774 SEER, 8I, 4, 2003 Gorbachev, Mikhail and Mlynar, Zdenek. Conversations with Gorbachev. On Perestroika, thePragueSpring,andtheCrossroads of Socialism. Translated by George Shriverwith a forewordby Archie Brown. Columbia University Press,New Yorkand Chichester, 2002. XXV + 225 pp. Index. $25.00. ZDENEK MLYNAR&kand Mikhail Gorbachev studied Law together at Moscow State University in the early 1950S. Forming a lifelong friendship, even as students they were moving towards tentative criticism of the existing Communist system. Mlyna'rreturned to Czechoslovakia and went on to become the leading theoretician of the Communist reform movement there, the Prague Spring. Gorbachev's visit to Czechoslovakia in I969, by which time Mlynarwas in exile, contributedto his own political evolution, as he saw the consequences of the Soviet invasion. Mlynar died in I997, but between November I993 andJune I994 he and Gorbachev taped the conversationswhich are reproduced in this book. With Mlynafrtaking the lead, and often interrogatingGorbachev about his alleged mistakes,they range over their own lives, the historiesof their countries and the future of socialism. Both consider their attemptsto reform Communism, as opposed to preservingit as it was or destroyingit, to have been correct. In these conversations,both remaincommittedto theirconception ofthe socialist idea, but in a context where it fuses with elements of liberalism into an explicitly social-democratic outlook. They consider that the Soviet bloc countries were not socialist, because they were not democratic. These ideas were alreadyclear in the lastyear of Gorbachev'sleadershipof the Party,and have been further developed, since these conversations, in his Memoirs (London, I996) and Gorbachev: OnMy Country andtheWorld (New York,2000). Mlynar reports that the main aim of the Czechoslovak reformersin I968 was to achieve pluralism;they hoped to develop a multi-partysystemin eight to ten years. Gorbachev, on the other hand, says that he came in i 983 to see the need for 'democracy[. ..], pluralismand freedomof choice', but identified this with what he saw as the Leninist aim of developing '"the living creative activityof the masses"' (p. 98). He emphasizesthatthe initial aim ofperestroika was to end economic stagnation. Although he saw already in late I986 that the Partywas not playing the role he wanted it to play, and indeed was acting as a brake on perestroika,he continued for several years to believe that the way out was to put the Partyunder the control of society through elections, while still continuing 'to keep the highest level of party and government authority in my own hands' (p. I I 2). It should perhaps be remembered that Mlynarbelonged to thatgenerationof Communistswho had themselvestaken partin the riseto power of the Partyin Czechoslovakia,andwere more radical in appreciating the need to correct their own mistakes;whereas Gorbachev grew up in what was already Stalin's dictatorship,and was much less able to breakfromthe Leninistleading role of the Party. Likewise, Gorbachev'supbringingnot only led him to seek to preservethe Union, but also made it hard for him to envisage any change in its composition. Archie Brown, in his introduction to the book, declares that independence for the Baltic republicswas a 'democratic necessity' (p. x), but Mlynar gives Gorbachev an easy ride on this question. While Gorbachev REVIEWS 775 ruled out force in relation to Western Europe, state violence leading to multiple deathswas used againstseparatistsin Tbilisi, Baku,Vilnius and Riga. Gorbachev does not deny his role in sending troops to BakuinJanuary I990, but saysthat the violence against demonstratorsin Tbilisi in March i989 and the killingsin Vilnius in January i99i took place without his knowledge. He does not mention the killingsin Riga, also inJanuary I99I, and Mlynar does not askhim about this, or indeed aboutthe whole campaignwhich Gorbachev launched against Lithuania afterthe Supreme Soviet declared independence in March I990. Aside from the lack of democracy, Gorbachev sees many benefitsas having flown from the Soviet system. People did believe in socialistvalues, definedby Gorbachev as 'freedom, equality, justice, and solidarity' (p. I55). They respected labour, took pride in the industrializationof the country and were prepared to make sacrificesfor future benefit. The population became more educated and lived better. Mlynaraddsthat the existence of Soviet societyput pressureon capitalism,in the interestsof the workers;the welfarestate 'would hardly have happened without the "Soviet threat"' (p. I52). The justice of this comment is...