HanEmpire
Delicious
They weren't, the only people shot were the ones throwing fire bombs at the riot police. Everyone else that died were trampled when the police gave the protesters an ultimatum to disperse or get arrested.
Attempting to Fulfill the Plan MNKh Edition
- Thread starter Blackstar
- Start date
- Alt. History Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Lurking_Badger
Cheese Enjoyer
- Location
- Wisconsin
I was mostly making a joke about what more conservative/anti-communist media would say about the protests. It isn't like they need to actually tell the truth of what actually happened and just say that there was a cover-up.
Terminator57
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
The choice of this newspaper and this omake comes precisely from this passage: I wanted to do the same kind of journalistic treatment but for a more recent event.
- Location
- The great frozen north
O hey exactly 600 words in the post. Anyways, fun to see what the mostly level-headed American media thinks of us. Here's to hoping that this actually only the first of further successful-ish pushes for concessions by the people.
On another note @Blackstar Stage 2 of the canals finishes in 1968. Does that mean its effects on the economy kick in at the beginning of that year, or at the end?
- Pronouns
- Viewer
From what I remember from Discord the effects kick in at the start of the year.
The Chicago Tribune? Level headed? I dunno about that.
Regards,
fasquardon
They were only calling for the government to be overfrown peacefully which frankly is pretty tame for American Media.
- Location
- The great frozen north
That's pretty good. Not huge as I first thought though. If we want to go for a steel mill in 1967 we're probably not going to also complete the Kuzbas stage that turn.
Speaking of the Discordburo, any word on what horrific fate that double crit fail on roads is bringing us?
I'm a wee lad, I have no frame of reference for what's "level-headed" by cold war standards. All I know is that the Chicago Tribune of the sixties feels tolerable compared to modern-day Fox News.
As always discord spoilers may change at any time until the actual update comes out, but it's looking like we'll just have a mandate to complete more roads.
The only way to get enough progress to complete the mandate in time would be roughly to dedicate all our Infra dice for the rest of the plan to roads. Since that's rather unlikely, we'll likely have to either fight it politically now, or accept that we'll fail that goal and face the political consequences. Or we could just throw all our free dice at the category and hope.
- Location
- The great frozen north
About what I was expecting, if more severe than the Rail Fail way back. Well finishing the power grid is non-negotiable, but otherwise the non-road stuff in Infra seems tolerable to put off (though maybe we should slow-roll canal stage 3 and put in a die or two to metro integration to so it doesn't get removed from beind idle too long).... if we put 10 dice on roads per turn that's an expected progress of about 2000 points by plan's end... Then again, half of us are expecting Klimenko to be a 1-term head anyway, so if other things are just that more pressing...
But really, unless they demand something utterly outrageous do you really expect the Threadviet to decide to go against SupSov on building more roads after how much we've freaked out about them lately?
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
If we agree to it, we'd need around 2100 roads progress over the next 3 turns. 700 progress a turn.
(Standard disclaimer - numbers not final, subject to change, yadda yadda).
From the preliminary numbers, less by a ~quarter - only about 1650.
- Location
- The great frozen north
As they said, preliminary numbers not canon yet whatever.... HAH, like it matters! There is no fortress the MNKh cannot storm, nothing so pedestrian as "need to build much road" can stop us!
I know it's not practical to achieve with our constraints this plan, but I wonder if crashing the price of steel to below 20 could have been worth it to cheapen infra dice further. Or would the economic chaos from the price going that low caused bigger issues?
I know it's not practical to achieve with our constraints this plan, but I wonder if crashing the price of steel to below 20 could have been worth it to cheapen infra dice further. Or would the economic chaos from the price going that low caused bigger issues?
CrabMonarchy
Allegedly Dutch
- Location
- the Netherlands, apparently
No? The preliminary numbers are ~1300 progress of regional roads + 800 progress of HC roads to unlock the Caucasus and CA regional road projects (200 Caucasus + 600 CA), for a total of 2100, going down to ~2000 if you include the existing progress on Western USSR Regional Roads. Where are you getting 1650 progress from?
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I forgot that HC CA roads also have progress.
The point is that whatever the exact numbers are, it would take an obscene amount of dice. On the order of like 12-14 a turn, so every single Infra die plus every single Free die and still needing to roll above average to actually make the target. So essentially an outright impossible target, we just have to decide between making a fuss about it being impossible up front and trying to argue our way out of it at political cost, or accepting the SupSov mandate and then attempting to cushion our inevitable failure through proper bribe application before 1969 rolls around.
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Well, we are supposedly getting more dice, so that makes it just barely on the side of possible. But in any case, personally I would pick the latter option. Not only we can cushion the failure with successes/bribes elsewhere, if we really try - and I mean really, 10+ dice a turn try - and then simply fail to clear CA Regionals or whatever, that probably wouldn't hurt too much.
- Location
- The great frozen north
Given we just had our big "let's reorganize the MNKh" moment under Voznesensky I am highly skeptical we're getting another injection of dice this decade. But otherwise I agree with your strategy. Put 10 dice a turn on roads and when/if that fails we can go "well we tried" and hopefully still keep some respect through our accomplishments elsewhere.
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
"So there was Miron in all his 'ahem' glory with a clipboard and a serious look on his face. I introduced myself in the traditional way by bearhugging him but he managed to wiggle his way out. After we slapped backs and chatted I asked what he was doing here. I already knew he must be the new Deputy Accountant but it never hurts to double check. That advice has saved me on multiple occasions. So after he demobilized he started looking for work away from where his mother lived, which was understandable, and the position at the factory had opened up. He had the grades for a more high tech job but the waiting lists were longer than my arm and he needed work. So here he was.
I invite him to sit with our group of people at the Canteen. You should have seen his skinny self next to all these huge men. Was he intimidated, not a chance! I have played cards with people like that, you think you know how they will react but nothing showing. So the next couple of weeks he starts sitting with us, just listening, asking a few questions about our work, how much material we moved in a day, how many trucks and so on. At the time I figure he is learning about the factory, since he is working here he must want to know about everything going on. Then I hear he is talking to the other departments and going over the accounts. Again, all of us make jokes about why a single young man is spending more time on spreadsheets than girls or sports but we leave him alone.
Now our young Miron is becoming quite a topic of discussion among the women of the factory. Not only was he young, single and educated he was nice. I mean, there were women, who I will not name, who liked the attention of men and the commotion it caused. They tried their skills on Miron and he did not bite. There were other girls who tried to get his attention and he did not notice. He was friendly with them, he would talk to them but he did not force himself on them or act like he was some fantastic lover or something. You know how when some item is rare or requires a lot of effort it becomes more valuable. Miron was becoming that rare golden bird that everyone was trying to catch, even Rada.
Now Rada Novikova worked with our group on the loading dock because of her build, low and wide like a lorry. She was the second and only girl with three brothers, all of them, including her parents were solid people. You could see them pulling the plow in the collective when the tractor broke down. Now I would not say that in front of them since all of them were fighters at a moments notice. She was blond with her braided hair, snub nose, and freckles almost everywhere. Not a beauty in my book but not had. Miron had not really noticed her either. Where most men were scared of her, for some very good reasons, Miron treated her just like the rest of us. Well that must have struck something in her because she used to tease Miron everytime she saw him, expecting a blow up, a response.
Nothing. He just carried on like it was a spring day in the park.
That made her even more determined. During this time all of us started noticing that the food was improving in the canteen. There were less outstanding debts on the factory contracts. Machinery that had been waiting for new parts or replacement were being changed. Now we all knew that the factory did not receive any new money or orders, and we all figured it had to be something going on in the back offices.
If you buy me another beer I will tell you what happened next."
I invite him to sit with our group of people at the Canteen. You should have seen his skinny self next to all these huge men. Was he intimidated, not a chance! I have played cards with people like that, you think you know how they will react but nothing showing. So the next couple of weeks he starts sitting with us, just listening, asking a few questions about our work, how much material we moved in a day, how many trucks and so on. At the time I figure he is learning about the factory, since he is working here he must want to know about everything going on. Then I hear he is talking to the other departments and going over the accounts. Again, all of us make jokes about why a single young man is spending more time on spreadsheets than girls or sports but we leave him alone.
Now our young Miron is becoming quite a topic of discussion among the women of the factory. Not only was he young, single and educated he was nice. I mean, there were women, who I will not name, who liked the attention of men and the commotion it caused. They tried their skills on Miron and he did not bite. There were other girls who tried to get his attention and he did not notice. He was friendly with them, he would talk to them but he did not force himself on them or act like he was some fantastic lover or something. You know how when some item is rare or requires a lot of effort it becomes more valuable. Miron was becoming that rare golden bird that everyone was trying to catch, even Rada.
Now Rada Novikova worked with our group on the loading dock because of her build, low and wide like a lorry. She was the second and only girl with three brothers, all of them, including her parents were solid people. You could see them pulling the plow in the collective when the tractor broke down. Now I would not say that in front of them since all of them were fighters at a moments notice. She was blond with her braided hair, snub nose, and freckles almost everywhere. Not a beauty in my book but not had. Miron had not really noticed her either. Where most men were scared of her, for some very good reasons, Miron treated her just like the rest of us. Well that must have struck something in her because she used to tease Miron everytime she saw him, expecting a blow up, a response.
Nothing. He just carried on like it was a spring day in the park.
That made her even more determined. During this time all of us started noticing that the food was improving in the canteen. There were less outstanding debts on the factory contracts. Machinery that had been waiting for new parts or replacement were being changed. Now we all knew that the factory did not receive any new money or orders, and we all figured it had to be something going on in the back offices.
If you buy me another beer I will tell you what happened next."
Terminator57
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Shouldn't you merge this post with the previous one to make a complete and easily readable story for - maybe - an omake ?
Ah but if it's in multiple pieces then you have to keep buying the narrator beers/omake bonuses to hear what happens next!
Cannon Omake: Daily Worker on the EAF
Terminator57
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Here's a new omake in my "totally objective journalist treatment" series. It's called "Advancing development: the beacon of African socialism".
I hope you will enjoy it as much as the first one.
On this day, November 15, 1966, the Federation of African States celebrated its third year of existence in a hostile regional environment marked by the accelerated decomposition of the former colonial empires of the major European imperialist powers, and their replacement by the equally brutal imperialism of the imperialist nation par excellence: the United States. In honour of the first African socialist state in history, we feel it would be useful to offer our fellow readers a retrospective of the path taken by this original experiment in African socialism.
In the face of numerous attempts at destabilization orchestrated by hostile capitalist powers, or even their overthrow by counter-revolutionary forces, the three newly socialist nations of Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar decided by mutual agreement to unite in a federal entity made up of several regional units made up of constituent republics, themselves headed by a federal government responsible for economic development and defense issues, while broad prerogatives were left to the federation's regions.
