ABSTRACT
Political developments in the USSR are taking place so rapidly that even a few months can be of crucial significance; comments based on the situation in 1988 can easily be outdated in 1989. The reform policy can triumph in the economic sphere only if, by the time of a further decisive confrontation between the reform and anti-reform forces, at least certain marginal successes have been achieved, bringing average citizens at least some improvements in their material living standards. There are no guarantees of Western-style satisfaction in the USSR; if anything, present developments have worsened the conditions of the majority of the population, especially those of the socially weakest sections. The situation in Soviet industry is even more complex. Quite a number of vicious circles must be broken, but for the moment no one knows how this is to be done.
