Word: perestroika
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...China too faces serious problems with its economic-reform program, despite such bright spots as a plentiful supply of most meats. The two Communist giants are floundering, and for some of the same reasons, in their efforts to modernize and reorganize their political and economic systems. Both Gorbachev's perestroika (restructuring) and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's gai ge (reform) face opposition. Barriers to reform in the Soviet Union are an entrenched bureaucracy and a growing indifference on the part of citizens who have yet to see a tangible return for their requested sacrifices. In China people are balking...
...personnel changes were, Gorbachev's major coup was pushing through a scheme to slash and rearrange the Central Committee bureaucracy from some 20 departments to at least six. That streamlining sent a clear message to conservatives that the party chief was determined to pick up the pace of perestroika and make bold changes at the very top. Said Gorbachev on Saturday, at a special session of the 1,500-member Supreme Soviet (parliament) called to ratify the party changes: "The people understand our difficulties but demand more decisive and energetic efforts...
Three years after perestroika was introduced, its effects on day-to-day economic life remain meager to the point of near invisibility. Grocery shelves are even barer than they were two years ago, partly because of bad weather conditions. Gorbachev's determination to force industry to become "self- financing" -- to fund current production from the proceeds of past sales -- has run into bureaucratic snags, with central planners continuing to exert control over factory operations by placing "state orders" that effectively determine how much factories produce. Plans exist to revitalize the agricultural sector with a podryad, or contract, arrangement modeled...
Price reform has been acknowledged by Gorbachev as an essential element of perestroika and an eventual certainty on the Soviet agenda. But mindful of the disruption that such reform has caused not only in China but also in parts of Eastern Europe, he has done virtually nothing to cut back on state subsidies for everything from bread to meat and butter, which keep prices low but drain off billions of rubles annually. So far the leadership has not presented any plan for price reform, but the issue has triggered public debate. Says a parliamentary deputy: "Prices are not so much...
...Soviet leader hopes to circumvent entrenched conservatives in the bureaucracy and pitch his policy of perestroika directly to the people, he has good reason to turn to television. Not all rural areas of the Soviet Union may have indoor plumbing, but TV antennas rise above the rooftops of wooden peasant huts in even the most isolated villages. In 1960 there were only 22 television sets for every thousand Soviets; by 1986 the number had climbed to 299. Gosteleradio surveys have found that up to 86% of their sample group consider television to be their primary source of news about...