Editor's Introduction

Abstract

Tat'iana Zaslavskaia is one of the architects of General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's economic reforms. In the lead article of this issue of Soviet Law and Government, she stresses the importance of pride in one's work if the stagnant Soviet economy is to revive. Acknowledging candidly that under Brezhnev workers became alienated from the regime, she nevertheless notes that "millions" of workers will be laid off under Gorbachev's reforms, and that even "conscientious" workers "may encounter difficulty finding jobs." Even more potentially disturbing to large numbers of ordinary Soviets is the implication of her insistence that virtually free housing and health care causes their "uneconomic utilization" and the "intensification of their scarcity." The gauntlet has thus been thrown down to the Soviet welfare state.