Word: kosygin
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...contrast, Premier Aleksei Kosygin, 71, seems to have slipped, although he too kept his Politburo seat. His address on the economy ran only two hours, and, as he spoke, Brezhnev's chair on the dais was conspicuously-and un-precedentedly-vacant. That could indicate that Brezhnev intended to rebuff Kosygin, or that he was bored with the proceedings, since he and the rest of the Politburo had already read and approved the Premier's remarks. What may be more revealing than Brezhnev's absence, suggested U.S. analysts, is that Kosygin limited himself to economic matters. Noted...
...plan aims to boost output by 38% to 42% a year in heavy industry, by 14% to 17% in agriculture. Consumer goods are to grow at 30% to 32%; this sector enjoyed priority over heavy industry during the ninth plan, which ended in 1975 (TIME, March 1), but as Kosygin conceded, "Light industry and other industrial branches on which consumer goods depend have not yet lived up to requirements...
...Incentives. Kosygin tried to cushion the disappointing prospects for Russia's consumers by dramatizing the recent recession in the West. "The capitalist world has been in the grip of a grave economic crisis," he declared, "an organic disease of the capitalist system aggravated by the protracted militarization of the economy." This was resoundingly seconded by American Communist Party Boss Gus Hall, who described the economic situation in the U.S. as horribly bleak. Kosygin deftly skirted the chronic shortages plaguing the Soviet consumer. He blamed poor weather for last year's disastrous harvest that resulted in a 76-million...
...Kosygin's prescription for his country's economy was increased productivity based on "scientific and technological progress and utmost thrift." Experience teaches, however, that those words will prove empty unless greater incentives are given to the Soviet laborer for working harder and more efficiently...
According to a U.S. analyst, the Kosygin speech meant "a more-of-the-same approach, on a more realistic basis." There were a few changes in the Politburo-Agriculture Minister Dmitry Polyonsky was made a scapegoat for the dismal harvests, and was dropped from the ruling body, while two candidate members were promoted to full membership. But the aging Soviet leadership remains basically unchanged and will probably continue pursuing essentially the same policies...