ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the reform program both in its initial stages and in the more complete form taken at the 19th Party Conference, is a key first step toward understanding why and how demokratizatsiia, was aimed at turning the USSR into a truly Soviet Union. Perestroika was not an unbroken procession toward the constitutional amendments passed in December 1988; nonetheless, it is clear that many reforms in the early period of perestroika dovetailed neatly with Mikhail S. Gorbachev's proposals concerning soviet power. Gorbachev graduated from Moscow State University's department of law. Gorbachev's speech to the constitutional editorial commission marked the beginning of the public phase of his call for the revitalization of the soviets. In March 1985, addressing the Central Committee for the first time as General Secretary, Gorbachev stressed moving the Soviet economy "onto the rails of intensive development." The revitalization of the soviets, according to Gorbachev, was part of "the logic of the development of socialist democracy."
