In This Issue

Abstract

Abstract We open this issue of The Soviet Review with a rather grim review of the progress of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan. The author, deputy director of the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, cites as key problems the continuing state monopoly of production and distribution; the loss of government authority; and the hemorrhaging of consumer goods supplies into black market and "closed" (i.e., privileged) distribution channels. Similarly, in a roundtable on "Alternative Trade Unions" conducted by Soviet sociologists and leaders of some of the new "unofficial" unions, the discussants point out that despite their loss of prestige, the official unions maintain their hold thanks to their officially mandated control over the distribution of scarce goods and services (including apartments and vacation facilities) to workers. We hear echoes of the same theme in A. Emel'ianov's article on agrarian reform. The author deplores the waste of vast resources pumped into the state and collective farms over the years, with poor results, while the regime resisted reform of property in land. He calls for organizational recognition and support of the newly organized peasant family farms and collectives.