The Soviet Political Agenda. Problems & Priorities 1950-1970
 What is Soviet politics about? What are the
Kremlin's most pressing concerns? How do the leaders perceive
their domestic problems, and what do they propose to do about
them? How do policy diagnoses and prescriptions evolve over time?
Who sets the agenda in Soviet politics? If the totalitarian interpretation
is adequate, the leaders have a great deal of autonomy in their choice
of problems and priorities. Advocates of the pluralist model argue that
interest groups play a considerable part in the articulation and aggregation
of political demands. Yet there are also good reasons to emphasise the
element of inter-organisational competition in Soviet government. According
to the bureaucratic model, the Kremlin's instructions originate in the
vast network of economic and administrative organs.
Consumer issues persistently loom large in Soviet politics. Whereas Western
politicians are busy with producer problems - promoting employment for
people whose produce is not in sufficient demand - their Soviet colleagues
worry more about goods and services in short supply. This illustrates
the complementary relationship between the economic and the political
systems. The consumer is weak in the planned economy, and his interests
must therefore be protected by the political power-centres. In the market
economy the same is true of the producer.
This is a study of the political priorities of the Soviet leadership
in three different years: Stalin's 1950, Khrushchev's 1960 and Brezhnev's
1970. Through systematic comparison of the instructions contained in
the editorials of Pravda, Dr Tarschys maps the changing political
agenda.
As Soviet society proceeds from relative poverty to relative prosperity,
new issues arise, new geographical areas attract attention and new patterns
emerge in the institutional structure of the political system.
Contents
Acknowledgements
1. PROBLEMS IN SOVIET POLITICS
1.1 What is a political problem?
1.2 The study of political problems
2 THE SOVIET POLITICAL SYSTEM: THREE MODELS
2.1 Some tendencies in research on the Soviet Union
2.2 The Soviet Union as a Totalitarian System
2.3 The Soviet Union as a Pluralist System
2.4 The Soviet Union as a Bureaucratic System
2.5 The Models and the Political Agenda
3. DATA AND RESEARCH DESIGN
3.1 The Data
3.1.1 The Soviet Press
3.1.2 Pravda
3.1.3 Pravda's readers
3.1.4 The Pravda Editorial
3.1.5 Pravda's Instructions as a Source
3.1.6 Period of Time
3.2 Method
3.2.1 Qualitative v. quantitative methds
3.2.2 Structuring through Information Retrieval
4. THREE YEARS IN THE LIFE OF THE SOVIET
UNION
4.1 The Soviet Union in 1950
4.2 The Soviet Union in 1960
4.3 The Soviet Union in 1970
5. POLITICAL PROBLEMS: THE SECTORAL DIMENSION
5.1 Iron, Steel and the Engineering Industry
5.2 The Energy Sector
5.3 The Chemical Industry
5.4 The Construction Sector
5.5 Light Industry
5.6 The Transport Sector
5.7 Agriculture
5.8 The Service Sector
5.9 Education and Research
5.10 The Mass Media
5.11 Cultural Life
5.12 Proportion and Emphasis in Sectoral Problems
6. POLITICAL PROBLEMS: THE GEOGRAPHICAL
DIMENSION
6.1 The Republics
6.2 The Economic Areas
6.3 The Regions
6.4 Moscow Looks to the Southeast
7 POLITICAL PROBLEMS: THE INSTITUTIONAL
DIMENSION
7.1 The Party
7.2 The Governmental Apparatus
7.3 The Public Organisations
7.4 From Mobilisation to Professionalism
8 CONCLUSIONS
8.1 The Modernisation of the Political Agenda
8.2 Command Economy or Petition Economy?
8.3 Politics in a Society of Weak Consumers
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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