Twelfth Five-Year Plan Research Articles

In This Issue

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.

Is There a Way Out of the Crisis?

One more year of perestroika—the next to last year of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan—has passed. It was a year rich in events and social conflicts, with the emergence of the concept strike which is new to our life, with increasing shortages, and with the growth of the shadow economy, but it was also noteworthy for heated debates at the Second Congress of People's Deputies and for the approval of the government's program for normalizing the economy. How did this year influence the socioeconomic development of our country: Was it a stage in improving the functioning of the economy, or did it aggravate the already critical state, making the course of perestroika more difficult? It is probably not possible to offer an unequivocal answer to this question, because the processes taking place in the national economy are interconnected, are frequently unpredictable like their consequences, and, what is especially important, have almost no analogues in the past. There has been an increase in the number of factors and...

Is There a Way Out of the Crisis? The Results of the Nation's Economic Development in Four Years of the Five-Year Plan

One more year of perestroika—the next to last year of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan—has passed. It was a year rich in events and social conflicts, with the emergence of the concept strike which is new to our life, with increasing shortages, and with the growth of the shadow economy, but it was also noteworthy for heated debates at the Second Congress of People's Deputies and for the approval of the government's program for normalizing the economy. How did this year influence the socioeconomic development of our country: Was it a stage in improving the functioning of the economy, or did it aggravate the already critical state, making the course of perestroika more difficult? It is probably not possible to offer an unequivocal answer to this question, because the processes taking place in the national economy are interconnected, are frequently unpredictable like their consequences, and, what is especially important, have almost no analogues in the past. There has been an increase in the number of factors and...

On the State and Prospects of Psychiatric Care in the Tatar ASSR

In accordance with the "Main directions of development of public health protection and reorganization of the USSR health care in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan and for the period till 2000", the psychiatric service undergoes a certain reorganization. The requirements for psychiatry are dictated by the changed structure of the prevalence of mental diseases, especially in the area of borderline mental pathology, the growing share of psychosomatic disorders, and new approaches to treatment and social rehabilitation of the patient.

SOME ISSUES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SARY-DZHAZ MINING INDUSTRIAL CENTER, KIRGHIZ SSR

Problems in the development of the Sary-Dzhaz tin mining-processing complex, near Enil'chek in remote and mountainous eastern Kirghizia, are described. Development of the site, one of the major resource projects of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990) for Central Asia, began with construction of access roads and a power transmission line. The present paper focuses on strategies for ensuring the long-term viability of development through diversification of the local economic base (a garment factory is proposed to provide employment activities for the female population) and installation of hydroelectric generating capacity and a modern construction base (translated by Andrew R. Bond).

Problems of shaping a healthy lifestyle

The "Main Directions for the Development of Public Health and Reorganization of Public Health in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan and for the Period until the Year 2000" (1987) emphasized that preventive health care has been a fundamental principle and ideology of public health protection. (1987) emphasized that at all stages of the development of Soviet health care, the preventive direction was and remains the underlying principle, the ideology of people's health protection, and "the basis of preventive activities should be the assertion of a healthy lifestyle for each person and the entire society.

THE LENINGRAD REGIONAL SOCIOECONOMIC COMPLEX: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS FOR ITS DEVELOPMENT

The evolving settlement network of Leningrad city and Leningrad Oblast, considered as a single planning region, is described, as are a number of changes anticipated by the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (stabilization and eventual reduction in the size of the local labor force, structural economic change toward “nonproductive” activities, closer attention to the balance between the region's economic profile and local resources and infrastructure). Of particular interest are recommendations for restricting further development in some machine-building sectors to renovation and retooling, for growing more perishable agricultural commodities locally, and for recognizing the Leningrad agglomeration as an official planning entity (translated by Jay K. Mitchell; PlanEcon, Inc.; Washington, DC 20005).

