USSR in Crisis

The Soviet Union in the post-Brezhnev era confronts an economic disaster on a vast scale.

In virtually all sectors of the economy, evidence of stagnation, waste, and mismanagement proliferates. The convergence of these problems is no historical accident. As Marshall Goldman. a leading analyst of the Soviet economy, demonstrates, the Russians continue to adhere to a planning model set forth by Stalin in the 1920s. The chances of a turnaround, therefore, hinge on reform of the system—reform that the Soviet leaders fear might trigger unpredictable and uncontrollable forces that have been pent up for sixty-five years.