A Call for Radical Change

As time went on, however, an uneasiness set in among Western policymakers. Mikhail Gorbachev was making some real changes. His control of Soviet state machinery continued and expanded. Mr. Gorbachev's pronouncements were electrifying the world, especially the Europeans. Analysts and policymakers in United States and Europe now didn't know what to make of him. Meanwhile, he continued making his mark in world politics with daring initiatives. Some were beginning to call our time "The Gorbachev Era." A July 27, 1987, Time magazine began: "We knew he was going to be different. We did not know he was going to be that different." Four and half years after coming on the scene, Mikhail Gorbachev, at least for the present, is a reality to be dealt with. He is calling for nothing less than the total restructuring of his own nation and for a change in the way all nations relate to each other. Mr. Gorbachev wrote in Toward a Better World: "The world must definitely change if civilization is to continue to exist." His call for change is revolutionary. "A most important task is to work out a new mode of political thought and probably a new international law," says Mr. Gorbachev. He has been calling for "a new way of thinking...characterized by respect for people and nations."