ABSTRACT
The substantial changes that have taken place in the USSR are essentially changes in the political atmosphere, changes in the methods and style of policy-making. Apart from the emergence of certain new associations, clubs, and smaller organizations-those that somehow survived in the shade of semilegality or illegality the institutional political system of the USSR has thus far remained virtually unchanged by the reform policy. The chapter examines the prospects for institutional expression of diverse interests in the USSR is not to solve the concrete problems involved. It aims to indicate that development in the direction of institutional guarantees for expressing diverse interests is possible by means of progressive reforms even within the existing political system in the USSR. Roughly every tenth adult in the USSR is a member of the party. A wide range of social interests and viewpoints have thus been introduced into the party—interests and viewpoints that go far beyond those of the power apparatus.
