G. Zinkevich

The most difficult problem faced by the Soviet economy was production. One reason was that the production quotas set at the national level were often so unrealistically high that many upper-level managers were forced to manipulate the numbers in order to keep their jobs. In time, some managers resorted to this type of deceipt as a way to keep from doing their jobs. Although "fudging the numbers" became a generally accepted practice, many managers frowned upon the practice because it impeded the progress of socialism.

G. Zinkevich was the chief economist at a Soviet state farm near Kiev in the Ukraine. In 1981 she wrote to the editors of Pravda,a highly respected Soviet newspaper, to expose quota manipulation on the part of the farm's managers and their protection by the district executive committee of the Communist Party. The letter prompted...