GEOGRAPHIC-CARTOGRAPHIC EDUCATION AND THE RESTRUCTURING OF HIGHER EDUCATION AFTER THE 27TH PARTY CONGRESS

The head of the Department of Cartography at Moscow University proposes a number of changes in cartographic higher education in light of advances in mapping technologies and new tasks for geography in conjunction with the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990). The recommendations outlined include: (a) a more precise understanding of the discipline's place in the system of sciences in the planning of cartography curricula in higher education; (b) the assignment of key leadership positions in GIS organization and operation to university-trained geographical cartographers (and consequently the restructuring of cartographic training in directions which will make this possible). Translated from: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, geografiya, 1987, No. 2, pp. 3-11.

The Strategy of Scientific-Technological Progress

As we know, the leading role in implementing the party's policy of accelerating socioeconomic development belongs to scientific-technological progress. The Twenty-seventh CPSU Congress called for raising the nation's average annual growth rate from 3% during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan to 4% during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan and to 5% or more in the 1990s. At the same time, indicators of effectiveness of social production must accelerate at an even faster rate, because socioeconomic development will have to accelerate under conditions of the diminishing growth of production resources.

The Violation of Train Schedules is a Violation of State Discipline

Should the procurator exercise supervision over the correctness, and hence the legality, of the accounting and accountability of train traffic and the observance of train schedules? Unquestionably, yes. After all, [the failure to keep schedules] is nothing more nor less than a violation of state discipline. Particularly now, at a time when the task of accelerating the nation's socioeconomic development requires—as noted in the Guidelines for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1986-1990 and the Period Ending in 2000—improving the operation of railroads. And this is understandable since rail transport under the Twelfth Five-Year Plan will have to bring about a vast increase in carriage. The strict observance of state discipline is one of the main conditions for the attainment of these objectives. Any indulgence of violators instills them with a feeling of impunity and leads to more serious violations. All this inflicts material harm on the state and prevents the fulfillment of shipping plans.

THE ROLE OF CARTOGRAPHY IN COMPREHENSIVE, SPECIAL-PURPOSE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

The content of papers relating to cartography's role in support of several important ongoing programs incorporated within the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (the Food Program of the USSR, in particular), delivered at the Eighth Congress of the Geographical Society of the USSR (Kiev, 1985), are summarized. The types of maps needed for such cartographic support range from those depicting basic land uses to highly specialized paleogeographical, ecological, evaluative, and forecast maps to be used in basic research, education, and planning. A number of suggestions for enhancing the applications and effectiveness of cartography in major economic development programs are outlined. Translated from: Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta, seriya 7 [geologiya, geografiya], 1987, No. 2, pp. 55-62.

MAJOR RESEARCH AREAS AT THE INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE TWELFTH FIVE-YEAR PLAN

Five major research areas, debated at an unprecedented, four-day special session of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Geography, Academy of Sciences of the USSR in November 1986, are outlined. Some 30 officially recognized research themes encompassed by these areas represent the Institute's program of research under the Twelfth Five-Year Plan's emphasis on economic restructuring and intensification of resource use. Particular emphasis in the program of research is placed on the study of the interrelated problems of integrated physical geography, human-environment interactions, geosystem stability and instability, the territorial organization of productive forces and settlement, and technological innovations in information systems, modelling, and remote sensing (translated by Jay Mitchell; PlanEcon, Inc.; Washington, DC 20005).

SPATIAL DIMENSIONS OF GORBACHEV'S ECONOMIC STRATEGY

Emerging regional implications of the Gorbachev economic policy are outlined through examination of guidelines of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan and geography's role in it, and the cancellation and slowdown, respectively, of north-south water transfer schemes and BAM-AYaM railroad construction efforts. Fusion of growth pole concepts with tenets of dialectical materialism provides a theoretical justification for concentration of investment and R&D activity in the European USSR, although relative underdevelopment of Soviet innovation diffusion theory leaves a meager framework for guiding the subsequent dissemination of new equipment and technologies. Impacts of the new Enterprise Law of June 30, 1987 are not yet clear.

