The Engineering of Consent

The Soviet dictatorship goes to a lot of trouble to show the world, its subjects and itself that it is running a democratic state. High point in the Bolshevik show of consulting the people is the year-end gathering in Moscow of a thousand-odd poets, party hacks, dairy maids and Siberian sheepherders for the session of the Supreme Soviet. At this congress of jabber and gabble, the duly elected delegates of the people hear reports on the state of the union, utter a few carefully stage-managed criticisms of same, and then, in a mockery of the ancient parliamentary power of the purse, swiftly and unanimously approve a document of high propaganda content called the budget.

At last week's session, the Supreme Soviet was presented with a budget estimated in terms of the new heavy rubles that are to replace the old ones Jan. 1 at the conversion rate of ten to one (the new ruble is officially declared to be worth $1.11, presumably so that it can be described as more valuable than the U.S. dollar--an academic boast, since the Russians do not allow the ruble to venture outside Russia). In the usual propaganda fashion, Finance Minister Vasily Garbuzov proclaimed that defense spending would be cut in 1961, while allocations to science would rise by 15% over last year. Since the Soviet Union is obviously not disarming, this is another way of saying that military spending is shifting to space programs.

There was one significant shift in investment planning for next year. Though the new budget still allots heavy industry the lion's share of funds, it will give a 50% boost to investment in consumer industries as compared with a 30% rise for heavy industry. To justify this concession to consumer wants, a delegate from Tbilisi declared that the housing situation in the Georgian capital is "tense" because of the government's slack construction schedule. A speaker from Sverdlovsk grumbled that apartment houses are being built without running water.

In their Supreme Soviet reports, government spokesmen avoided much talk about 1960's agricultural feats. Premier Khrushchev still seems to be having trouble producing the increased amounts of food he wants to keep the fast-growing number of city dwellers happy. But his planners promised to boost steel, oil and electricity production next year by 9%, and Western experts think the Russians will meet these targets.

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