Knowing that, as a socialist experiment and in the light of the experience of neighboring Congo, it was threatened by the deployment on the African continent of African capitalism and its European lackeys, the Federation soon sought the generosity of the Soviet Union and its allies in order to consolidate this first socialist experiment in Africa. To this end, it asked the constituent nations of the Comecon to join the organization without delay: a request which was quickly and frankly accepted by its member states in the name of socialist fraternity and the fight against imperialism.*
Thanks to the welcome help of the socialist nations of the world, the East African Federation soon received an uninterrupted stream of Soviet advisors and goods from the socialist allies: thus considerably raising the standard of living of our African comrades and developing just as strongly the productive forces at the Federation's disposal. The latter took the form of major investments in infrastructure, the productive apparatus and the education of the African proletarian masses: thus beginning to remedy the state of underdevelopment in which the constituent states of the federation had been kept by the imperialist powers for almost a century.
Nevertheless, in the face of the slander levelled by the bourgeois press, it's important to point out that the first workers' state in history is not imposing a development model designed in Moscow, as the Soviet Union is taking great care to help develop our new allies in the anti-imperialist camp, taking into account local realities and the advice of the federation's populations. For example, the agricultural workers, who make up the overwhelming majority of the population, have been provided with all the means and techniques necessary to increase their agricultural productivity and fully meet the nutritional needs of their population, as demonstrated by the supply of large quantities of fertilizers and tractors, and the introduction of free courses in the local language to train the agricultural proletariat in modern agricultural techniques. In this way, the emphasis was placed on agricultural development rather than industrial development, as had been the case with its Soviet predecessor.
Soon, the Federation of African States and the experience of African socialism it represents will shine out against the African rump-states in the hands of Capitalism, and help the proletarian masses oppressed by the remnants of colonial capitalism in their struggle for national liberation, of which Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Congo are so many examples.
Daily Worker, November 15, 1966
I hope you will enjoy it as much as the first one.
On this day, November 15, 1966, the Federation of African States celebrated its third year of existence in a hostile regional environment marked by the accelerated decomposition of the former colonial empires of the major European imperialist powers, and their replacement by the equally brutal imperialism of the imperialist nation par excellence: the United States. In honour of the first African socialist state in history, we feel it would be useful to offer our fellow readers a retrospective of the path taken by this original experiment in African socialism.
In the face of numerous attempts at destabilization orchestrated by hostile capitalist powers, or even their overthrow by counter-revolutionary forces, the three newly socialist nations of Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar decided by mutual agreement to unite in a federal entity made up of several regional units made up of constituent republics, themselves headed by a federal government responsible for economic development and defense issues, while broad prerogatives were left to the federation's regions.
Knowing that, as a socialist experiment and in the light of the experience of neighboring Congo, it was threatened by the deployment on the African continent of African capitalism and its European lackeys, the Federation soon sought the generosity of the Soviet Union and its allies in order to consolidate this first socialist experiment in Africa. To this end, it asked the constituent nations of the Comecon to join the organization without delay: a request which was quickly and frankly accepted by its member states in the name of socialist fraternity and the fight against imperialism.*
Thanks to the welcome help of the socialist nations of the world, the East African Federation soon received an uninterrupted stream of Soviet advisors and goods from the socialist allies: thus considerably raising the standard of living of our African comrades and developing just as strongly the productive forces at the Federation's disposal. The latter took the form of major investments in infrastructure, the productive apparatus and the education of the African proletarian masses: thus beginning to remedy the state of underdevelopment in which the constituent states of the federation had been kept by the imperialist powers for almost a century.
Nevertheless, in the face of the slander levelled by the bourgeois press, it's important to point out that the first workers' state in history is not imposing a development model designed in Moscow, as the Soviet Union is taking great care to help develop our new allies in the anti-imperialist camp, taking into account local realities and the advice of the federation's populations. For example, the agricultural workers, who make up the overwhelming majority of the population, have been provided with all the means and techniques necessary to increase their agricultural productivity and fully meet the nutritional needs of their population, as demonstrated by the supply of large quantities of fertilizers and tractors, and the introduction of free courses in the local language to train the agricultural proletariat in modern agricultural techniques. In this way, the emphasis was placed on agricultural development rather than industrial development, as had been the case with its Soviet predecessor.
Soon, the Federation of African States and the experience of African socialism it represents will shine out against the African rump-states in the hands of Capitalism, and help the proletarian masses oppressed by the remnants of colonial capitalism in their struggle for national liberation, of which Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Congo are so many examples.
Daily Worker, November 15, 1966
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Turn 76 (January 1st, 1966 - January 1st, 1967): Economic Shortfalls Results
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Turn 76 (January 1st, 1966 - January 1st, 1967): Economic Shortfalls Results
Internal News:
Continued work in anti corruption has generally been pursued at a slower tempo than previously. While the investigations themselves have continued to bring up scores and scores of guilty personnel in the economy, every firing has reduced the capacity of the ministry. Punishments for almost all of those involved have further been nearly non-existent with the vast majority receiving a fine and a few limitations in career prospects. The public has of course been incensed by this, seeing every official that has been fired without consequences as some great conspiracy by the Soviet state rather than a series of compromise legacy policies that have been maintained past their due.
No further protest incidents have occurred and the general state of politics has rapidly moved towards the consolidation and a tentative rally in the center. For all but the most radical, anti corruption itself has been called into question as the campaign has continued to disrupt core economic centers and claw at a massive series of powerbases. Structural changes for increasing the transparency of the mechanism and declaring funding more acutely to bond holders have helped to minimize some of the problems, but these are only steadily being implemented and are practically new legislation. Accounting practices themselves have only just been standardized, with unified formatting allowing for an easy and clear view of the financial performance of enterprises.
Arguably, the worst part is that a number of the financial reforms did not even come from the anti-corruption effort but instead from economic factors. A sluggish first quarter was followed by poor immediate results in the labor sector as employee retention rapidly dropped through the second quarter. Actual information on q2 being a recessionary quarter was not published until the end of the year, but that was impartial to the practical effects. Reducing rates of employment were immediately noticeable, mobilizing the Supreme Soviet towards something resembling coordinated political action to save the situation and introduce counter-cyclical spending. Loans taken out were effectively allowed through with Abramov praising the act for its foresight.
The most noticeable and immediate consequence, and what got every politician to take notice is that the Gorky Combinat has failed to roll over its debts. Founding itself on a rapidly expansionary capital intensive program and accepting a massive margin of debt, the plant has formed a consistent core of heavy industrial growth. This has however inverted in the current decade, with techniques becoming more obsolete and smaller enterprises domestically and abroad managing to out compete it. Intensification practices and an increase in low paid employees to stimulate production broadly failed to improve returns, with consistent negatives. Previously, a surge of growth by the end of the plan may have allowed the plant to stay solvent, but a slight increase in interest rates has effectively forced it into a declaration of bankruptcy.
Other areas of the heavy industrial sector have not fared significantly better outside of the newer steel mills. Car purchasing has been reduced in the first quarter as technical unemployment increased along with inconsistent consumer spending. Both would have been survivable for most plants if they were not leveraged entirely out with both bonds and basic debt leaving massive economic problems. This has led to a rapid increase in the number of fired workers, as enterprises teetering on the corner have been forced to refinance and cut back to maintain solvency. Bankruptcies have increased in scale, with a wave of them hitting the sector along with some spreading to light industry from lagging consumer spending.
It is unquestionable that some form of response will have to be formed to the massive series of failures, things appear to be on the mend, at least in immediate employment statistics in q4, but hard information is still not available. The most politically expedient course is of course a reorganization but by only replacing the leadership at the top structural issues in the enterprises are almost certain to remain. Private sector turnover has so far proven to be more durable than the actual larger enterprises, with spending more consistent so a few advocates have called for a second series of sell offs of assets, scrapping managerial structures in favor of redistribution to more capable personnel. The most radical advocates of the free market course have proposed a path towards simply allowing the bankruptcy mechanism to work as intended, bringing down massive quantities of assets for unorganized sale, effectively breaking Gorky and VAZ decisively.
Unlike most other crises, for one of the first times in its history, much of the governing coalition down to the benchwarmers at the wings have acted together. Economic stimulus spending has passed with minimal controversy along with programs to stimulate funding. Combined with the new food program, the government in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and Gosbank have pushed for a far more growth focused program. The expected recession has happened, and it has come time for the mobilization of financial reserves. Immediate spending increases have been authorized to address the crisis for the rest of the plan along with a general drive towards expanding planning. Much of the criticism for the fundamental causes of the current downturn has effectively landed squarely on the industrial corruption and policies of the Voznesensky ministry. (+1200 RpY) (Effectively 20+15% GNP Immediately) (Significant Economic Price Changes)
Bankruptcy Proceedings
[]Bailouts: Replacing a few personnel and restructuring the debts into a no interest repayment plan can solve immediate insolvency. The actual program towards doing so will not solve a large number of the fundamentals, leaving the task to the new management appointed. Most will likely fail to rapidly restructure the enterprises without a firm guiding hand, leading to the same problem in half a decade, but with a staggered series of failures there might be the resources to actually fix the problem. (-200 RpY)
[]Bailouts and Restructuring: Due to the departmental sectioning of most enterprises, a further intervention can be conducted to return a number towards economic gains. Forming councils of new executives and replacing high level leadership with specialized teams, a path towards profitability can be implemented for each of the severely failing enterprises. As long as the path is followed, interest rates can effectively be nulled along with a state backed repayment plan, stemming the bleeding at the cost of likely immediately spiking workforce turnover. (-450 RpY)
[]Aggressive Restructuring: Failures have more often than anything else come from systematic problems in leadership and organization rather than economic causes. Committing towards ensuring that leadership is brought under control, entirely replaced, and enterprises subdivided into areas that can be allowed to collapse and be bought up by other enterprises and those that are economically viable. These divisions will cause massive disruption, but they will decisively fix the economy and allow its healthy segments to continue operation. (-650 RpY)
Labor Transfers:
[]Prioritize Quality: The trained personnel to replace much of the function of the ministry have been depleted by anti-corruption efforts and the prolonged firing initiatives undertaken by Voznesesnky. The fundamental truth is that there is no rapid fix for a lack of ministry capacity especially in the form of new trained personnel. Training programs can crank out a thousand low level secretaries capable of managing resources, but they cannot replace rapidly depleted senior leadership. (+2 Dice to Heavy Industry in 1969)
[]Hiring Drives: The time for mobilization is now, but that does not mean that every idiot and pensioner needs to be dragged back into service kicking and screaming. Hiring a larger number of students and accelerating the tracks towards promotions can help to replace valuable lost expertise and ensure that the ministry can continue functioning. Inexperienced personnel all over the place will cause problems, but we have dealt with worse with the anti-corruption investigation. (+2 Dice to Heavy Industry and Infrastructure) (-3 to Experience Bonus)
Rocketry
Initial testing on the RLA-3 configuration has been met with two failures, both from aerodynamic instability in the launcher. A third test flight of the more complex configuration is expected to fix issues with cross-bracing and the lacking thrust in the lower stages, improving stability. Prototyping programs on a new generation of control system and aerodynamic elements have already started to enhance control during the launch and ensure that side-slips are minimized when conducting orbital ascents. Improvements in alloying and engine thrust increases are expected to eventually improve performance, but the priority has gone to making a viable heavy launch system over optimization on already functional systems.
