Given on: In August
1985, as part of an interview with the American magazine, Time.
Source of the text: Mikhail Gorbachev, "Peace
and Disarmament. We Should Look for a Way Out Together", Soviet Life
magazine (Moscow), November 1985, pages 1-2.
Published at MIA: March 2024. Transcribed by
Juan Fajardo.
In August Mikhail Gorbachev gave an interview to Time magazine. He talked about the state of Soviet-American relations, the Geneva meeting with President Reagan and the Soviet economy. Excerpts follow below.
The truth should be faced squarely Despite the negotiations that have begun In Geneva and the agreement to hold a summit meeting, relations between our two countries are continuing to deterio-rate. the arms race is intensifying and the threat of war is not subsiding
My colleagues and I are quite exacting and self-critical when it comes 10 our own activities not only in this country but also outside of it. and we are asking ourselves again and again if this is somehow connected with our actions.
In this critical situation Moscow is trying to practice restraint in its pronouncements with regard to the United States: it is not resorting to anti-American campaigns nor is it fomenting hatred for your country. We believe it very important that even in times of political aggravation the feeling of traditional respect harbored by me Soviet people for the
American people should not be injured, and as far as I can judge, that feeling is largely a mutual one.
Is it bad that at a time when the disarmament negotiations have resumed and preparations are under way for a first summit in six years, we are persistently seeking ways to break the vicious circle and bring me process of arms limitation out of the deed end? That is precisely the objective of our moratorium on nuclear explosions and of our proposal to the United States to join it and to resume the negotiators on a complete ban on nuclear tests as well as of the proposals regarding peaceful cooperation and the prevention of an arms race m space. We are convinced mat we should look for a way out of the current difficult situation together.
Time is running out. The train might leave if we do not act fast enough.
As people want to live, nobody wants to die. So it is necessary to muster political courage and stop
the developing sinister process. It is necessary to stop the arms race, to start disarmament and the improvement of relations.
Our countries simply cannot afford to allow matters to reach a confrontation. Herein lies the genuine interest of both the Soviet and the American peoples. And this must be expressed in the language of effective politics. It is necessary to stop the arms race, to tackle disarmament, put Soviet-American relations into a normal channel. Honestly, it is time to make these relations between the two great peoples worthy of their historic role, for the destiny of the world really depends on our relations. We are prepared to work in this direction.
On behalf of the Soviet leadership and the Soviet people, I would like once again to tell all Americans the most important thing they should know: War will not come from the Soviet Union. We will never start war.
We are in a serious mood and are preparing serious proposals for the Geneva meeting. We would not have agreed to the meeting it we did not have faith in the possibility of positive outcome. This is our position.
If there is no ban on the militarization of outer space, if an arms race in apace it not prevented, then there will be nothing at all. This is our firm position, and it is based on our highly responsible appraisal that takes into account both our interests and those of the United States. We are prepared to conduct talks, but not on space weapons, not on what specific types of these weapons could be deployed in outer space. We are prepared to conduct talks on preventing an arms race in outer space.
It is too great a luxury for the leaders of two such states as the Soviet Union and the United States to go to Geneva merely to get acquainted and then admire Lake Geneva and the Swiss Alps. When the international situation is so tense, it would be an unpardonable luxury.
In short, we are preparing seriously for the meeting and we will do everything possible for it to yield tangible results for the improvement of relations be-tween the Soviet Union and me United States.
Let me start with history there are problems whose origin was beyond our control. The old regime left the Soviet Government with a grim legacy: a backward economy, strong vestiges of feudalism, millions of illiterate people.
Add to this, two devastating wars that ravaged a major part of our country, leaving in ashes and ruin much of what the work of the people had created. There were irreparable losses. Twenty million perished during the years of me Great Patriotic War, with millions wounded and maimed. Forty years have passed, but our people still preserve the sorrowful memories of the past and of the bereavement they suffered. To heal the wounds inflicted upon human hearts and upon the land, the Soviet people needed peace and nothing but peace.
It was often asserted in the West that it would take the USSR some 50 10 100 years to restore at that had been destroyed as a result of the fascist invasion. Having restored their national economy in the shortest possible time the Soviet people did what would have seemed impossible. But the fact remains that after the Revolution, we were forced to spend almost two decades, it not more on, wars and reconstruction.
Under those arduous conditions, using our sys-tem's potential, we have succeeded in making the Soviet Union a major economic world power. This has attested to me strength and the immense capabilities of socialism.
There are also difficulties of a different nature due to our own shortcomings and deficiencies. We make no secret of this. Sometimes we do not work well enough. We have not yet learned proper managerial skills, as is required by a modem economy and warranted by our enormous capabilities, i.e. raw ma materials and skilled manpower resources, advanced science (especially fundamental science), the support and, as we can now see, the readiness and willingness of people to work better, to improve quality and efficiency.
The imperative of our time is to decisively improve the state of things; hence the concept of accelerated social and economic development. Today it is our most important, top-priority task. Ways to accomplish the task have been determined following comprehensive discussion. We are planning to make better use of capital investments to give priority to the development of such major industries as engineering, electrical engineering and electronics, energy production, transport and others. Attention remains focused also on the agro-industrial complex, especially as regards processing and storage of agricultural produce. We will do what is necessary to better meet demand in high-quality food products.
To improve the functioning of the national econ-omy, it will be necessary to further strengthen centralization in strategic areas of the economy through making individual branches, regions and elements of the economy more responsive to the needs of economic development. But at the same time we are seeking to strengthen democratic principles in management, to broaden the autonomy of production associations, enterprises, collective and state farms, to develop local economic self-management and to encourage initiative and a spirit of enterprise, naturally in the interests of society and to its detriment.
In short, we seek the most rational methods of managing the economy. Large-scale economic experiments are under way that are aimed essentially at developing a more efficient mechanism of management that would dramatically accelerate the rate of scientific and technological progress and make better use of all resources. Our objective is that, in solving this task, all levers of material and moral incentives and such tools as profit, pricing, credit and cost accounting of enterprises should be put to work. That is the thrust of our work for radical improvement in the entire system of management and planning.
In addition, we are bringing into play other potentials for speeding up economic development. I mean greater discipline and order, demanding more from everyone, from worker to minister, a drive against irresponsibility and red tape, instilling labor ethics, ensuring greater social justice throughout the whole of society.
I want to emphasize this: The attention we have recently been devoting to the economy is due not to an intention to set new records in producing metals, oil, cement, machine tools or other products. The main thing is to make life better for people. There is no goal more important to us. This year alone the decision was made to raise the salaries of several categories of employees in public health and science and 0f engineers and technicians, to improve the material status of a considerable number of retired people, to allocate annually free of charge about one million plots of land for planting orchards, for people to have what you call a second home. We are planning many other steps as well. Their scope will naturally depend on progress in the economy. Of late, positive changes have become evident: The rates of industrial production and labor productivity have increased.
You ask what changes in the world economy could be of benefit to the Soviet Union. First of all, although this belongs more to politics than economics, an end to the arms race. We would prefer to use every ruble that today goes for defense in order to meet civilian, peaceful needs.