Visiting Soviets Tell of Hopes for Perestroika

Even as President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev traded harsh rhetoric less than a month before their Moscow summit, 20 high Soviet officials held an unusual dialogue with ordinary Americans this week and seemed to display the policy of glasnost, or openness, for which Gorbachev has become renowned.

In formal and informal talks held in Newport Beach, the Soviet officials spoke openly of their hopes for perestroika, Gorbachev’s plan for restructuring of the Soviet society and economy.

“We want to see how Americans react to changes in the Soviet Union,” Sergei Plekchanov, deputy director of Moscow’s U.S.A. and Canada Institute, said at a luncheon session. “We think we’re on the threshold of new relations in the U.S. It’s in our grasp to scrap the Cold War model.”

The Soviets, including institute director Georgy A. Arbatov, were part of a delegation to the Dartmouth Conferences, ongoing private meetings between U.S. and Soviet leaders and specialists that were held this year in Austin, Tex.

This year, for the first time, delegates are holding a series of meetings after the conference with 25 Americans, including six from Orange County, at the invitation of the National Issues Forum, a private organization dedicated to improving civic participation.

Raising questions posed by Gorbachev’s restructuring of society, Plekchanov noted in a panel discussion that authorities are considering strengthening the Soviet judiciary.

“Russia has not traditionally been ruled by the legal tradition,” he said. “Do we want to turn into a litigious society? A government run by lawyers?”

“Don’t forget, Gorbachev is a lawyer,” chided Vitaly V. Zhurkin, the director of the Institute of Western Europe at the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

“Good point,” Plekchanov conceded, laughing. “But I don’t retract my question.”

At the same time, he mused about what would happen in a democratized Soviet Union with more open elections, asking, “Do we want to create a class of professional politicians with public relations wizards and direct-mail operators?”

The Americans said they were impressed. “It does a lot to erase your skepticism,” said Jay Plum, executive director of the American Assn. of University Students.

Nevertheless, “we’re afraid for our own security,” Richard Sneed, chancellor of Saddleback Community College District, told Stanislav Kondrashov, political analyst for the government newspaper Izvestia. Sneed said he recalled similar enthusiasm for a reopening of society from Czech students at the University of Prague in 1968.

“It ended when (ousted Communist Party leader Alexander) Dubcek ended. It makes me distrustful. I fear someone inside your country will change your plan,” he said.