REGIONAL LEADERS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION AND THEIR IDEAS ON ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT IN 1965–1985, SIBERIA*

Abstract

The study defines the positions of the first secretaries of the Siberian regional committees of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in the field of economic management in 1965 – 1985. After sector ministries had been restored, regional CPSU leaders declared that management institutions had to be moved to production centers, thus demanding the organization of inter-regional sector bodies on their territories. The paper shows how regional initiatives were supported by the central party-state bodies that introduced public debates and kept sending letters to the CPSU Central Committee, the heads of the USSR Council of Ministers, and the USSR State Planning Committee. The author managed to reveal the conflicts between the first secretaries of the regional committees of the CPSU. The conflicts were caused by the growing need to control the territorial administration bodies of the allied ministries and departments. One may conclude that the regional party bodies intended to strengthen the coordination of the local economic policy. However, the policy was controversial: on the one hand, there was a need to eliminate the redundant management levels of sector ministries and departments; on the other hand, there was a strong motivation to increase the staff of sector departments of regional and regional party committees.