Word: bolshevichka
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1965-1965
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Eighteen months later, it had plainly become "necessary." Moving the debate off the pages of Pravda and into the industrial arena, Khrushchev gave the reformers a place to test their theories. Two clothing factories-Moscow's Bolshevichka and Gorky's Mayak-were cut loose to negotiate prices and sell their suits and dresses directly to 22 retail stores. The stores told the two factories what kinds of goods the consumers wanted, and the factories were judged by the profits made on what goods were actually sold...
...Bolshevichka and Mayak showed such a resounding improvement in efficiency-and such "deviationism"-that many Kremlinologists assumed they had contributed to Nikita's downfall...
...Sides. Though Khrushchev permitted these polemics to take place, he probably never fully understood what the argument was all about. Still, he let the reformers start their experiments in the Bolshevichka and Mayak factories...
Orders in hand, Bolshevichka and Mayak set their own production schedules, decided how many workers would be needed to do the job. Profits were pegged only to what their stores could actually sell, and worker piece-rate bonuses were accordingly awarded for quality. To get a better reading of consumer tastes, Bolshevichka set up its own shoppers' clinic. Within six months, both profits and quality had soared and, of critical interest to the Kremlin, inventories were sharply reduced: the turnover of Bolshevichka and Mayak goods in the retail stores was speeded up by some three weeks...
...Bolshevichka today gleams with pride: flowers adorn each work table, the walls are freshly painted and adorned with photographs of its workers shaking hands with Party bigwigs, who arrive in ever increasing numbers to see the miracle that has come to pass. To one and all, beaming Director Petr Noskov reports that Bolshevichka's profit margin has risen to 7%, that the average pay is up from $94 a month to $110, and that the factory is now making better suits at a cheaper price ($85 v. $96) and are (oh, that Capitalist idiom) "selling like hot cakes...
| 1 |