Continued cascade launches of heavy atmospheric satellites have finished the first target of the installation of a full constellation for global weather observation. Cloud cover observation has formed a core aspect of the program along with an emphasis on detection of both infrared signals and radiation coming from the earth. Mass gains on the satellites have come from a focus of the program towards improving redundancy and orbital time over any other criteria. The current second generation satellites of the series are only expected to last a few years before irrevocably failing due to degradation of solar panels and unreliable electronics but with every year the fundamental technology improves by leaps and bounds. By the end of the decade, it may even be possible to have a permanent constellation put in place with a relatively low rate of launch intensity.
With the American achievement of the first "space-walk" independent of the craft, another first has been surrendered due to inadequacies in funding. Fundamental work however has proceeded towards refining the new space suit, with a self contained life support and thermal system developed. The actual hard components of the suit are effectively ready for flight, with the unit capable of most orbital operations. Back entry has been prioritized so as to minimize the extent of delays when preparing for orbital operations, allowing for a far greater rate of theoretical activity in orbit. Actual flights with the new suit are not expected to start until nearly the end of the decade, but compared to the simple garment the Americians sent a man out in, ours will be safer, more reliable, and infinitely more capable of conducting actual operations in orbit.
With the successful flight of the VA capsule attached to the FGB bus both in an unmanned and manned configuration the continuation of the manned space program has been guaranteed. Foundational work in the first flight has found some glaring errors in the life support system for longer stays along with power instability in lower orbits, but those have been entirely fixed by the second launch. The actual first manned launch has only spent a paltry day in low earth orbit, but the future of the program is bright with expected stays of up to a month with three crew. As some variation on a strange joke, the next flight has been planned to have a German, Pole and Georgian as the first intercosmos flight. These are only expected to be continued, as scientists from abroad are both good for the public image of the program, and allow a further distribution of development funding.
Engineering work on a further generation of lunar landers has gone above and beyond any expectations with the cannibalization of equipment from the moon program. The lander design itself has not been that useful, but the radar altimeter and control machinery itself has been adapted to a newer program. Using the enhanced capability of the high energy transfer stage along with a far greater landing system it is believed that a payload return mission from the moon can be conducted. Securing enough kg of space rocks will pose a far more challenging question as return payload sizes are going to be minimal due to the restrictions in guidance packages and energy required. Still, something as simple as retrieving a few kg of soil samples before the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution can present a massive international victory.
Infrastructure:
Western USSR Regional Roads: The Western USSR has some of the best roads when compared to the rest of the nation, but even those are considered internationally poor. Constructing a massive series of two lane roads to act as regional feeders and linking them with previously built high capacity systems will be more of an exercise of paving the few yet to be paved major roadways, ensuring that every area has acceptably poor access. Further efforts are expected to get more expensive, but they are relatively deprioritized compared to the development of similar systems in regions where no tentative efforts have even started. (105 Resources per Dice 145/300) (Double Crit Fail)
The phrase behind target, behind timetable, and above costs has been endemic to the general road construction efforts and that has not been embodied any more than in the West of the Union. Construction slowdowns to refurbish hastily constructed systems built locally and by enterprises has been constant with lower accessibility roads ignored for so long that more funding needed to be shoveled into the program. It is almost guaranteed that the initial optimism going into the general construction effort for roads will be misplaced. This has only been made all the worse by the flood of inexperienced personnel coming into the ministry, lacking even the simplest logic in their task. The only bright spot is that the Supreme Soviet has been made busy by other programs, leaving little outside of a declaration of what roads must be constructed at the highest priority. The mass injection of labor from the economic crisis will at least provide for a stable basis of construction, ensuring the misspent youths of today can become experienced construction laborers.
[]Accept the Goal: Knuckling down and accepting an absolutely unrealistic scale of road construction will at least mollify the most offended in terms of the expansion of the road system. Funding will have to be allocated preferentially along with labor along with a likely neglect of other sectors, but the scale of construction necessary is too large for anything else. The Union has had an obsolescent road system since its creation and breaking away from it in one decisive step can save room in the future plan. (Western(/300), Caucasus(/100), Central Asian(/500), and Ural(/400) Regional Roads Required)
[]Politically Argue: The full scale construction of roads is to an extent beyond what the Soviet industry as it is can do as neither the production nor personnel are all there. Taking a stand towards ensuring that the entire infrastructural sector is not committed to schemes of increasing roadway kilometers can minimize the strange ideas inherent to the plan. The Supreme Soviet is likely too busy to take the fight, allowing some latitude. (???)
[]Deviate Towards Labor Policy: Throwing another political controversy at the Supreme Soviet may be in bad form and a politically risky step, but there are few better times then to argue against the quasi-forced labor used for most of construction. Raising concerns in closed doors about the employment of prisoners will signal concerns to several important personnel, delaying large scale construction projects at least into the next plan while proposing a lesser program conducted with only "clean" labor. (???)
In a decade of planning the industrial might of the USSR was raised to match the developed West in the most arduous period of planning and the Union and her people called for it to be done again. Road Building has lagged behind the West with a lack of emphasis due to the sheer breadth of the Union, but with newly developed automotive technologies and the development of the agricultural economy the time has come to revolutionize the countryside. Ambitious plans of constructing roads to every town and paving them are on the lips of every planner, with a target of decisive overtaking the West in all aspects by the end of the 9th Five Year Plan. Even now, capable planners are grappling with the hardest issues on rapidly raising production and development in every office and institute. -Pravda, Nov 21st, 1966
Ural Region High Capacity Roads: The least ignored secondary region compared to the Western areas of the USSR has not made the ural region any less ignored. Core transit corridors represent a viable first step in development, linking major urban concentrations and allowing for a viable flow of goods through the region. Tentative interlinks down into Central Asia have been planned to allow for easier movement, but the larger priority after the completion of the high capacity road system will be bringing it into utilization through a massive paving program to claw back obsolescence in road development. (401/400) (Completed)
Work on the Ural regions expansion towards mainline four lane roads have proceeded ahead of the expected time frame, with local construction tending towards a higher quality. Work on the system itself has been finalized with the regional interlinks completed and connected to more local road systems. Further development of roads will inherently build off the two massive lines running across the entire Ural region, providing interlinks and ensuring that most areas unserved by rail can be easily accessed. Further increases in the truck fleet are expected to increase local loadings, but as long as construction is maintained that should not pose an issue.
Water Distribution Systems(Stage 7): Calls for bringing universal pressurized water to every significant concentration of the population have been delayed for much of a decade but they can finally be entirely developed. Work on the construction of enlarged distribution infrastructure along with small integrated water towers will form much of the supply system, with much of the funding going towards the laying of new pipe before significant road renovations. New materials are available for modern plumbing, bringing the areas into the 20th century and ensuring that backwardness can be stamped out on the infrastructural end. (120 Resources per Dice 39/350)
Assessment work for the first in the planned series of fresh water expansions have effectively been planned to towns and villages where accessibility has been minimal. Construction itself will begin with several water towers along with a more intensive tapping of well water to build up supplies. Local connections will be constructed as a last factor, but it is nearly inevitable that local workers can stop using simple pumps for much of their water in rural areas. Further funding will also ensure that measured and significant improvements continue for the countryside, securing considerable political support.
Unified Canal System(Step 2 of 3): The demand for more cheap coal is massive and almost desperate with the lack of domestic transportability and the issues involved in moving the coal. Work on a far larger canal system has effectively already started with the stabilization of the rivers involved, but more funding and more development is desperately needed to ensure significant gains are made. Minor electricity gains are expected from the completion of the cascade, ensuring a steady increase in power supplies and providing the people with viable over-water transportation. Once the system itself is finalized, localized lignite semi-coke can be transported economically, massively reducing coal prices and ensuring that steel can remain a cheap commodity for construction. (369/350 Stage 2 Complete) (19/175 Stage 3) (21 CI12 Electricity) (Significant Cost Changes) (Finished in 1968)
The raising of water levels on the Ket river has proceeded on schedule with the actual canal and its locks prepared in advance for the increased water levels. Surveys of the rivers East of the Urals to map out compatibility with standard sizes for the deep water system have proceeded from the project. Soon a single barge can practically cross all the way from the Baltic Sea to lake Baikal. Most of the routing is expected to take on millions of tons of eastern coals and processed aggregate to ship West, ensuring a steady increase in utilization of subpar aluminum ores and non-anthracitic coals. Even local advanced coking efforts for the Kansk-Achinsk deposits have been proposed, finally solving any shortages of coal for the rest of the century once production is properly expanded.
The great taming of nature continues at the Siberian front, as more and more resources have been committed towards the decisive breakthrough. The USSR has never been endowed with excellent waterways, but through socialist ingenuity and the tireless work of thousands of engineers even nature can be made to kneel to the demands of the national economy. Rivers have been properly shaped to raise water levels and make a great new channel across the Urals, linking both of the most important industrial basins. Now the question comes, what next as the people's waterways will not develop themselves without the guiding hand of the party. -Izvestia, February 6th 1966
Power Grid Expansions: The localization of power production and the increase in the development of local power systems can only push off general grid modernization for so long. The increasing demands for power and massive construction efforts during the current plan must be compensated for to continue acute development and maintain stable grid balances. Work towards expanding the high voltage grid is expected to be prioritized, but further work towards improving the safety of local grids and modernizing low level transmission wiring is expected to follow. There is no reason to accept the increased fire risk of old-style wiring when modern alternatives are both cheaper and more efficient. (100 Resources per Dice 165/275)
Stabilization of grid development to compensate for the development of novel hydroelectric installations and the further installation of a massive quantity of electrical capacity has proceeded well ahead of plans. Much of the new use has come from cities that are already densely integrated into the electrical grid along with many of the new plants produced for local use. Development of the AC grid has also continued in even the most remote areas as power supplies have only steadily improved. Further work will still be necessary to complete the many switching stations called for in the plan though that is more a question of further funding rather than novel technical development.
