‘All Roads Lead To Moscow’

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31865, 18 December 1968, Page 26

‘All Roads Lead To Moscow’

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) MOSCOW. In the Soviet Union, all roads lead to Moscow. But as the year’s end approaches the crush is particularly heavy and the capital’s limited hotel space is bursting at the seams, writes Theodore Shabad of the New York Times News Service.

As the nerve and command j centre of this far-flung coun- j try. which extends almost! halfway around the earth.) through 11 time zones, Mos-! cow attracts thousands of people every day from all corners of the Soviet Union j on a variety of errands. There are for example the tolkachi (literally “pushers,”) a typical Soviet breed of trouble-shooters who are particularly adept at cutting through tangles of red tape and prying loose an overdue shipment of spare parts the failure of which to arrive threatens to bring an entire factory to a standstill. In the Soviet Union every) self - respecting industrial plant has its Tolkach (tol-i kach is singular and tolkachi plural.) . Central Direction i Although current economic 'reform is designed ultimately to reduce detailed planning I from the centre and permit [a few carefully controlled [market forces, progress has (been slow and distribution of 'raw materials and supplies to the government-run industry continues to be centrally directed. I From present indications, [the days of the tolkach are not numbered. Other visitors to Moscow ■are the thousands of factory (managers, engineers and [technicians who are con[stantly being summoned to [the capital for conferences [and meetings at government [ministeries. ; For years economy-minded Soviet administrators and the [press have been waging camipaigns against excessive consultations. But they seem to (be built into the Soviet system and people continue to [be called to Moscow for discussions at the drop of a fur i hat. “Pravda” Satire Absurdities to which the ■ conference habit can lead ’ were pointed up recently in I a satiric article published in ■ “Pravda,” the Communist • Party newspaper. i Running down a list of I . events in Moscow this month, . the “Pravda" writer found that the central council of! ' the All-Union Society of I - Inventors and Rationalisers.: together with the State Comimittee on Vocational Educa [tion, had convened an allRussian conference on[ development of mass techni-. [cal creativity among school-) ■children. “It is not clear whether this conference had to be . invented or whether it was! . really necessary,” “Pravda”! commented. • “But 300 people? almost 10 ’ carloads—a whole trainful?” Not to be outdone, “Pravda” said, the Education I Ministry of the Russian I Republic, of which Moscow j is the capital, summoned 200 • directors of the children’s ! athletic schools. [ One of the national sports j clubs has scheduled a senri- ' nar on handball to be followed by another one on Greco-Roinan and free-style ( wrestling. r By Any Other Name ’. About 150 participants ■' were reported ready to come, j The press campaign has t had one effect, according to t “Pravda.” The pedestrian ' words “conference” or “meeti ing” are no longer used. Now chefs, cooks and pastry cooks,,

for example, gather in Mos-, cow in a “forum on culinary; problems.” Cutters from the garment trade discuss latest techniques in a “symposium," recreation directors and game organisers have their “colloquim." There are even unwilling visitors who swell the influx to Moscow. They are people without any business whatever who have been sent to the capital simply to spend an unused part of a travel fund allocation. Spending of allocated funds is a measure of performance; in the Soviet Union, and an

unused balance of anything, even travel funds, does not look good on the books. This. according to “Pravda," is apt to lead to the following scene in many a Soviet factory or office: Unused Funds Manager summons employee and says: “You see, we’ve got these unused travel funds and its getting close to the end of the year. Why don't you run down to Moscow for a bit and spend them." The hapless employee is likely to say: “But I've got nothing to do there.”

! “What do you mean, 'nothing to do there? You've (got Gum and Tsum (two Moscow department stores), racetrack. What else do you want?” I “Pravda” said: “Our hos[pitable city of Moscow is Shaving a hard time. We are not made of rubber after all. [And the number of conferences is growing much more rapidly than new hotels.” The newspaper made a plea to stop the waste of time and money and said it would even be willing to convene a conference “to find a way of putting an end to all this nonsense.”