Word: kosygin
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...high point of the Lenin gala, it was Brezhnev who commanded the brightest spotlight and biggest headlines. Before an audience including 66 foreign delegations, Brezhnev rose in the Kremlin's modernistic Palace of Congresses to deliver a three-hour, 82-page speech. (Kosygin followed the next day with a talk that lasted all of ten minutes.) Pausing only to sip cherry-flavored water, Brezhnev spoke self-confidently on a wide range of subjects, taking a tough but carefully qualified attitude. Nations fighting against imperialism, he said, will always have in Russia "a reliable and true friend." Enlightened circles in "bourgeois...
...other shards pointing to Brezhnev's ascension. In a fulsome news report, Tass announced Brezhnev's nomination as a candidate in the June 14 elections for the Supreme Soviet, describing him as "a true Leninist" and "a tireless fighter." Another Tass item lumped together announcements of the nominations of Kosygin, Podgorny and one Victor Yermilov, an obscure Moscow machine-tool fitter. Such clues are minor and not conclusive, but the combined weight of the evidence is impressive...
...major problem with the reforms, Western economists believe, is that they were never put fully into effect. Despite Kosygin's enthusiasm, the reforms were effectively sabotaged at midlevel, notably by the Ministry of Finance. Beyond that were problems at the local level. Factory managers who developed the capacity to overfulfill their production quotas, for example, frequently had trouble finding enough raw materials to do so. The reason: allocation of most industrial supplies remained under central control. Capital projects were stalled midway by the same kind of shortages, leaving the landscape cluttered with half-completed factory annexes and office buildings...
...same cannot be said of his Politburo colleagues. Several?notably Mikhail Suslov, 67, Arvid Pelshe, 71, as well as Kosygin?are aging and sickly. Kosygin is said to have asked permission to retire several times; he was reportedly turned down in the interests of preserving a balance in the collective leadership. The Politburo membership has remained virtually unchanged for five years, however, and it is possible that Brezhnev may soon encourage a number of its members to retire. At least some Politburo appointments would probably go to younger men, refleeting the fact that three-fourths of Russia's 14 million...
Though Brezhnev seems to have taken a firm hold on his country's economy, long Kosygin's sphere, his precise course of action may not become readily discernible until the 24th Party Congress convenes, probably in November. At that time, the next Five-Year Plan will be unveiled. An official of the State Planning Commission has indicated that the plan will probably call for an annual growth rate of 7% to 8%, place heavier emphasis on consumer production, seek some outside capital investment a la Ford and urge the rapid development of natural resources in Siberia...