ASU: Voznesensky has made a little assembled system for programers and enterprises, and while it is not necessary for overall planning, it has gained popularity amongst the enterprises. At this point the project can be finalized in distribution with orders and instructions finalized for those working on the overall program. Further funding will expand the training programs for new programmers and those capable of using the system, computerizing a significant portion of large and mid sized enterprises. A unification in systems bases is expected to make some minor improvements in reporting and readability, but as the same operators are using the machinery to make the reports significant changes are not expected. (187/150) (Completed) (-17 CI2 Electricity -3 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (+1 Dice Modifier)
The mobilization of the largest enterprises towards a new standard of computing and the capacity of having a massive calculating and tabulation unit on tap has driven a far larger extent of demand than expected. The mass release of the first Elbrus units has driven a far wider adoption than initially expected. Improved computing hardware in the form of denser transistor cards have already been made available with production almost entirely sold out. With increasing wages, the massive employment of programers to improve control has been seen as preferential over a massive number of secretaries. More importantly, the coherency and reliability of numbers has allowed the consolidation of critical personnel, favoring many enterprises' management. Some industrial applications have further started to apply computing systems towards direct process management, effectively eliminating floor staff in favor of a machine doing much of the work.
Elbrus units prove to be market success! With the current investment into new computing methodologies and the continued drive towards both cheaper and higher performance units. New integrating programming languages and their manuals are set to ship in triplicate with units and independent copies can be ordered. At the highest end of applications, the Elbrus-7 offers an unmatched execution of a million instructions per second, with a massive memory bank of four 256kB units. And this is just a starting point, as monolithic circuit enabled cards have been announced with a public release expected in 1969. Improvements in denser conventional transistor-diode logic are expected to come even sooner, providing the performance of top global supercomputers in an affordable package.
-Iskra, December Edition
Heavy Industry
Kuzbas Deposit Exploitation(Stage 3): Kuzzbass as an area of extraction offers to nearly double the coals available to the Union alone when discounting the massive brown coal deposits to the north of it. Developments at this stage will focus on the exploitation of more viable surface deposits to reduce overall costs of coal production and provide a far greater energy capacity to the Union than ever before. Work will demand a significant portion of labor and energy, but it will deliver massive gains to local wages and ensure that the Western Union can maintain the current high energy-coupled growth. (120 Resources per Dice 80/200)
Initial work towards the exploitation of the massive bituminous and anthracitic coals available to the Union has started at scale. Initial mining programs have steadily expanded to meet the massive demand of the West along with the necessity of supplying local steel production. Further work towards improving coal production is still going to be necessary to reach the goals of the program along with a continued development of transportation infrastructure. As funding has already been committed for the latter, the effective drive towards improving coal production comes down to a simple increase in funding and utilization.
Nikolayev Automotive Plant: The demand for more light trucks and the accompanying chassis for the production of lighter shuttle buses has only increased as the interior has been brought under development. Establishing a further plant will help to raise production numbers and ensure the steady development of further lighter vehicles than dedicated heavy truck plants. A renewal of the stock of general service vehicles is necessary to improve local throughput and provide additional capacity to the state bodies operating them. The factory itself is expected to be relatively small in light of that, starting production by the midpoint of the plan and ensuring that new production is entirely domestic. (133/100) (Completed) (nat 100) (-14 CI2 Electricity +2 Steel +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability) (+90 RpY)
Combining work with partners abroad and ensuring a degree of technical cooperation along with coordination has brought in a combined engineering and technological effort with Japanese manufacturers. Partnering with Nissan in order to provide improved capabilities a licensed hardened variation on the Datsun 520 has entered production along with the hiring of several teams of technical advisors with the aims of improving automotive industrial efficiency. Improvements in further reductions of latent inventory and a partial automatization of the line have entered experimental stages and are likely to be replicated across local enterprises to improve efficiency. The model itself comes as a massive improvement over old stocks of light trucks, delivering improved performance and an increased bed size compared to local production models.
Bryansk Truck Plant: Lighter end trucks that are built in the conventional scheme are still necessary for some of the worst roads in the Union. Building a dedicated facility for the mass production of heavier duty trucks without a detachable trailer and for lighter loadings can help to serve more remote communities. Technical work with these trucks is effectively deriving from previous work towards army systems, allowing some collaboration in design and a growth in mobilization capacity while building out civilian fleets. A unified six wheel chassis will allow for improvements to be made and the absolute oldest examples still in service to be finally retired from all roles. (160 Resources per Dice 127/150)
Mid scale trucks in the continued scheme from previous programs towards building for the army have come as a logical extension of older technical efforts. Military developments in the form of a 6L Diesel have effectively been transferred over along with a reinforced transmission scheme. Rear wheel carrying capacity has been massively improved over any previous generation of truck, capable of delivering four tons of cargo along with another four tons towed through the harshest of conditions. Flexible bed selection has been designed from the start, providing greatly enhanced capabilities for retrofitting towards alternative offroad use cases. Actual production numbers will severely depend on the state of the road network, but even if it were to be developed more aggressively then the Supreme Soviet wants, it can still find plentiful service in logging and outside areas of primary economic development.
Rocketry
Stalingrad Plant Expansions: Continued expansions of the Stalingrad plant are necessary despite the program cancellations as the RLA makes up the only real launch vehicle available. Increased scales of payload designs are expected out of the space program but as long as mass production can be maintained it can be made economical. Increasing the mission and launch tempo will come with an expansion of the plant along with a good quantity of well paying jobs that will stimulate local economic turnover. Actual rocket production is almost certain to level out at around fifty units per annum leaving more than enough capability for any reasonable application. (118/100) (Completed) (-9 CI2 Electricity +2 Non-Ferrous +1 Educated Labor)
As production numbers and orders for new rockets have climbed, efforts have gone towards further enhancing production of new stages. Engines have only steadily grown more reliable over time with the first few RLA failures effectively occurring just for communication payloads with relatively easily fixable issues. Tank production scaling has also come as an expected consequence of previous production, with steady improvements made to the design and layout to further continue production rationalization. Compared to far more involved isogrid tankage the structures are heavier and cut into payload, but those are more than acceptable to keep prices low. Local production of improved control systems have also started, ensuring a steady supply of electronics unconnected to other programs.
Publicly Provide Atmospheric Information: Any information on the atmosphere that the program gathers may as well be provided publicly and freely to news organizations and those responsible for weather prediction. The weather over the Union will never be a matter of dire military necessity outside of for some short moments in the case of another world war. Providing universal information will allow for a far greater standard of predictions and further improve agricultural yields through improving weather accuracy. (1 Dice) (80)
The full publication of atmospheric and weather information has been authorized as the exact weather over the Union has a negligible military relevance outside of the start of a third world war. Climate pattern analysis along with the radar screening of clouds and various storm systems from space promises to improve forecast accuracy to allow for a few days of reliable if still questionable predictions. Long term predictions will still inherently come from an almanac and previous regional history, but a precise tracking of adverse weather conditions from the ground and space can significantly reduce crop losses from adverse conditions. Predictions on snows have further been improved, allowing for a steady gain in capability.
Light and Chemical Industry
Samotor Field Development(Stage 1): A new discovery past the Urals has found a field with more oil in place than any other discovered field. Moving towards high throughput utilization of the field is going to be necessary to keep domestic energy prices low and ensure a consistent access to oil and gas. Local deposits are biased towards medium density oils, but even those can be used at a high rate without many technical issues. Outside of the location, the deposit itself is conventional and can enable local refinement of fuels without significant issues. (120 Resources per Dice 35/100)
Starting the exploitation of the massive deposits of oil that are already in place promises to more than supplant other oil fields and compensate for local depletion. Improved techniques pioneered in other fields will ensure an enhanced degree of recovery after conventional extraction is completed, ensuring steady supplies. Far more efforts are certain to be required in order to keep petrochemical prices low with actual investment in the sector, but given the current situation reductions in energy use this year have prevented a continuation in the rapid rise of new energy use.
Air Conditioner Plants(Stage 4): Direct developments in improving air conditioner access are essential for the development of housing and the maintenance of temperatures. Limitations in grid heating systems have led to the current issue with the current program forming an adequate basis for modernizing general temperature control. Further generation housing designs will integrate flexible thermal control as a baseline along with several improvements, but for as long as we are limited to window units there is little that can be done outside of increasing production. Commonality of components will further ensure a smooth transition when larger scale changes are made. (171+10 Omake/175 Stage 4 Complete) (6/300 Stage 5) (Crit-Fail) (-8 CI2 Electricity +1 Steel +1 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor) (+20 RpY)
The drive towards the amplification of climate control and ensuring that every Soviet home that is constructed will have direct temperature control has reached its logical highpoint. If the next generation of planned housing construction will have enough units for central operation, a new generation of air conditioning units and a further evolution of climate control infrastructure will be necessary. Committing the funding now will ensure that every new apartment will have a flexible scheme of climate control utilizing centralized thermostats synchronized to a general system rather than the hang-on units that have predominated previous programs. The expansions necessary to make climate control truly universal will be vast but necessary to improve the comfort of average soviet workers.
Modern Foods Production(Stage 1): To compete with the Americians and ensure that the average worker has the latest products an entire new generation of food production has become necessary. Packaged compact snacking food has been to an extent a popular demand along several population segments and investing into it now can achieve significant returns. Longer storage lives can serve to reduce general food wastage at a small cost in packaging, providing a base of production. Saturation and production sufficiency will take time and more funding then available at the current stage, but that can be done in time. (276/125 Stage 1 Completed) (151/150 Stage 2 Completed) (1/200 Stage 3) (-24 CI5 Electricity +5 General Labor) (+80 RpY)
The committed drive towards improving the production of products of immediate consumption and the accompanying state of the food sector has almost immediately delivered returns. Low moisture volatility foods have already been pioneered for a number of military applications, and by adding sugar and flavorings those same techniques could be applied towards the civilian sector. Everything from crackers to pastries has effectively been packaged after assessments with target audiences as new lines of sweets and general distribution goods have been copied. Establishing two dozen plants each specialized in the production of one of these confectionary goods has taken significant investment but expected returns are massive. Reducing the decay of rapid turnover production alone promises to revolutionize significant portions of the general consumptive sector.
