In early 1987, Gorbachev urged Ryzhkov and his economists to produce a radical comprehensive reform of the Soviet economy. Its essence was twofold. First, the resolution of a myriad of intractable economic problems had to be transferred from the hierarchical, conservative, ossified bureaucracy to the grassroots, to state enterprises and working collectives. Second, the Party had to be turned into a Leninist engine of revolutionary change. The Politburo discussed the proposals and consented. Even such stalwarts as Andrei Gromyko did not object. The key reform was the Law on Socialist
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