Word: andropov
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Prior to the death of Leonid Brezhnev, a fairly strong consensus had emerged among Kremlinologists that Yuri Andropov would be the next Soviet Premier. Now Soviet experts are speculating on what Andropov's assumption of power means for Russia and for the rest of the world. The Crimson this week interviewed three Soviet specialists from Harvard's Russian Research Center on their views of this post-Brezhnev era. The participants were Assistant Professor of Government Mark R. Beissinger, David E. Powell, a Russian Research Center associate who recently wrote a book entitled Anti-Religious Propaganda in the Soviet Union...
Crimson: In light of the Soviet Union's continuing economic difficulties, do you see Andropov making any significant changes in the allocation of money away from the military toward the agricultural sector...
Beissinger: If one were to do a Kremlinological study on the positions Andropov has taken in the past, he comes down favoring the Soviet military build-up. There really isn't any indication, at least from his statements in the past, that he favors such a change. I think also in this immediate transitional period, his authority is still tentative among others. The most powerful organization is the Soviet military, and he would be very unwise to challenge that power...
...there will be a reallocation of resources of any substantial size, but not so much because the leader has to rely on the military--although neither of us would argue that the military has a veto authority. More important, there is nothing in the political make-up of Mr. Andropov which distinguishes him from other members of the Soviet political-military elite. After all, the military industrial complex is at the apex of Soviet power, an approach which has worked very well from their point of view, and there is no reason to change...
...early to guess if Mr. Andropov will ever qualify to sing with such a group, pleasant light tenor or no pleasant light tenor. He would probably add Little Things Mean a Lot, neither a Chubby Checker nor a Glenn Miller hit, but a fitting theme song for a man whose life is being appraised from small angles. Alas, as the world unhappily discovers, little things do not always mean as much as the bigger ones, especially when one of the big things is the Soviet Union. But not to worry. For the moment it is enough to relish the portrait...