Second Generation Plastics(Stage 2): New plastics are a promising field of domestic development with few international equivalencies and a core internal product for improving the economy, exports, and defense commitments. Current generations of new plastics will serve to augment general production systems across the country and replace less corrosion resistant polymers. Further stages have already been planned to improve the general system of production with more advanced polymers brought to the market. (169+15 Omake/175 Stage 2 Complete) (19/125 Stage 3) (-24 CI3 Electricity -3 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (+30 RpY)
The full scale replication of short and long chain terephthalate and their industrial scale production has started along the Union at a maximum pace. Increasing the yields of more chemically durable plastics promises to have them replace far more expensive stainless steels in a number of industrial applications while further enhancing specialized equipment distribution. Work on further developments in the plastics industry has also technically been initiated with the first technical surveys over bringing in a further generation of engineering polymers through exploring ether-ketone intermolecular effects. Licensing from the German industry already shows promise and a further generation of ultra hard plastics can start replacing aluminum in some applications.
Agriculture
Domestic Meat Programs(Stage 2): The promise of a chicken in every pot and meat on every table at least once a day is a massive promise given the state of agriculture, but one that can be met. Focusing on high return increases in chicken and cattle production while pig populations are climbing to fill previous facilities and economically utilize them can serve to further improve production. High compactness methodologies have already matured with new breeds of both animals delivering increased portions of meat on a faster timescale. Increasing funding further can even continue the expansion of chicken production to start working on lowering the price and meeting some meat demands. 362/150 Stage 2 Complete) (212/200 Stage 3 Completed) (12/250 Stage 4) (-40 CI4 Electricity +4 General Labor) (+70 RpY)
Further intensification and densification of pork along with chicken farming have been funded with rapid increases in the secondary utilization of grain and improvements in common species. Enhanced breeding methodologies for the production of more meaty faster growing chickens have increased meat production per bird by almost half, improving energy efficiency while minimizing total food burdens. Density improvements via the utilization of modern food chemistries and re-enforcements against excessive disease have further helped to improve the efficiency of farming. Pork has unfortunately been more conventional as there are few easy efficiency gains that can be made with current pigs. Compaction and closed lots have helped some, but those innovations have already been used across the industry. Further efforts will inherently have to focus on poultry, as it is both far cheaper and far faster to increase. Easy gains in the chicken industry can provide the Soviet people with plentiful eggs and ensure a new time of plenty.
Agronomy Institutes: The harsh soils of much of the nation and the variety in soil conditions across much of the Union is in desperate need of further study. Dedicated institutes to evaluate local soils and discover optimal procedures for their fertilization and tillage are required to further improve yields and improve the sophistication of agriculture. The system itself will cost fairly little compared to the relative impacts, and the publication of regional agricultural information can help every enterprise and business farming in a similar soil and climate. (100 Resources per Dice 36/75)
Collecting more personnel for improving the state of agronomy has come as a priority with the current state of agriculture. Smaller institutes around the more remote areas of the Union have been funded to improve studies of new soils. The primary focus of the program has come towards improving the state of general production and ensuring that a sustainable productive capacity can be maintained. Current funding has only been adequate to start construction of the institutes and studies have yet to be commissioned. Once funding is provided large scale analysis can start, improving the state of agriculture in the next plan.
Agricultural Insurance Enterprises: Setting aside funding towards the development of financial enterprises set to operate without a significant profit and for the public good has been done for some other industries, and there is little reason why it cannot be done for insurance. Fundamentally organizing insurers that can operate on a universal level with both the private and public sector with the goal of being money neutral can help to provide stability to every farmer and ensure that any significant disruption or drought will not disrupt the sector. (130/100) (Completed) (-4 CI1 Electricity +1 Educated Labor)
Providing physical outreach to the average farmer to ensure a steady increase in the use of insurance and the reduction of risk has been challenging, but massive economical returns are expected. Policies to formally expand the insurance are still in consideration leaving the expansion in a legalistic gray area. As the Supreme Soviet has better things to do, the expansion has still broadly passed as it is not like forming a new enterprise is outside the remit of the ministry. Distribution of the offices and outreach programs to encourage adoption are expected to favor the largest farmers first, but that is broadly expected.
Second Generation Seed Program: Massive programs towards the production of new cultivars of wheat derived from other nations cultivars of northern and winter wheats to derive the best traits of them. Work will involve the continued irradiation and cross breeding effort, effectively expanding it towards the use of international cultivars and working to further improve food yields. This program will be extended towards a new generation of potato cultivars and several other essential crops. The seed program will only mildly improve quality, but even a mild increase of nutrient uptake in intensive agricultural programs can reduce prices more than a decade of improving technical finesse. (90/75) (Completed) (-8 CI1 Electricity +1 Educated Labor)
Due to some access limitations, the sourcing of novel cultivars has come slowly, but it has still occurred through global trade. Mass purchases of seed crops of Norin 10 wheat along with several further improved mixed dwarf cultivars have a massive promise of delivering improved results. Further seed programs have driven towards the state backed implementation of improved potato and vegetable cultivars as a standard with costs lowered for five years to encourage faster adoption. Work on domestic irradiation and UV programs so as to improve the cultivars further have also started, with the expectation that even the American improvements can be overcome with local scientific talent.
Services
Distribution of Banking Branches: To properly allow for banking to be used by the people, the goal of the program should be the construction of a branch in every town and village. The goal of the state should be to ensure that every worker has a savings account in some form rather then holding their money outside the system, improving the monetary supply available for investment and ensuring that financial services are universally available rather then confined to a few elites. (80 Resources per Dice 118/150)
Massive expansion of the banking sector has been funded with thousands of branches planned to provide to most significant rural communities, ensuring that most citizens are a short bus ride away from financial services. Encouraging monetary storage in the banks is another matter but that too can be eventually solved with the system maintaining itself over the next few decades. As increasing funding is stored inside of the banking system rather than privately, the money can be made useful for encouraging further growth, allowing the economy to continue development. Some citizens will almost certainly continue hoarding their money under mattresses and in strange corners of their homes, but such habits are inevitable due to the previously misguided policies pursued by the government.
Expanded Childcare(Stage 3): Childcare services are still insufficiently utilized for the massive number of working mothers across the Soviet Union. Continuing large scale expansions can serve to more than meet the demand, ensuring that children are educated and not burdensome to families. The encouragement for childcare will likely increase birth rates especially as it is provided for free, ensuring that the next generation of Soviet workers is ready. Improving educational standards in childcare also promises to improve outcomes for children in the school system, increasing achievement and eventually university graduation rates. (199+15/200 Stage 3 Complete) (14/250 Stage 4) (-7CI2 Electricity +1 General Labor)
Continued development of childcare services has seen a general uptick in utilization of services but gains in workforce participation have lagged behind. The drive towards expanding services has also allowed for smaller towns to be integrated into the general services network. Utilization in rural areas themselves is only slowly expected to increase as the reliability and training of personnel improves. Integrated educational efforts have started to be tried at scale, with dense urban areas prioritized for the improvement in general attainment. Further improvements have been focused towards a general growth of the system along with a standardization of educational aims, with an effective last year preparatory course entirely integrated.
Transportation Enterprises(Stage 1): The massive procurement of more trucks is needed to sustain current industrial development and decisively get ahead of attrition to poor roads. Work on the import of new vehicles along with a general expansion in domestic demand can serve to significantly improve logistics. Funding programs are going to be more limited by road development than anything else, leaving some of it questionable, but to continue growth expansions are needed now rather than later. (182/150 Stage 1 Completed) (32/175 Stage 2) (+1 Petroleum Fuels +1 General Labor) (+10 RpY)
Improvements in the general truck stockpiles and the foundation of several enterprises focused around contracting for local level transportation have helped the Union to improve commercial activity. Contemporaries in the private sector have historically derived significant profits with everything from organized companies to individuals with trucks securing a significant share. Improvements in state efforts have come with further purchases of the most modern trucks, capable of pulling heavy trailers anywhere with developed roads. Capacity limitations from a lack of developed infrastructure have limited transportation capacity outside the Western Union but that is rapidly being fixed.
Legal Consulting Programs: With the current legal system reforms the availability of reliable and cheap representation has consistently been questionable. The average worker does not have the knowledge base to navigate the legal system on their own. Rather than allowing people to be guilty through no fault of their own, they can start by ensuring that there is an accessible supply of lawyers for every trial. Training is not going to be exceptional, but they can still adequately serve. (80 Resources per Dice 34/100)
With the other priority efforts and the state of the economy, the further development of legal services have taken a secondary priority. The necessity of massive development of more profitable ventures along with a general lack of cheap skilled personnel have limited the program. Work on hiring more expensive workers and improving pay has already started, but fundamental work towards improving the training of legal experts is still necessary. New classes larger than any before it are graduating, but more time is needed to sufficiently build up the local industry.
Hotel-Enterprises: Previous ignorance of the hotel industry has led to significant shortages in rooms for even basic enterprise meetings much less tourism. Rather than trying to do Voznesesnky's idea for a standardized basic hotel that would only appeal to the most desperate of students, semi-luxury structures can be constructed to appeal to the general workers and managers. Room sizes can be expanded outside of local norms with far nicer accommodations and a copying of common included services as in the West. (207/200) (Completed) (-18CI3 Electricity +2 General Labor) (+30 RpY)
Deviating from the original designs and ramping up the construction of hotels near large business centers and in vacation destinations has been relatively simple. The scale of the program itself has been vast with a constant commitment of supplies and personnel to ensure that travelers for business and vacation can have rooms of adequate quality with a set of basic services. Most of the enterprises have been founded on a minimal service model with paid room service integrated as standard. Interpretations of what minimal services should be offered have deeply varied amongst the enterprises established, but most have started to compete with private efforts, ensuring that in the next year Soviet tourists and enterprise management personnel can have an adequate quality stay near any significant area of the Union.
Bureaucracy
Unified Passport Zone: The passage of a unified zone of migration and free movement is still distant, but unifying standards for passports and ensuring that any passport in European CMEA can go anywhere else represents a massive step in improving the mobility of labor. Workers from abroad are necessary for further development and the continued construction of the economy. Free movement is also the first step towards further economic integration and the elimination of trade barriers. Work towards that will likely take much of the next plan, but it will be pushed through due to strong internal backing. (75)
Unification of passports and visa legislation has been passed in CMEA organizations with ratification expected by the end of the decade. Free movement for the current series of Comecon passports has been legislated with implementation and exact procedural interpretations still taking some time. Only European CMEA has been included in the current programs, but some tentative initiatives have been proposed for the integration of Asian partners but they have been rejected due to the significant social differences. Further integration of the European economy is expected to drive an increase in turnover and provide for improved access to labor, ensuring that economic growth can further be accelerated even for the poorest Comecon members.
