ABSTRACT
One might expect an incoming Soviet leadership to enjoy an extraordinary freedom of action, especially by contrast with a newly elected administration in the West, and the ability, if they so wish, to carry through smoothly and expeditiously a wide-ranging program of change. The absence of opposition parties, of a free press, independent trade unions and other interest organisations; the centralised, hierarchical structure of the ruling party itself, with its outlawing of ‘factions’ (and therefore of open opposition to the leadership and its policies), and the direction of all aspects of the life of society by official organisations run by party members and supervised by the party apparatus — all this combines to suggest that a new Soviet leadership should have a completely free hand in deciding its policies and every confidence that they would then be promptly implemented.
