Part 1 Apparatchiks and bureaucrats - main beneficiaries of status quo: who gains from status quo and why? when and how reforms and changes fail - on modus operandi of counter-reformers predicting outcomes. Part 2 Rent dissipation at enterprise level - its impact on reforms and changes: how ruler's rents sets dissapated - who gets what and how in STE enterprises measurement without markets maangers - rent-seeking, loyalty and position in the Soviet contract. Part 3 Industry as prime rent-seeking area for apparatchiks and bureaucrats: large industrial enterprises - a case of aggregate political clout political clout and resource allocation soft budget constraint and aggregate political clout - a reinterpretation long-term decline of the soviet system and recent manoeuvres around property rights structure. Part 4 Softening the resistance to change - the buyout proposal: outline of the buyout proposal cost of the buyout, parties to the contract and financing the bill the buyout proposal - probability, efficiency and other issues.