Resumption of Punishments: We are now almost twenty years past any Stalinism and the laxity in punishments has led to consistent failures in discipline. Rather than a full re-introduction of punishments, the most severe cases can be made examples of with a decade spent in prison and a full revocation rather than simple restrictions on pensions. The focus of this is around the anti corruption effort itself making it deeply politically involved from all sides. Some of the more reform-minded have criticized it, but given what their laxity caused their voices have mostly been ignored as irrelevant. (6)
Something as controversial as the imprisonment of the worst of the managers and politicians that have broken the law both blatantly and endemically has immediately posed several issues. Supporting Abramov in his initiative towards punishing those that have broken the law has led to vicious attacks by the political spectrum about a return to Stalinism as every corner of the political environment has made its comments known on the issue. Pressure towards giving the people something has seen the laws placed back on the books in the instance of a near certain determination of prolonged and deliberate guilt, ensuring that only in instances of overwhelming evidence can the laws be used. Their passage has still been pressured even in a reduced and rationalized form, but the pressure of another incident has driven the Supreme Soviet towards some action.
Codify Convertibility: The new Euro has only just been founded and a scheme of convertibility towards it for external currencies has started to be implemented. A basis on gold is still expected for the new currency with each Euro pegged to a set quantity of gold. What this now formalizes is unspecific currency convertibility towards the Euro without the use of any intermediary and starts the transition of international transactions towards the universal use of Euros. Domestic work is still expected to happen in specialized currencies across the block, but a plan towards converting all economic activity towards the Euro by 1980 has been started. (78)
A finalized plan for the integration and replacement of all separate currencies across CMEA has been completed with only a minimal degree of bickering. An effective representative trust with membership determined by the population of each respective country has been organized as a block wide monetary apparatus for European CMEA. This has been combined with efforts to start with the formalization and unification of the general currency system. To improve monetary supplies, the new currency is expected to significantly loosen its backing towards gold in its immediate creation, followed by a general separation from it by 1980. The path ahead will be hard, especially as a new centralized monetary monetary apparatus is likely to be criticized for a number of decisions, but the gains from unifying commerce and valuation in the block cannot be under-estimated.
An Expanded Food Program: Moving to expand a new food program through conventional avenues along with any food being purchasable can ensure that the general diet of the Soviet People will be improved. Providing every citizen with a bare minimal degree of credit to purchase food will shift demand away from bare necessities, serve as an effective income raise for the poorest, and start the long work towards shifting towards a developed socialist system. Quantities that are expected to be allocated will be a small factor, but a notable one towards entirely eliminating hunger for the Soviet people. Eliminating misuse by parasites may be tempting, but the costs involved are more than would be gained by simply allowing them similar access. (35)
With the recent economic downturn and a need to combine targeted agricultural policy and improve worker incomes to replace older services in areas of significant utilization a new food program has been proposed. Broadly speaking, it is expected that a minimal provision of effective funds meant for spending on local food products can be provided to every citizen with a registered residential address. There have already been severe criticisms on the motions effective enablement of labor parasitism, but the need to have a functional welfare policy towards the reduction of discontent has been judged more important. Any criticism of breaking with Marxism is meaningless when there could be a genuine danger of massive rioting. Administrative excesses and increasing funding is expected to be avoided by using the same infrastructure as normal food distribution, with locally produced food eligible for purchase. To avoid issues in surge spending, coupons are expected to be distributed monthly, providing each citizen a stable base to survive on and effectively eliminating discontent from poverty.
Start a Commission on Agriculture: Creating an expert commission on agriculture away from various idiocies can provide a better idea on policy and more importantly a consensus on what to do. Instead of pushing through policy because of ministry advice, referring to an ostensibly impartial organ can help to provide some legitimacy to policy-making and minimize the issues involved. Organizing it and making it function is another matter, but a few agronomists should be manageable and mostly in agreement. (2)
With the paranoia over the exercise of ministerial power and the need to justify themselves to their electorate any suggestion or motion for a ministry to create a full independent commission arbitrarily and without the involvement of the Supreme Soviet has been entirely rejected. Debates have started on creating a new organization for studying agriculture and proposing policy but the crisis just a few weeks later has had the motion entirely tabled. It is almost certain to be lost in the legislation pursued to stimulate the economy and stabilize the situation. The only bright spot is that the more formalized stance also prevents other ministries from expanding their capabilities in a similar manner.
Call a Second General Meeting: Now that the worst actors are out of the ministry and more new personnel have been hired that have zero idea what they are doing, another meeting to talk over a plan can be made. The anti corruption investigation has hollowed out a wide range of capability and is not going to slow down. Without some form of ministry-wide plan to hire new personnel and a minimal degree of coordination, the current situation is not likely to get much better. Coordinating the initiative can also restore some internal confidence as the predominant mood is panic. (58)
The commonly held opinion in the ministry is that anti-corruption has gone too far and done too much damage to the integrity of the Ministry and the integrity of the Union. With every investigation important personnel are lost and the general damage to the economic system only steadily mounts. The ministry itself cannot be expected to endure more if it is to be held together and most of the high ranking personnel are in agreement. Either the investigation itself is brought to a controllable tempo or the entire ministry will be brought down in front of it, especially as no offense is expected to be treated as too minor in time. The most obvious and most corrupt will still be thrown out, as they are political dead weight, but the nation needs to move on rather than chasing the phantoms of the past. The option in theory does exist to be obstinate and indecisive, leaving the investigation to continue on its logical path, but given the perfect excuses provided in the economic downturn that may compromise any semblance of a position from within. Taking the offensive against what could be spun as a corrupt bargain and backstabbing everyone involved could be a theoretical path forward, but it is almost certain to backfire as it would be easy to paint as a return to Stalinist methods of organization.
[]Backstabbing: A conspiracy at the top offices in the vague terms of reducing the scale of anti corruption and crafting policies to ensure the ministry can preserve is still a conspiracy. Pivoting towards striking against the ministry and as one responsible for cleaning up the mess can serve some limited political advantage. Doing it so blatantly will ensure an immediate power struggle internally, but theoretically nothing anyone can do internally can bring the whole mess down. (Broader Investigation, Far More Severe Political Consequences)
[]Let it Pass: Avoiding any commitments and ensuring the program is executed to its planned scope and scale is the closest position to relative neutrality that can be taken. No one will be that offended that a minister with the post for two years chose first to save themselves. Those under the most intense scrutiny will rail against it and the plan will continue to be hindered, but a stable career may be worth throwing a few dozen high ranking personnel to the wolves. (Continues as Planned)
[]Enable Consolidation: Voznesensky's corrupt cadres have gotten us into this mess and have effectively caused much of the reaction. Every single one that is still working is dead weight, even if most have not internalized it yet. Out of a sense of political and internal disagreement and in order to get the state to move on as quickly as possible, corruption can be cut at its roots. Lists of political enemies who have a significant reserve of evidence can be jettisoned, finalizing internal takeovers and ideally using them to buy a pause on investigations. (Three Additional Anti Corruption Rolls Next Turn(6 dice total)) (Ends Investigation) (Will Owe a Favor)
[]Apolitically Maneuver: Creating the appearance that the massive removal of several prominent members of the old guard are being replaced only for their corruption will be challenging given the state of general paranoia. Instead of focusing specifically on factional and ideological lines, work can be conducted towards ensuring that orders from above focus more on a wholesale picture. It will still be a politically targeted series of removals, but one that at least has a few fig leaves of cover. Controversy is almost certain to mount with each supporter that gets jailed, but being fired with a large pension and getting a dacha will be acceptable to some. (Two Additional Anti Corruption Rolls Next Turn(5 dice total)) (Ends Investigation) (Will Owe a Favor)
[]Move Past It: The investigation needs to die, that is the unquestionable conclusion in the ministry and to a large portion of the Supreme Soviet. Investigating our own people has brought up massive rifts in politics and has basically destroyed the capacity for a coordinated response to the current crisis. Leaning hard on Abramov and Kosygin to reallocate the investigation, or to at least cleanly pause it for the crisis will come with costs, but it will buy a significant degree of capability. Rehiring and non-advancement will be prioritized over removing every last guilty worker, maintaining capacity and reducing impact. (Ends Investigation) (Will Owe Favors)
Request a Loan: The reality of the cutback plan is that debt will be necessary for further financing, even if it is questionable at the current point. A strong investment into the ministry has been practically expected given the low initial share of funding. Some may criticize the program as a return to Voznesensky's stimulus spending, but it needs to be done in order to ensure a smooth transition to a lower spending baseline. A lot however depends on the state of the economy, if a recession were to occur, a portion of the necessary financial capacity would not be available. (90) (Immediate +2500R) (Repayment -850R/y for the rest of the plan)
Immediate authorization for the increase in credit has been passed along with general provisions towards the increase of spending across the Union. The expected recessionary quarter after a decade of uninterrupted growth struck in the second quarter, with the significant failures of the Gorky plant, rapidly mobilizing politics. The actual text of the money provided in the loan itself has been maintained, but further emergency spending has been authorized. Actual political consequences for the loan and the spending itself have been relatively minimal, as the prevailing mood in the Supreme Soviet has almost turned on a dime with major plant failures. The funding that has been generally restricted has been authorized for deficit spending to resume economic growth and compensate for sectoral failures.
12 Hour Moratorium
Internal News:
Continued work in anti corruption has generally been pursued at a slower tempo than previously. While the investigations themselves have continued to bring up scores and scores of guilty personnel in the economy, every firing has reduced the capacity of the ministry. Punishments for almost all of those involved have further been nearly non-existent with the vast majority receiving a fine and a few limitations in career prospects. The public has of course been incensed by this, seeing every official that has been fired without consequences as some great conspiracy by the Soviet state rather than a series of compromise legacy policies that have been maintained past their due.
No further protest incidents have occurred and the general state of politics has rapidly moved towards the consolidation and a tentative rally in the center. For all but the most radical, anti corruption itself has been called into question as the campaign has continued to disrupt core economic centers and claw at a massive series of powerbases. Structural changes for increasing the transparency of the mechanism and declaring funding more acutely to bond holders have helped to minimize some of the problems, but these are only steadily being implemented and are practically new legislation. Accounting practices themselves have only just been standardized, with unified formatting allowing for an easy and clear view of the financial performance of enterprises.
Arguably, the worst part is that a number of the financial reforms did not even come from the anti-corruption effort but instead from economic factors. A sluggish first quarter was followed by poor immediate results in the labor sector as employee retention rapidly dropped through the second quarter. Actual information on q2 being a recessionary quarter was not published until the end of the year, but that was impartial to the practical effects. Reducing rates of employment were immediately noticeable, mobilizing the Supreme Soviet towards something resembling coordinated political action to save the situation and introduce counter-cyclical spending. Loans taken out were effectively allowed through with Abramov praising the act for its foresight.
