Gorbachev Addresses Uralmash Workers

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

perestroyka itself--that policy aimed at the renewal of our society--in which we have to take political and socioeconomic decisions that are very important for the destiny of the country. What people are thinking, how they are reflecting on the subject of perestroyka, how they assess the situation, what they think has to be done urgently, and what proposals they have on this point all are very important for me now. You understand that, of course, I have my own position and my own convictions. I might say a little about them. At the same time, throughout all the years of my life and work, I have professed style, apart from what you think, any decision, any matter, must be compared with and checked against the opinions and judgements of people, the working people. This is all of great importance because it is precisely this that is perhaps a most important condition for both elaborating a correct policy, and managing with fewer losses and mistakes.

After all, comrades, through perestroyka and what we have been doing in recent years we are heading for new forms of life in the economy, the organisation of social life, the political process, democracy, and our federation. We are heading for the forms that then will determine how or society will live in subsequent decades. therefore, it is the greatest responsibility, the greatest responsibility. If we say that as early as that turnabout, when we started prestroyka, we saw our society and its history in one light. Then when we got into it more deeply, and began considering and studying what sort of society we are actually living in, what we had managed to do, what kind of problems had arisen to confront us, what we had come up against, why we started shifting from one foot to the other and had, in essence, stood still in our society's movement, we realised that minor repairs alone, painting and a change of wallpapers, would not do, comrades. That would not do. The matter was very serious with regard to the economy, the federation, the party, the soviets, and everything, culture and the whole spiritual sphere. Everything required very, very serious changes. The aim of all these changes is, all the same, to ennoble society and create an environment and living conditions for people—from the material, cultural, and spiritual point of view—which enables a person to feel normal. It would seem a simple task for a person to feel normal and confidente. So, ir order to reach our goal through him, we have to reject much, and above all, put our brains in order to overcome the confusion that has arisen here on the basis of our attempt to grasp where we have ended up and what has to be done, to understand each other, to consolidate, and having made our choice, to proceed courageously because it is not so simple to cross that road to changes.

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[Excerpts] So we now have approached the stage of adopting very major decisions. Therefore, I decided to come to you, knowing the human, intellectual, scientific, and cultural potential of people living here, in this region. This consultation is very important for me. Thank you for the meeting you have given me. I value it very highly. I regard it as support, and I will say right away that there have been very pointed statements in the course of these conversations, and there also have been very pointed statements at this conference regarding perestroyka, the policy of perestroyka, and the activity of the center. For the most part, I understand these critical observations as an attempt by people to draw attention to things, to insure that the leadership does not commit any