Selective, Suspect Indignation

On Socialist Democracy By Roy A. Medvedev Translated by Ellen de Kadt Knopf, 405 pp., $12.50 On Socialist Democracy is an impassioned plea on the part of historian Roy A. Medvedev for change in the existing social structure of the Soviet Union.

Despite an extremely sophisticated arsenal of strategic weapons, equal, if not superior, to that of the United States, the Soviet Union is in effect an underdeveloped country with an extremely low standard of living. According to Medvedev the Soviet farmer has at his disposal only 8.8 horsepower of mechanization while his American counterpart has 78 horsepower; 32 per cent of Soviet families own refrigerators; only 2 per cent have automobiles. The Soviet Union is destined to exercise progressively less influence and to command less respect because of its economic, technological, and ideological stagnation, caused, as Medvedev perceives it, by the exclusion of the intelligentsia from positions of power and responsibility. Indeed, Medvedev’s most significant criticism of the Soviet system is that the government bureaucracy stifles talent and rewards mediocrity. Promotion, in any sphere of the economy, is based neither on talent nor on set procedure but rather is decided on the basis of family or personal connections, chance, and other irrelevant criteria. Those in command, untalented and unimaginative themselves, feel threatened by the creativity of others and seek to eliminate it.

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Jane Majeski

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On Socialist Democracy By Roy A. Medvedev Translated by Ellen de Kadt Knopf, 405 pp., $12.50 On Socialist Democracy is an impassioned plea on the part of historian Roy A. Medvedev for change in the existing social structure of the Soviet Union.

Despite an extremely sophisticated arsenal of strategic weapons, equal, if not superior, to that of the United States, the Soviet Union is in effect an underdeveloped country with an extremely low standard of living. According to Medvedev the Soviet farmer has at his disposal only 8.8 horsepower of mechanization while his American counterpart has 78 horsepower; 32 per cent of Soviet families own refrigerators; only 2 per cent have automobiles. The Soviet Union is destined to exercise progressively less influence and to command less respect because of its economic, technological, and ideological stagnation, caused, as Medvedev perceives it, by the exclusion of the intelligentsia from positions of power and responsibility. Indeed, Medvedev’s most significant criticism of the Soviet system is that the government bureaucracy stifles talent and rewards mediocrity. Promotion, in any sphere of the economy, is based neither on talent nor on set procedure but rather is decided on the basis of family or personal connections, chance, and other irrelevant criteria. Those in command, untalented and unimaginative themselves, feel threatened by the creativity of others and seek to eliminate it.