... in control, but a party, whose officials both at central and local level would, to some degree, be accountable to elected bodies. Greater freedom of discussion, and scope for autonomous social groups would characterise a society in which party state institutions no longer owned and managed all spheres of activity and again this would benefit the Russian society and lead to democratisation, so again this would be advisable. Perestroika meant the reconstructuring of the economy and at that time this seemed possible. The aim was to set the economy on a path to catch up with Western economies and with Japan, and encourage the introduction of new technologies, all vital for the maintenance of the Soviet Union as a world power. Gorbachev suggested, however, that radical reform was necessary, thus indicating that the measures were to go further than anything previously attempted. The policy of glasnost, of encouraging a greater openness ...

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