In one of his most candid speeches to date about the lack of progress on economic reform, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has painted a dire picture of the nation`s economy, blaming people who ”forgot how to work” and bureaucrats who shunned their duties.
He also called into question the value of a centrally planned economy, and made it clear he is determined to press forward with perestroika, his 4-year-old campaign to restructure and to revitalize his country`s economic life.
He accused some officials by name of squandering state resources by ordering unnecessary construction and other acts of mismanagement, and said widespread complaints of shortages of food, housing and consumer goods were justified.
”We are deeply dissatisfied with what we have done in the economy,” he said. ”We know that the working people are also dissatisfied with the present situation. They have grounds for this.”
Individual workers share the blame, he said.
”Many forgot how to work. They got used to being paid often just for coming to work.
”We cannot help feeling concern, comrades, that uneasiness is growing in society. People respond badly to shortages and to queues that take up time and, to put it frankly, humiliate people.”
Gorbachev made his glum assessment at a special closed-door meeting of the Communist Party central committee Tuesday, but the text of his lengthy address was not made public until Wednesday.
Admitting that unforeseen circumstances such as the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident and the decline in world oil prices had impeded his economic reforms, Gorbachev said the problem went far deeper.
”Comrades, this can hardly account for all that has taken place in the economy, particularly in the consumer market,” he said. ”What then is the value of our planned economy if unforeseen circumstances can strike it out of balance?”
Gorbachev`s remarks came at the end of a meeting during which he oversaw the retirement of 110 members of the Central Committee, including many identified as opponents to his reforms.
Though he has often spoken about the nation`s serious economic problems, Gorbachev`s speech Tuesday offered specific instances of economic and financial irresponsibility.
”Where are the central economic agencies and Central Committee members who headed them? We should now ask in earnest about that,” he said. He singled out unfinished construction and excess purchase of machinery as two forms of serious economic mismanagement.
”Really, for how long shall we speak of unfinished construction when billions of rubles (one ruble equals $1.60) go down the drain, and real dumping grounds of uninstalled equipment that is also worth billions of rubles are formed?”
He noted that the cost of unfinished construction had risen by the equivalent of $48 billion in the last three years, and that such spending now accounted for 80 percent of the state`s capital investment each year.
”Where is comrade Yuri Batalin, deputy chairman of the council of ministers?” Gorbachev asked. ”Does he have a stand on this issue? Such miscalculations have cost a good deal to the people.”
He also singled out the health and medical engineering sector for gross errors in the production of much needed disposable syringes. Noting that the state had ordered a major increase in the production of such instruments three years ago, he detailed the mistakes that led to the present critical shortage. ”Owing to the irresponsible attitude of ministers comrades N.A. Panichev, V.A. Bykov, M.S. Shkabardnya, the decisions have not been implemented,” Gorbachev said.
In 1988, Gorbachev reported, salaries had increased on a national level by 7 percent, while labor productivity went up by just 5.1 percent.
So far this year, he said, wages had gone up by 9.4 percent, while productivity had increased by only 4.5 percent.
”The rate of increase in wages and salaries was more than twice as high as the rise in labor efficiency,” he said.
Among the most critical problems facing the Soviet economy is that the amount of cash available to consumers far outstrips the quantity of goods available for them to buy.