The most noticeable and immediate consequence, and what got every politician to take notice is that the Gorky Combinat has failed to roll over its debts. Founding itself on a rapidly expansionary capital intensive program and accepting a massive margin of debt, the plant has formed a consistent core of heavy industrial growth. This has however inverted in the current decade, with techniques becoming more obsolete and smaller enterprises domestically and abroad managing to out compete it. Intensification practices and an increase in low paid employees to stimulate production broadly failed to improve returns, with consistent negatives. Previously, a surge of growth by the end of the plan may have allowed the plant to stay solvent, but a slight increase in interest rates has effectively forced it into a declaration of bankruptcy.
Other areas of the heavy industrial sector have not fared significantly better outside of the newer steel mills. Car purchasing has been reduced in the first quarter as technical unemployment increased along with inconsistent consumer spending. Both would have been survivable for most plants if they were not leveraged entirely out with both bonds and basic debt leaving massive economic problems. This has led to a rapid increase in the number of fired workers, as enterprises teetering on the corner have been forced to refinance and cut back to maintain solvency. Bankruptcies have increased in scale, with a wave of them hitting the sector along with some spreading to light industry from lagging consumer spending.
It is unquestionable that some form of response will have to be formed to the massive series of failures, things appear to be on the mend, at least in immediate employment statistics in q4, but hard information is still not available. The most politically expedient course is of course a reorganization but by only replacing the leadership at the top structural issues in the enterprises are almost certain to remain. Private sector turnover has so far proven to be more durable than the actual larger enterprises, with spending more consistent so a few advocates have called for a second series of sell offs of assets, scrapping managerial structures in favor of redistribution to more capable personnel. The most radical advocates of the free market course have proposed a path towards simply allowing the bankruptcy mechanism to work as intended, bringing down massive quantities of assets for unorganized sale, effectively breaking Gorky and VAZ decisively.
Unlike most other crises, for one of the first times in its history, much of the governing coalition down to the benchwarmers at the wings have acted together. Economic stimulus spending has passed with minimal controversy along with programs to stimulate funding. Combined with the new food program, the government in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and Gosbank have pushed for a far more growth focused program. The expected recession has happened, and it has come time for the mobilization of financial reserves. Immediate spending increases have been authorized to address the crisis for the rest of the plan along with a general drive towards expanding planning. Much of the criticism for the fundamental causes of the current downturn has effectively landed squarely on the industrial corruption and policies of the Voznesensky ministry. (+1200 RpY) (Effectively 20+15% GNP Immediately) (Significant Economic Price Changes)
Bankruptcy Proceedings
[]Bailouts: Replacing a few personnel and restructuring the debts into a no interest repayment plan can solve immediate insolvency. The actual program towards doing so will not solve a large number of the fundamentals, leaving the task to the new management appointed. Most will likely fail to rapidly restructure the enterprises without a firm guiding hand, leading to the same problem in half a decade, but with a staggered series of failures there might be the resources to actually fix the problem. (-200 RpY)
[]Bailouts and Restructuring: Due to the departmental sectioning of most enterprises, a further intervention can be conducted to return a number towards economic gains. Forming councils of new executives and replacing high level leadership with specialized teams, a path towards profitability can be implemented for each of the severely failing enterprises. As long as the path is followed, interest rates can effectively be nulled along with a state backed repayment plan, stemming the bleeding at the cost of likely immediately spiking workforce turnover. (-450 RpY)
[]Aggressive Restructuring: Failures have more often than anything else come from systematic problems in leadership and organization rather than economic causes. Committing towards ensuring that leadership is brought under control, entirely replaced, and enterprises subdivided into areas that can be allowed to collapse and be bought up by other enterprises and those that are economically viable. These divisions will cause massive disruption, but they will decisively fix the economy and allow its healthy segments to continue operation. (-650 RpY)
Labor Transfers:
[]Prioritize Quality: The trained personnel to replace much of the function of the ministry have been depleted by anti-corruption efforts and the prolonged firing initiatives undertaken by Voznesesnky. The fundamental truth is that there is no rapid fix for a lack of ministry capacity especially in the form of new trained personnel. Training programs can crank out a thousand low level secretaries capable of managing resources, but they cannot replace rapidly depleted senior leadership. (+2 Dice to Heavy Industry in 1969)
[]Hiring Drives: The time for mobilization is now, but that does not mean that every idiot and pensioner needs to be dragged back into service kicking and screaming. Hiring a larger number of students and accelerating the tracks towards promotions can help to replace valuable lost expertise and ensure that the ministry can continue functioning. Inexperienced personnel all over the place will cause problems, but we have dealt with worse with the anti-corruption investigation. (+2 Dice to Heavy Industry and Infrastructure) (-3 to Experience Bonus)
Rocketry
Initial testing on the RLA-3 configuration has been met with two failures, both from aerodynamic instability in the launcher. A third test flight of the more complex configuration is expected to fix issues with cross-bracing and the lacking thrust in the lower stages, improving stability. Prototyping programs on a new generation of control system and aerodynamic elements have already started to enhance control during the launch and ensure that side-slips are minimized when conducting orbital ascents. Improvements in alloying and engine thrust increases are expected to eventually improve performance, but the priority has gone to making a viable heavy launch system over optimization on already functional systems.
Continued cascade launches of heavy atmospheric satellites have finished the first target of the installation of a full constellation for global weather observation. Cloud cover observation has formed a core aspect of the program along with an emphasis on detection of both infrared signals and radiation coming from the earth. Mass gains on the satellites have come from a focus of the program towards improving redundancy and orbital time over any other criteria. The current second generation satellites of the series are only expected to last a few years before irrevocably failing due to degradation of solar panels and unreliable electronics but with every year the fundamental technology improves by leaps and bounds. By the end of the decade, it may even be possible to have a permanent constellation put in place with a relatively low rate of launch intensity.
With the American achievement of the first "space-walk" independent of the craft, another first has been surrendered due to inadequacies in funding. Fundamental work however has proceeded towards refining the new space suit, with a self contained life support and thermal system developed. The actual hard components of the suit are effectively ready for flight, with the unit capable of most orbital operations. Back entry has been prioritized so as to minimize the extent of delays when preparing for orbital operations, allowing for a far greater rate of theoretical activity in orbit. Actual flights with the new suit are not expected to start until nearly the end of the decade, but compared to the simple garment the Americians sent a man out in, ours will be safer, more reliable, and infinitely more capable of conducting actual operations in orbit.
With the successful flight of the VA capsule attached to the FGB bus both in an unmanned and manned configuration the continuation of the manned space program has been guaranteed. Foundational work in the first flight has found some glaring errors in the life support system for longer stays along with power instability in lower orbits, but those have been entirely fixed by the second launch. The actual first manned launch has only spent a paltry day in low earth orbit, but the future of the program is bright with expected stays of up to a month with three crew. As some variation on a strange joke, the next flight has been planned to have a German, Pole and Georgian as the first intercosmos flight. These are only expected to be continued, as scientists from abroad are both good for the public image of the program, and allow a further distribution of development funding.
Engineering work on a further generation of lunar landers has gone above and beyond any expectations with the cannibalization of equipment from the moon program. The lander design itself has not been that useful, but the radar altimeter and control machinery itself has been adapted to a newer program. Using the enhanced capability of the high energy transfer stage along with a far greater landing system it is believed that a payload return mission from the moon can be conducted. Securing enough kg of space rocks will pose a far more challenging question as return payload sizes are going to be minimal due to the restrictions in guidance packages and energy required. Still, something as simple as retrieving a few kg of soil samples before the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution can present a massive international victory.
Infrastructure:
Western USSR Regional Roads: The Western USSR has some of the best roads when compared to the rest of the nation, but even those are considered internationally poor. Constructing a massive series of two lane roads to act as regional feeders and linking them with previously built high capacity systems will be more of an exercise of paving the few yet to be paved major roadways, ensuring that every area has acceptably poor access. Further efforts are expected to get more expensive, but they are relatively deprioritized compared to the development of similar systems in regions where no tentative efforts have even started. (105 Resources per Dice 145/300) (Double Crit Fail)
The phrase behind target, behind timetable, and above costs has been endemic to the general road construction efforts and that has not been embodied any more than in the West of the Union. Construction slowdowns to refurbish hastily constructed systems built locally and by enterprises has been constant with lower accessibility roads ignored for so long that more funding needed to be shoveled into the program. It is almost guaranteed that the initial optimism going into the general construction effort for roads will be misplaced. This has only been made all the worse by the flood of inexperienced personnel coming into the ministry, lacking even the simplest logic in their task. The only bright spot is that the Supreme Soviet has been made busy by other programs, leaving little outside of a declaration of what roads must be constructed at the highest priority. The mass injection of labor from the economic crisis will at least provide for a stable basis of construction, ensuring the misspent youths of today can become experienced construction laborers.
[]Accept the Goal: Knuckling down and accepting an absolutely unrealistic scale of road construction will at least mollify the most offended in terms of the expansion of the road system. Funding will have to be allocated preferentially along with labor along with a likely neglect of other sectors, but the scale of construction necessary is too large for anything else. The Union has had an obsolescent road system since its creation and breaking away from it in one decisive step can save room in the future plan. (Western(/300), Caucasus(/100), Central Asian(/500), and Ural(/400) Regional Roads Required)
[]Politically Argue: The full scale construction of roads is to an extent beyond what the Soviet industry as it is can do as neither the production nor personnel are all there. Taking a stand towards ensuring that the entire infrastructural sector is not committed to schemes of increasing roadway kilometers can minimize the strange ideas inherent to the plan. The Supreme Soviet is likely too busy to take the fight, allowing some latitude. (???)
[]Deviate Towards Labor Policy: Throwing another political controversy at the Supreme Soviet may be in bad form and a politically risky step, but there are few better times then to argue against the quasi-forced labor used for most of construction. Raising concerns in closed doors about the employment of prisoners will signal concerns to several important personnel, delaying large scale construction projects at least into the next plan while proposing a lesser program conducted with only "clean" labor. (???)
