Changes in Soviet Union

Your editorial “Face-Off in Moscow” (June 30) states that “The outcome of the secret debate (over Gorbachev’s proposals) . . . will almost certainly shape Soviet life for years to come.”

Soviet life? How about the life of the world? If Mikhail Gorbachev succeeds, and if we’re not too stupid to take advantage of his success, World War III is off (unless created by Israel, South Africa, India or Argentina), and the United States will continue to be important--along with the Soviet Union--at least through the first half of the 21st Century. If he fails, the arms race goes on, war is possible, and both of our countries will soon lose significance because of the inordinate and absurd costs of our “cold war,” created by Stalin, and abetted by our naive nationalism and those industries about which President Eisenhower warned us--on both sides of the “curtain.”

What’s happening in the Soviet Union today is absolutely the most important event for humanity in the second half of this century. It will be a major event in determining the nature of the 21st. We are all but helpless to intervene, but we should pray for the success of perestroika !

CARL G. HOKANSON

Encino