Gorbachev Addresses Uralmash Workers

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

and be involved with the nature of these phenomena.

A question about ownership: What awaits us-- people's ownership, people's enterprises, or state ones-- and how can one overcome the alienation of the worker from the means of production? One needs to start with the last statement, and we began with that. You see, the kind of society we have found ourselves in, comrades, is one in which the working people in a socialist society have found themselves alienated from power, from ownership of the means of production-- they were not genuine masters-- and let's say, from the sphere of culture, from the attainment of culture, and so on. It is necessary within the framework of what we have set in motion, and along all directions we are returning man-- via democratization and economic processes -- we are returning man's labour collectives. By using new methods of management and new forms of ownership we are returning this process-- as a master, as a manager. We are returning via a new system of elections; via new approaches to forming electoral bodies to soviets; via the party; via new approaches toward the formation of party bodies; to the political process of man; and thereby we are overcoming his alienation from politics. It is just the same in other spheres. The whole idea of perestroyka is aimed at this, at returning man as the character, the main character, to the center in our society. That's the idea. As for development, how our economic life is going to develop on the basis of adopted laws, then I think that one can forecast to a certain extent. Of course, state property will play a decisive role in our society for a long time. I think that is not in doubt. Another matter is that this property also needs to be used in introducing new mechanisms of management, and in order to stimulate man, so that he takes on more responsibility and gives better results, displays initiative, enterprise, beginning (?both) at the level of enterprises and lower-ranking collectives. I think we will see...[Gorbachev changes thought] We have avoided the concept of private ownership, but there will be family ownership, some kind of family labor collective-- that is individual labor ownership.

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[Excerpts] [Gorbachev continues] I am asked: Are you allowing private property owners to emerge? But first, people in everyday life always say that private property owners put up prices -- we've always said this about private property owners. That is, even in his subsidiary plot he is doing something.

You know, in principle I think we cannot go down the road of exchanging state property, people's property and collective property for individual, private property. I am convinced of this; I am convinced that by making use of the possibilities laid down in the social and public system that is socialism, we can solve everything that worries us, and the problems too. And this is a system for the workers. Private property will lead to radical changes in the basis of both the political process and in th esphere of power. For this reason private property obviously could arise with us, and there will be some. I admit this, even though there are no laws, but I have said that at such and such a state it could appear. Some sort of small enterprises, where the large state enterprises won't take something on, or the cooperatives won't take it on or the cooperative or some private owners will tackle some problem on their own. But you know, this will be a percentage, and not one of decisive importance. It will, as it were, supplement things where large enterprises won't take something