Take All--Gorbachev Urals Visit

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

in the future and get him interested in something. At present the workers who work well, quite honestly, do not understand who benefits by the creation of artificial obstacles to prevent them from working even better and to higher standards, and receiving worthy remuneration for this.

(M.S. Gorbachev) I want to support your concern. The concept of producing more and better in conditions of economic reform by a smaller number is a key one. We have been throttled by egalitarianism [uravnilovka]. If we don't properly value the labor of the worker, collective farm worker, teacher, doctor and engineer, but keep on assessing it according to the scale and the rate, we will not move forward. I have been told of cases where surgeons, for instance, cannot carry out an important operation without high-grade nurses. But a surgeon does not possess any rights to encourage a specialist who, in his opinion, is worthy of a professor's wage.

And what happens: Such a nurse leaves the team and the whole cycle of complex operations falls apart. There is a similar picture everywhere. In science also remuneration is according to ranks and degrees -- seniors, juniors and scientific assistants. But the contribution to the common cause over a year, over the last five years, which a man has contributed to, hardly bothers anyone. But if his work was noticed because, according to the contract, some amount was received thanks to this, then in any case it was divided equally.

Let us agree: It is necessary to initiate a resolute struggle against egalitarianism [uravnilovkoy], beginning with every workplace and every working operation. Otherwise we will deprive ourselves of the opportunity of constantly deriving benefit for society from the energy of talented people. [passage omitted: Having thanked the USSR president in the name of the collective for visiting "Uralmash," P.N. Tobolov, chief of a workshop, drew M.S. Gorbachev's attention to the poor labor conditions of metalworkers]

A very great number of women are already working at our enterprise, V.F. Boyankin, a smith from section Number 37, noted. They are working on a sliding rota, meaning that it includes night shifts. What does a woman who works on a sliding rota feel? You can already imagine, the worker added, for you have seen our furnaces.

(M.S. Gorbachev) In general, the situation of women, above all, is an indicator of the fact that our society needs changes. Let us acknowledge this honestly. Take just the USSR Presidential Council -- there are no women there. Take the other leading bodies -- it's the same dismal picture. But on the other hand, they are working in places where there shouldn't be any women at all, in hot workshops, on a three-shift system. [passage omitted: opinions of labor collective council chairman Bogdanov; war and labor veterans' chairman Yerykalov; oblast executive committee chairman Rossel]

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[Excerpts] Summing up the results of the meeting M.S. Gorbachev said: Here in the Urals huge masses of people are concentrated, who are dealing with tasks in the economic, scientific and defense spheres that are of importance for the country. And that role which Sverdlovsk and its labor collectives are playing, and your anxieties and concern, all this has made us come here. I think I as the president and the general secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and other members of the Soviet leadership ought to pay more attention to the Urals.