ABSTRACT
In a reply to Minsk, the journal Argumenty i fakty turned to a specialist with a degree in economics, A. Cherepenko. Of course Karl Marx was not out of date, but the formula had a more profound meaning than Mr. Bogdanovich had been able to grasp. Popular malaise stems at least partially from the economic slowdown, combined with spectacular success achieved in educating Soviet society-providing skills and aspirations beyond the capacity of the society. Reformers argue that the level of alienation and anomie in society has reached threatening dimensions and that a matter of first urgency restores a relationship between effort and reward at the workplace. Alcoholism has long been recognized as a severe problem in Soviet society, but its increasing dimensions in recent decades have caused real concern. Dusker Doder related a revealing anecdote concerning worker morale late in the Brezhnev era. Polling is so new and unfamiliar to Soviet people that the techniques used are very rudimentary.
