Stabilization of the Economy and Social Contrasts

Abstract

Complex socioeconomic processes in Eastern Europe and the former [Soviet] Union are occurring in bitter political struggle. Politicians come and go, but the burden of unresolved problems remains. Also remaining is the need to understand them more deeply and to reveal the causes of failures, which requires that we cover the same ground to a certain degree. It is said that a wise man prefers to learn from the mistakes of others but the average person has to analyze his own mistakes. Only fools shun bitter experience, either stubbornly continuing their previous attempts (the "Lord Kucherston [name transliterated] syndrome") or going from one radical extreme to the other shouting "We know, we know! We have already experienced that!" We do not know this well because we did not experience it seriously.