ABSTRACT
A detailed conference analysis should attain two goals: to summarize the subject of the talks and to note the results and to offer conclusions. During the conference the range and the perspective of perestroika were, however, subject to controversy, the more so as the question whether it is just a tactical or a fundamental shift is a question of structure of values. At the conference, differences within the Soviet perceptions became obvious: they can be attributed to the process of perestroika itself. The principle of leaving one's own perspective is helpful for the scientific discourse of the conference as well as for East-West relations in general. The premise that in communication perceptions are always operating leads to the attempt to understand the other person's viewpoint on the matter, and to the realization of how relative one's own position is.
