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In proposing his own remedies, Brezhnev almost totally ignored the so-called Liberman reforms with which Kosygin has been closely identified. Introduced in 1964, the reforms sought to stimulate Soviet industry by granting local managers more power and splitting profits with the workers. Instead, Brezhnev emphasized a need for stricter discipline and greater efficiency. Management, he said, has become a science, and he implied that those who could not master it would be fired from industrial jobs. In a departure from the traditional Soviet emphasis on quantity, Brezhnev stressed the need for greater concentration on quality. He also threatened drunken and malingering workers with stiffer penalties and called upon the party to whip up more enthusiasm for hard work among the Soviet people, especially the youth.
Economic Gamble. It was still too early to assess the effects, extent or likely duration of Brezhnev's ascendancy. Premier Kosygin and President Podgorny, who may well have been genuinely sick, have resumed their jobs, and on the surface at least, the triumvirate still seemed to be functioning.
Though there have undoubtedly been disputes within the Politburo, it seems probable that the contending factions still seek to avoid an open and embarrassing break. In fact, many Sovietologists expect that the present leadership arrangement will survive until later this year, when the party finally holds its 24th congress, which will approve the next five-year plan. The party congress, which always goes through the motions of "electing" the leadership, would provide a suitable occasion to ease out Kosygin, who at 66 is ailing and may well want to retire anyhow. But such a scenario, of course, presupposes that Brezhnev will retain his recent prominence as primus inter pares—and then some. That may well depend on whether he can quickly effect a visible improvement in the Soviet economy. At week's end, Brezhnev's chances of accomplishing at least short-term results were enhanced by an official report that an economic recovery took place during the first three months of the year.