摘要:The watershed party plenum of January . 1987 propelled the debate on the future of the U.S.S.R. beyond the discussion of whether the Gorbachev government would undertake a fundamental restructuring to how far and in what direction these reforms would go. The majority of the Soviet power elite would undoubtedly prefer a simple decentralization of the old administrative matrix, including an increased role for markets and a consolidation of the Rechsstraat, without any problematic experiments in economic democracy. However, there are other forces at work, forces which can best be understood by focusing on the attitudes of the Soviet working class.