985 under his leadership and presents his views on major issues of contemporary international relations. Since publication of book preceded by only afew weeks Soviet leader's visit to United States in December 1987, arguments set forth in book concerning disarmament and Soviet-American relations received particularly close public attention. Gorbachev's discussion of restructuring (''perestroika) of Soviet economy and society constitutes, however, more novel component of book. Preface author defines ''perestroika as a policy of country's social and economic progress and, subsequently, as a ''revolution and a decisive acceleration of socio-economic and cultural development of Soviet society.' But Gorbachev's exposition makes it clear that accelerating progress is a rather euphemistic description of tasks at hand. Any delay in beginning perestroika in Soviet Union, Gorbachev writes, could have led to an exacerbated internal situation in nearfuture and would have been fraught with serious social, economic and political crises. This is because of a series of structural problems that particularly clear in latter half of seventies. The main focus of Gorbachev's discussion is on inadequacy of performance of Soviet economy. ''In last fifteen years national income growth rates had declined by more than a half and by beginning of eighties had fallen to a level close to economic stagnation. But problems are not merely economic. ''Declining rates of growth and economic stagnation were bound to affect other aspects of life of Soviet society. Negative trends seriously affected social sphere. Among numerous examples cited by Gorbachev to support this latter point, albeit without illustrative statistics or other attempts at quantification, are rising parasitical attitudes, low worker morale, increasing crime, and alcohol abuse, which, especially in past two decades, has increased at an alarming rate and threatens very future of nation. Serious defects also became pervasive on ideological plane, Soviet leader notes. In social sciences scholastic theorization was encouraged and developed, but creative thinking was driven out . . . and superfluous and voluntarist assessment and judgments were declared indisputable truths. Population issues, as such, are not singled out for sustained attention in Perestroika. Gorbachev deplores the glaring shortcomings in quality of Soviet