Word: politburo
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Life on the Politburo is not a lot of fun these days. If Mikhail Gorbachev isn't changing the job descriptions of the Soviet leaders, the parliament is poking its nose into party business. Now the Supreme Soviet's Commission on Privileges is taking an ax to some of the things that made party life worth living, specifically the comfortable dachas, or country houses, enjoyed by the elite...
Even retirement will pall for former Politburo members. They will have to do without the household workers and car the state had provided to each. That's enough to make a bigwig take to his sickbed, but illness could be a problem too. The number of people entitled to use the special clinics reserved for the privileged will be cut by two-thirds...
This does not mean Politburo members will soon be seen in the food queues. According to officials familiar with the new party platform, the Central Committee recommended that party benefits be transferred to holders of government posts, most of whom are at present members of the nomenklatura. Communist officials who founder at the polls in future elections, however, will, at least in theory, find their standard of living much diminished...
Naturally, many Communist nobles are loath to surrender their deserts. Conservative Politburo member Yegor Ligachev once drew hoots of derision when he responded to complaints of inequality by saying, "The party worker has ! only one privilege: to be in front, to struggle for the party's policies." Junior Politburo member Yevgeni Primakov got a bigger sneer when he argued in the Congress of People's Deputies that the rewards of being a party peer were in some ways a burden. During the hot summers, he complained, the chauffeur- driven black cars turned into sweatboxes...
...Communist system is corrupt. I am talking not only about the corruption of money. This is secondary. Power is corrupt. Every function depends on the Politburo. Therefore, it is enough in communism just to follow the line from the top and to be rewarded. If someone is intelligent and corrupt, he can easily climb to the top. This is characteristic of communism today. During the revolution, there were at least some people devoted to some aims, willing to suffer, willing to be killed. Now it is the opposite. The people at the top are stupid cowards. Primitive forms of corruption...