Five months ago Ukrainian coal mine No. 9 near Lvov was cut loose from the tentacles of Soviet planning and made a test case. The test was the first application to heavy industry in Russia of Professor Evsei Liberman's Western-style theories of profit guidelines and greater autonomy for factory managers—theories that are already proving their superiority over Marxist regimentation in the Soviet consumer-goods sector (TIME cover, Feb. 12).
Nobody was more relieved to be free of the planners than No. 9's manage, Y. S. Taraskin, who in 1964 had been buffeted by no fewer than 30 changes in target figures,...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
