GROWTH OF ELITE SOVIET SYSTEM ALSO GIVES PERKS TO ITS PRIVILEGED

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33786, 7 March 1975, Page 12

GROWTH OF ELITE SOVIET SYSTEM ALSO GIVES PERKS TO ITS PRIVILEGED

By DAVID LASCELLES, East Europe correspondent of tne Fnar < f < Reprinted by arrangement l How much does Mr Brezhnev earn .’ Probably 9(10 roubles a nionti about $990 at the official rate. But he earns tar less than the Defer.. i Minister. Marshal Grechko who. as a Soviet marshal, is believed to pc' i 2000 roubles a month ($2105). However, nobody can be sure except the Soviet ( ominiinist Party's accountants and a few close colleagues. For though in Britain, Whitaker : Almanack tells us the salaries of everyone from the Prime Minister ■ downwards, such information is secret in the Soviet i nimt. and the ligm, - ! just mentioned are based on rumour and guesswork.

The Russians are careful i [to conceal the existence of an elite in their midst. in' fact that very word is banned from all discussion of! 'Soviet society. But no one! i any longer doubts its exist- i ence. The question is rather! [how big it is and what! [privileges it enjoys? The Russian censors con-; veniently supply the threshold for defining an elite' by barring any mention of; salaries exceeding 400; roubles ($450) a month., which is three times the; average Soviet wage and nearly six times the min-; imum. But unofficial reports do get out. and these are now being collated by a Sur-j rey University specialist in! Soviet affairs. Dr Mervyn Matthews, whose first findings were recently published. He believes that high party officials under Mr! Brezhnev such as secretaries 1 of the Central Committee' earn up to $865 a month, i with republican secretaries getting about $650. Top aca-; demic staff like research in-; stitute directors are on basic 1 salaries of around $865. with membership of the Academy of Sciences bringing in an ' extra $433 a month. Ambassadors are thought!' to receive $433 a month, but [this would be paid in for-p eign currency with a greater 1< purchasing power than the 1 rouble. The editor of a re- i publican newspaper could ( earn around $540 a month,! including extras like ] royalties. i However, as Dr Matthews : points out, high salaries are < not the main reward for the 1 elite because there are limits i to what a man can do with t money in a country where i speculation is a crime and j investment in valuable com-

modities like real estate, [jewellery and antiques nearly impossible. Of far greater value are the privileges which the elite enjoys. (iold roubles These start with the pay-: nient of "gold roubles”! I which entitle the recipient! [to shop in special stores' : stocking luxury imports or [high quality foods not available in ordinary shops. A lot ;of people in both party and [Government get the “Kremlin ration” as it is called' [and several thousand households are believed to benefit. Some favoured organisations, like “Pravda," even have such shops on the premises. Next come special holiday

li facilities and rest homes for i which senior party workers pare given free vouchers [worth up to 300 roubles and I generous discounts for their ‘[families. There are also spe- [ cial medical services run by [the Ministry of Health with good conditions and no queues, though, curiously, [any Soviet citizen can get private medical treatment at ;! special "paid polyclinics” of [which there are nine in H Moscow alone. On top of ail this the elite are assured of better housing, a car (with chauffeur [for the specially favoured), [dachas, theatre tickets, good :;schooling and access to the [higher echelons. Step up ladder How does one get into rhe elite? Simple party member-[ [ship is not enough, though it I [is a useful first step on the ; ladder. Dr Matthews believes [the basis of the elite are an estimated 95.000 party offi-i [cials and some 60.000 state,! Komsomol and trade union officials. After that come the intelligentsia with some 53,000; academics, doctors, lawyers,; journalists and artists, with [the rest made up of top! businessmen and agricul-l ituralists, the military, the; (diplomatic service and the; ( K.G.B. which by its very I : nature is elitist and pow-l [erful. I It all totals some 255,000 people or one in every thousand Soviet citizens, though since most elite salary earners support a family, the benefits are enjoyed by a lot more people. Actually, as elites go, the Soviet version is probably among the . poorer in the world. The top 1000 of any western country will be very ' wealthy indeed, compared to ' the bottom 1000. and so, probably, might the equiva- < lent portion of a backward i but very stratified country in < the third world. ’ In the Soviet Union the I overall spread of incomes is s not all that broad. Marshal 1 Crechko’s salary is 30 times < the minimum whereas the t equivalent high-low ratio in e

r the west could be more than s 100 times s But on the other hand be dj cause most Russians earn r pretty much the same. hi»h - salaries become all the more ' conspicuous. A different on i ture emerges if vou compa-e o the earnings of the ton ■ bracket with the average a< t Professor Peter Wiles of the ) London School of Economics 1 has been doing. According to 1 his calculations, this makes „ the Soviet elite very much ' i better oft compared to the ’ average than the British elite compared to the British : average. ; Professor Wiles also be lieves that a comparison of the top and bottom tenths of salaries shows the Soviet ; Union to be only marginally .(more equal than Britain and .[markedly less equal than all I the other countries cf East ■ Europe except Poland, which ; is about the same But the picture is clouded [by lack of information and factors like tax. unearned income and the value of public services. In simple money terms the Soviet tax structure favours the elite Income-tax is progressively only up to 100 roubles a j month, well below the averi age, when it reaches, and re- ! mains, at 13 per cent, ; whereas capitalists, para- | doxically. make great use of 'penal rates. With the lack of traditional families and massive inherited wealth the Soviet elite is far less well established than its counterpart Most of its members depend for their status either on patronage or sheer merit, which their children may lack, so there is no guarantee that the next generation will pick up the mantle. But this may not last long. The fact that most elite children attend the same schools has sown the seeds of an old boys’ network which is being fostered by the elite’s strong instinct for self-preservation. And th? longer the Soviet regime continues without political upheavals, the stronger the elite is likely to get.