ABSTRACT
In 1974 and 1975, doctors in Odessa were allowed to give out prescriptions only for drugs that were locally available. Odessa's citywide College of Lawyers was divided into a half-dozen districts. The sanatoriums in Odessa, a physician related, were intended for convalescence and therapy in semihospital conditions, although some people came there from the icy cities of Russia merely to relax on the beach. The Province Committee of the Communist Party was unanimously referred to as Odessa's real repository of power and could easily overrule any decision made by civilian or even military or police authorities. The most powerful person in the province of Odessa was the secretary of the Province Committee of the Communist Party. Not surprisingly, the Odessa Province Committee of the Communist Party, in addition to its activities behind the scenes, so to speak, actively and openly intervened in virtually every kind of cultural activity.
