The World - News from Feb. 26, 1987

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev renewed his appeal for expanded “socialist democracy” as a key to economic success. In an address to 5,000 delegates at a union conference in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, Gorbachev said: “It is either democracy or social inertia and conservatism. There is no third way.” He said that his campaign is going more slowly than he wished but that “broad democratization” is the only way to improve the economy and substandard working conditions. Gorbachev also scolded the union leaders for not being militant enough in defending workers’ rights.