Russia & Former Soviet Union - Political Biography, Soviet History - 1964-1991, General Economic Policies, Macroeconomics - General & Miscellaneous, 1917 - 1991 (Soviet Union) - History, Economic Policies in Europe, Soviet Union - Economic Aspects, U.S. P

Gorbachev's Economic Dilemma: An Insider's View

Name: Gorbachev's Economic Dilemma: An Insider's View
Author: David A. Rome, Olimpiad Solomonovich Ioffe
ISBN: 9781877927010

by David A. Rome, Olimpiad Solomonovich Ioffe

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Overview

Gorbachev's Economic Dilemma: an Insider's View goes right to the heart of what is happening - and what is not happening - in the Soviet Union today. Olimpiad Ioffe was a high-ranking Soviet lawyer before coming to the United States. Now he can write freely about the system he knows intimately. In the eyes of the West, Mikhail Gorbachev is undeniably the most popular Soviet leader in history. His recent economic reforms have been greeted with something approaching euphoria by many Western observers. This book delves into those reforms, exploring which have the potential for genuine and lasting impact. Ioffe explains how the Soviet economic system works. And he reveals why, despite Western enthusiasm, Gorbachev's economic reforms are unfortunately but inevitably doomed by the realities of that system. Olimpiad Ioffe does not deny the personal appeal of Mikhail Gorbachev or the positive impact of glasnost. But Ioffe warns that the apparent "revolution" in the Soviet Union is not what it seems. The West must be wary in making far-reaching geopolitical decisions in response to these deceptive changes. Ioffe's expert analysis provides an important cautionary counterpoint to today's headlines.

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Editorials

Library Journal

The nub of this book is contained in one sentence of the conclusion: ``The socialist economy does not work but it must be retained.'' ``Must'' because if it were to be significantly or fundamentally altered, Soviet power itself would not long survive. Ioffe's study concentrates on this dilemma: why the economy has failed (``The real-life situation is developing from bad to worse'') and why the new Gorbachev leadership cannot bring about the real reforms needed without demolishing its own power base. This analysis is more pessimistic than two recent Western monographs on the same subject, Marshall I. Goldman's Gorbachev's Challenge ( LJ 6/15/87) and Anders Aslund's Gorbachev's Struggle for Economic Reform ( LJ 8/89), but Ioffe's special knowledge of the USSR (he was a high-ranking Soviet lawyer prior to his defection to the United States) gives this bleak study credence and makes it all the more compelling. See also Geoffrey A. Hosking's The Awakening of the Soviet Union , reviewed in this issue, above.--Ed .-- R.H. Johnston, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ontario

Booknews

Published by Merrill/Magnus Publishing Corporation, One Merrill Circle, St. Paul MN 55108. New views on the Soviet problems in reforming their economy and on the dilemma of reforming the state without destroying it. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)