Accelerating the Modernization of Productive Fixed Capital

The implementation of the CPSU's policy of accelerating the nation's social and economic development requires the technological reconstruction of the national economy along new lines. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan is a key stage in the realization of this strategic task. In the new quinquennium, which must become pivotal in all directions of the USSR's economic and social development, the rates and effectiveness of economic growth will be raised on the strength of the acceleration of scientific-technological progress, the technical retooling and reconstruction of industry, and the more intensive utilization of existing production potential. The CPSU and the Soviet government view the accelerated modernization of productive fixed capital as one of the principal conditions for the conversion of the national economy to the path of predominantly intensive development.

CARTOGRAPHERS AND SCHOOL REFORM

The current status and future goals of “school cartography” (the provision of maps, globes, and other geographic teaching aids) in Soviet elementary and secondary education are outlined in a paper prompted by the adoption of a general educational reform package by the 27th Party Congress. The use of maps as tools for broadening student analytical skills rather than as simple illustrations of course themes is emphasized. Major problems to be addressed during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990) include the inadequate cooperation between the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography (which, among other things, oversees the publication of all school maps) and the USSR Ministry of Education (which approves all new maps and atlases and coordinates their introduction into the school system), a certain lack of attention to the needs of students in non-Russian [language] schools, and the need to upgrade technologies for the production of film transparencies, photomaps, and other products derived from remot...

The Strategy for Accelerating Socioeconomic Development

Soviet society is going through an important stage in its progress: the direct preparations for the next, Twenty-seventh Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in February 1986 have begun. The Congress will adopt the new version of the CPSU Program and will define the guidelines for economic and social development of the country for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990) and the period up to 2000.

Editor's Introduction

As part of the far reaching educational reform that is to be implemented in the Soviet Union during the years of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990), the introduction into secondary education of a course called "Basic Information Science and Computer Technology" stands out among the reform measures as one that is receiving special emphasis in the country's press as well as special attention in the school system. The overall goal of the educational reform is to tie schooling more closely to the needs of the national economy, to produce well-educated and effectively trained manpower to fuel a recovery of its sagging output. The teaching of computer literacy was written into the official state documents that initiated the reform; the April 1984 "Fundamental Directions of General Education and Vocational School Reform" cited the need to "… equip [all secondary school] pupils with the knowledge and skills necessary to make use of modern computer technology…" and envisioned the introduction of computers "… into the educational process on a broad scale, setting up special school and inter-school computer centers for this purpose."

What Should Be Included in the Economic Mechanism of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan?

A large-scale economic experiment is under way to develop the most important directions and specific measures for improving the economic mechanism in five branches of the nation's industry in accordance with the July 14, 1983 decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers "On Additional Measures to Expand the Rights of Industrial Production Associations (Enterprises) in Planning and Economic Activity and to Increase Their Responsibility for Performance." Belorussian light industry enterprises are among the participants in the experiment. The circle of branches and enterprises operating under the terms of this experiment in our republic is expanding.

1986 Panel on the Soviet Economic Outlook

The results of the inaugural meeting of a panel on the Soviet economy, convened by the editors of Soviet Economy, are summarized. The panel noted that 1985 economic performance had been fairly good by recent Soviet standards, although the external trade balance had deteriorated sharply. Turning to the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (FYPXII) and the annual plan for 1986, the panel noted the clearly taut nature of both plans, and the apparent inconsistencies between them. The consensus was that the FYPXII targets would be very difficult to achieve, although outsiders may find it hard to judge due to the inherent ambiguities in measuring quality changes, and the potential for significant hidden inflation in growth statistics. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 124).

Gorbachev's Economic Strategy: A Preliminary Assessment

Gorbachev's economic strategy for the remainder of this decade is analyzed using the information contained in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan covering the years 1986-1990. The plan calls for an acceleration in the rate of economic growth achieved through a modernization of industry, a restructuring of investment, and increased labor effort on the part of the entire labor force. The economic reforms which accompany the plan are fairly modest. Analysis of the plan shows that it is very ambitious, and probably unachievable, although some improvement in economic performance is not excluded. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 113, 124.