 He was of the view that once freed from the strong control of central planners, state-owned enterprises would act as market agents.Gorbachev and other Soviet leaders did not anticipate opposition to the perestroika reforms; according to their interpretation of Marxism, they believed that in a socialist society like the Soviet Union there would not be "antagonistic contradictions".However, there would come to be a public perception in the country that many bureaucrats were paying lip service to the reforms while trying to undermine them.