ABSTRACT
In formulating the Soviet-East European relationship in the way, Mikhail Gorbachev seemed to emphasize as much as he could--without unduly embarrassing his hosts and other client states--his interest in reformism elsewhere in the bloc. Gorbachev appeared to regard his new course as being universally applicable and seemed to concede differentiation only insofar as it was clearly subsumed under the general thrust toward the objectives that he had mapped out. Gorbachev spoke strongly about the need to overcome old ways. While "the socialist house" rested on solid foundations and even the walls were strong, the defects were too numerous to be repaired piecemeal. On Eastern Europe, Gorbachev said that every socialist country had its own specific features and national peculiarities. That which the USSR was now attempting to achieve, others might have begun to solve or have solved already. Gorbachev talked at some length about the alleged Europeanism of his policies, internal and foreign.
