Soviet circus accused of wide corruption

Press, 24 April 1986, Page 35

Soviet circus accused of wide corruption

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The Soviet Union’s State circuses, which play an important role in Soviet culture, have been accused of giving poor performances and of habouring corruption and low morale. According to the official newspaper, “Sovietskaya Kultura,” a special meeting of Communist Party officials in Moscow had heard that the party was failing to exercise control over the circuses. Four years ago the main circus administration was rocked by a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal, said at the time to entangle the family of the late leader, Leonid Brezhnev. The chief, Anatoly Kolevatov, was jailed in 1984 for 13 years. The newspaper said more than half of the 207

officials of the national circus administration had been replaced but bribetaking and other abuses had continued. In the last three years, 630 “circus workers” had been disciplined and 62 brought to trial mainly for graft and embezzlement, it said. In 1985 alone 713,000 roubles ($1,822,800) of bribes and illegal payments had been traced, it said. The meeting had named performers and managers from throughout the country it said were guilty of abuses that also included drunkenness and “unworthy behaviour abroad.” The newspaper said the problem stemmed from bad management and the way of life of the circus world. Many touring shows had

no party unit and party members in others had dropped out of sight while on the road. The administration was failing to make the right use of the 1360 acts that came under its control, it said. As well as traditional circus events such as acrobats, illusionists, and animal acts, acts include popular ice-dancing shows and fairground attractions. The report said too many performers regarded their acts as personal property that had a market value. That was encouraged by the fact that artists often had to buy their own equipment and costumes to start a new show. State circuses made a profit last year of 18 million roubles ($46.5 million).