does amazon area managers get overtime paid
|
in
his essay
my country and the world
(1975), sakharov gave a list of reforms that he felt were necessary
搕o bring our country out of a constant state of general crisis.?
several of the points of his program, such as the calls for
glasnost, economic reform, partial denationalization of all types of
economic and social activity, and others, foreshadowed many of the
perestroika slogans.
|
 |
indeed, sakharov抯 essays constitute a unique
body of writings, which contain most of the ideas of the reforms
that would later form the basis of perestroika. his thoughts on
international relations, in particular, reflect almost all the main
elements of gorbachev抯 new thinking, including the downplaying of
ideology and class approach, the inadmissibility of nuclear war, a
rejection of the disunity of nations in favor of interdependence and
cooperation as the only salvation from the threat of nuclear
catastrophe and other global problems, a return to all-human values,
and continuous disarmament.
other important aspects of sakharov抯 public activities included his
calls for the freedom of emigration and appeals against the use of
special psychiatric hospitals by the kgb for the suppression of
dissidents. |
the authorities?patience ran out when sakharov spoke
openly against the soviet invasion of afghanistan that began in
december 1979. he was stripped of all his state awards and honors
without trial and exiled from moscow to gorky, a city on the volga
closed to foreign journalists.
sakharov was to remain outspoken and constant in his views,
continuing to warn from exile against soviet expansionism and the
danger of thermonuclear war. it was the soviet union that began to
change after the election in march 1985 of gorbachev as general
secretary. in december 1986, gorbachev personally phoned sakharov
and invited him to return to moscow.
observers have often noted how close were some of gorbachev抯
utterances to the ideas of the former soviet dissident. the soviet
leader had, no doubt, read sakharov抯 writings and absorbed many of
his postulates. later he came to acknowledge publicly the
intellectual ascendancy of dissidents in formulating the guidelines
for reform:
the
awareness of the need for changes in society has been growing for a
long time and assumed different forms. one of them was a phenomenon,
which has received the name of dissident movement. and andrei
sakharov has been its most outstanding representative. reading his
letters, which have remained unanswered, to the country抯 former
leaders, one can see how very precisely has he defined the causes
and effects of our general crisis, how sensible were many of his
recommendations.
thus, perestroika marked the ending of the mutual isolation of
dissidents, on the one hand, and 搘ithin-the-system?reformers, on
the other, with the latter being increasingly swayed by the
arguments of freethinking people like sakharov, who had the courage
and moral spirit to stand up for their convictions.
