UKRAINE AND THE DYNAMICS OF STAGNATION

By Volodymyr Zviglianich

In a phrase coined by politicians and journalists on both sides of the Atlantic who came to life in the Gorbachev era–an era symbolized by the concepts of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring)–the previous epoch in our history became known as the “stagnation” with all the negative connotations associated with the word. “The mark of stagnation,” said the young and energetic General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, fifteen years ago, “was on everything–the economy, social life and politics.”

The Brezhnev economy was denounced for following the “extensive” model of development, forever bringing new raw materials and natural resources into the production process but ignoring the development of labor-saving and energy-saving technologies or technologies to improve quality. It seemed that importing western technologies and know-how would help the break the vicious circle of development in the Soviet economy which was geared towards fulfilling the plan rather than the needs of consumers.

UNION WITHOUT IMPREGNATION