ABSTRACT
When in 1964 Khrushchev was ousted from the leadership, he was accused of ‘voluntarism’ and chaotic administration of the Soviet economy. The Brezhnev-Kosygin team which replaced him promised broad economic reforms and the introduction of the ‘scientific management’ of social affairs. Economic reforms began in 1965 but they did not last long, and the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia put an end to these attempts. Unsolved problems began accumulating while the leadership dedicated all its energies to an enormous military build-up and the maintenance of an unprecedented social stability.
