4 Page 2 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 10, 1988 Economist discusses Perestroika BY MARK WEISBROT Harry Magdoff, economist, au- thor, and co-editor of Monthly Re- view magazine, discussed during a speech Friday the significance of Perestroika, the Soviet Union's pro- cess of restructuring its economy. Magdoff's talk began by address- ing the Soviet economy's sharp downturn in its rate of growth, but soon branched into more fundamen- tal questions of social goals. Since 1975, he said, this growth slowdown has been accompanied by a similar decline in the rate of growth of industrial inputs, espe- cially raw materials. In the next decade, Soviet plan- ners hope to return to the previous high levels of economic growth while the growth rate of inputs con- tinues to decline. This will require an unprecedented increase in produc- tivity, said Magdoff. "This is the Gorbachev challenge, the Perestroika challenge," said Magdoff. "How do you do it?" Much waste will have to be eliminated, he said. For example, the Soviet Union currently produces twice as much steel as the United States, for a much smaller manufac- turing sector. The restructuring will probably include more reliance on the self- development of individual enter- prises, more use of costs and prof- itability as criteria in production de- cisions, and more wage differentia- tion, he said. Magdoff stressed that "Glasnost" is an essential part of this process. "You can't develop the initiative of factory workers, managers, and local people without assurances that they won't go to jailfor sticking their neck out, without free discussion," he said. Just as the New Deal was needed to save U.S. capitalism from the crisis of the 1930s, Perestroika is an attempt to save the Soviet system, while preserving certain ideals of social justice, said Magdoff. But he noted that some of the basic issues of "what is socialism" are not being confronted. So long as the goal of society is increasing growth, ecological contradictions will increase, and so will class distinctions, he said. "Consumer wants are individual wants, and if you have an ever- growing structure of these wants, other social goals will have to be sacrificed," he said. Magdoff's talk was attended by about 30 people, mostly graduate students and faculty, and was spon- sored by the political economy sem- inar of the economics department. x7vxlk 'Ji i::.:.':.:":"i: ii. IF, _,1 I ..:..:..:.:..................... A U~LJ L IJ. * --- -z Ix. < << ST