In a decade of planning the industrial might of the USSR was raised to match the developed West in the most arduous period of planning and the Union and her people called for it to be done again. Road Building has lagged behind the West with a lack of emphasis due to the sheer breadth of the Union, but with newly developed automotive technologies and the development of the agricultural economy the time has come to revolutionize the countryside. Ambitious plans of constructing roads to every town and paving them are on the lips of every planner, with a target of decisive overtaking the West in all aspects by the end of the 9th Five Year Plan. Even now, capable planners are grappling with the hardest issues on rapidly raising production and development in every office and institute. -Pravda, Nov 21st, 1966
Ural Region High Capacity Roads: The least ignored secondary region compared to the Western areas of the USSR has not made the ural region any less ignored. Core transit corridors represent a viable first step in development, linking major urban concentrations and allowing for a viable flow of goods through the region. Tentative interlinks down into Central Asia have been planned to allow for easier movement, but the larger priority after the completion of the high capacity road system will be bringing it into utilization through a massive paving program to claw back obsolescence in road development. (401/400) (Completed)
Work on the Ural regions expansion towards mainline four lane roads have proceeded ahead of the expected time frame, with local construction tending towards a higher quality. Work on the system itself has been finalized with the regional interlinks completed and connected to more local road systems. Further development of roads will inherently build off the two massive lines running across the entire Ural region, providing interlinks and ensuring that most areas unserved by rail can be easily accessed. Further increases in the truck fleet are expected to increase local loadings, but as long as construction is maintained that should not pose an issue.
Water Distribution Systems(Stage 7): Calls for bringing universal pressurized water to every significant concentration of the population have been delayed for much of a decade but they can finally be entirely developed. Work on the construction of enlarged distribution infrastructure along with small integrated water towers will form much of the supply system, with much of the funding going towards the laying of new pipe before significant road renovations. New materials are available for modern plumbing, bringing the areas into the 20th century and ensuring that backwardness can be stamped out on the infrastructural end. (120 Resources per Dice 39/350)
Assessment work for the first in the planned series of fresh water expansions have effectively been planned to towns and villages where accessibility has been minimal. Construction itself will begin with several water towers along with a more intensive tapping of well water to build up supplies. Local connections will be constructed as a last factor, but it is nearly inevitable that local workers can stop using simple pumps for much of their water in rural areas. Further funding will also ensure that measured and significant improvements continue for the countryside, securing considerable political support.
Unified Canal System(Step 2 of 3): The demand for more cheap coal is massive and almost desperate with the lack of domestic transportability and the issues involved in moving the coal. Work on a far larger canal system has effectively already started with the stabilization of the rivers involved, but more funding and more development is desperately needed to ensure significant gains are made. Minor electricity gains are expected from the completion of the cascade, ensuring a steady increase in power supplies and providing the people with viable over-water transportation. Once the system itself is finalized, localized lignite semi-coke can be transported economically, massively reducing coal prices and ensuring that steel can remain a cheap commodity for construction. (369/350 Stage 2 Complete) (19/175 Stage 3) (21 CI12 Electricity) (Significant Cost Changes) (Finished in 1968)
The raising of water levels on the Ket river has proceeded on schedule with the actual canal and its locks prepared in advance for the increased water levels. Surveys of the rivers East of the Urals to map out compatibility with standard sizes for the deep water system have proceeded from the project. Soon a single barge can practically cross all the way from the Baltic Sea to lake Baikal. Most of the routing is expected to take on millions of tons of eastern coals and processed aggregate to ship West, ensuring a steady increase in utilization of subpar aluminum ores and non-anthracitic coals. Even local advanced coking efforts for the Kansk-Achinsk deposits have been proposed, finally solving any shortages of coal for the rest of the century once production is properly expanded.
The great taming of nature continues at the Siberian front, as more and more resources have been committed towards the decisive breakthrough. The USSR has never been endowed with excellent waterways, but through socialist ingenuity and the tireless work of thousands of engineers even nature can be made to kneel to the demands of the national economy. Rivers have been properly shaped to raise water levels and make a great new channel across the Urals, linking both of the most important industrial basins. Now the question comes, what next as the people's waterways will not develop themselves without the guiding hand of the party. -Izvestia, February 6th 1966
Power Grid Expansions: The localization of power production and the increase in the development of local power systems can only push off general grid modernization for so long. The increasing demands for power and massive construction efforts during the current plan must be compensated for to continue acute development and maintain stable grid balances. Work towards expanding the high voltage grid is expected to be prioritized, but further work towards improving the safety of local grids and modernizing low level transmission wiring is expected to follow. There is no reason to accept the increased fire risk of old-style wiring when modern alternatives are both cheaper and more efficient. (100 Resources per Dice 165/275)
Stabilization of grid development to compensate for the development of novel hydroelectric installations and the further installation of a massive quantity of electrical capacity has proceeded well ahead of plans. Much of the new use has come from cities that are already densely integrated into the electrical grid along with many of the new plants produced for local use. Development of the AC grid has also continued in even the most remote areas as power supplies have only steadily improved. Further work will still be necessary to complete the many switching stations called for in the plan though that is more a question of further funding rather than novel technical development.
ASU: Voznesensky has made a little assembled system for programers and enterprises, and while it is not necessary for overall planning, it has gained popularity amongst the enterprises. At this point the project can be finalized in distribution with orders and instructions finalized for those working on the overall program. Further funding will expand the training programs for new programmers and those capable of using the system, computerizing a significant portion of large and mid sized enterprises. A unification in systems bases is expected to make some minor improvements in reporting and readability, but as the same operators are using the machinery to make the reports significant changes are not expected. (187/150) (Completed) (-17 CI2 Electricity -3 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (+1 Dice Modifier)
The mobilization of the largest enterprises towards a new standard of computing and the capacity of having a massive calculating and tabulation unit on tap has driven a far larger extent of demand than expected. The mass release of the first Elbrus units has driven a far wider adoption than initially expected. Improved computing hardware in the form of denser transistor cards have already been made available with production almost entirely sold out. With increasing wages, the massive employment of programers to improve control has been seen as preferential over a massive number of secretaries. More importantly, the coherency and reliability of numbers has allowed the consolidation of critical personnel, favoring many enterprises' management. Some industrial applications have further started to apply computing systems towards direct process management, effectively eliminating floor staff in favor of a machine doing much of the work.
Elbrus units prove to be market success! With the current investment into new computing methodologies and the continued drive towards both cheaper and higher performance units. New integrating programming languages and their manuals are set to ship in triplicate with units and independent copies can be ordered. At the highest end of applications, the Elbrus-7 offers an unmatched execution of a million instructions per second, with a massive memory bank of four 256kB units. And this is just a starting point, as monolithic circuit enabled cards have been announced with a public release expected in 1969. Improvements in denser conventional transistor-diode logic are expected to come even sooner, providing the performance of top global supercomputers in an affordable package.
-Iskra, December Edition
Heavy Industry
Kuzbas Deposit Exploitation(Stage 3): Kuzzbass as an area of extraction offers to nearly double the coals available to the Union alone when discounting the massive brown coal deposits to the north of it. Developments at this stage will focus on the exploitation of more viable surface deposits to reduce overall costs of coal production and provide a far greater energy capacity to the Union than ever before. Work will demand a significant portion of labor and energy, but it will deliver massive gains to local wages and ensure that the Western Union can maintain the current high energy-coupled growth. (120 Resources per Dice 80/200)
Initial work towards the exploitation of the massive bituminous and anthracitic coals available to the Union has started at scale. Initial mining programs have steadily expanded to meet the massive demand of the West along with the necessity of supplying local steel production. Further work towards improving coal production is still going to be necessary to reach the goals of the program along with a continued development of transportation infrastructure. As funding has already been committed for the latter, the effective drive towards improving coal production comes down to a simple increase in funding and utilization.
Nikolayev Automotive Plant: The demand for more light trucks and the accompanying chassis for the production of lighter shuttle buses has only increased as the interior has been brought under development. Establishing a further plant will help to raise production numbers and ensure the steady development of further lighter vehicles than dedicated heavy truck plants. A renewal of the stock of general service vehicles is necessary to improve local throughput and provide additional capacity to the state bodies operating them. The factory itself is expected to be relatively small in light of that, starting production by the midpoint of the plan and ensuring that new production is entirely domestic. (133/100) (Completed) (nat 100) (-14 CI2 Electricity +2 Steel +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability) (+90 RpY)
Combining work with partners abroad and ensuring a degree of technical cooperation along with coordination has brought in a combined engineering and technological effort with Japanese manufacturers. Partnering with Nissan in order to provide improved capabilities a licensed hardened variation on the Datsun 520 has entered production along with the hiring of several teams of technical advisors with the aims of improving automotive industrial efficiency. Improvements in further reductions of latent inventory and a partial automatization of the line have entered experimental stages and are likely to be replicated across local enterprises to improve efficiency. The model itself comes as a massive improvement over old stocks of light trucks, delivering improved performance and an increased bed size compared to local production models.
Bryansk Truck Plant: Lighter end trucks that are built in the conventional scheme are still necessary for some of the worst roads in the Union. Building a dedicated facility for the mass production of heavier duty trucks without a detachable trailer and for lighter loadings can help to serve more remote communities. Technical work with these trucks is effectively deriving from previous work towards army systems, allowing some collaboration in design and a growth in mobilization capacity while building out civilian fleets. A unified six wheel chassis will allow for improvements to be made and the absolute oldest examples still in service to be finally retired from all roles. (160 Resources per Dice 127/150)
Mid scale trucks in the continued scheme from previous programs towards building for the army have come as a logical extension of older technical efforts. Military developments in the form of a 6L Diesel have effectively been transferred over along with a reinforced transmission scheme. Rear wheel carrying capacity has been massively improved over any previous generation of truck, capable of delivering four tons of cargo along with another four tons towed through the harshest of conditions. Flexible bed selection has been designed from the start, providing greatly enhanced capabilities for retrofitting towards alternative offroad use cases. Actual production numbers will severely depend on the state of the road network, but even if it were to be developed more aggressively then the Supreme Soviet wants, it can still find plentiful service in logging and outside areas of primary economic development.
Rocketry
Stalingrad Plant Expansions: Continued expansions of the Stalingrad plant are necessary despite the program cancellations as the RLA makes up the only real launch vehicle available. Increased scales of payload designs are expected out of the space program but as long as mass production can be maintained it can be made economical. Increasing the mission and launch tempo will come with an expansion of the plant along with a good quantity of well paying jobs that will stimulate local economic turnover. Actual rocket production is almost certain to level out at around fifty units per annum leaving more than enough capability for any reasonable application. (118/100) (Completed) (-9 CI2 Electricity +2 Non-Ferrous +1 Educated Labor)
As production numbers and orders for new rockets have climbed, efforts have gone towards further enhancing production of new stages. Engines have only steadily grown more reliable over time with the first few RLA failures effectively occurring just for communication payloads with relatively easily fixable issues. Tank production scaling has also come as an expected consequence of previous production, with steady improvements made to the design and layout to further continue production rationalization. Compared to far more involved isogrid tankage the structures are heavier and cut into payload, but those are more than acceptable to keep prices low. Local production of improved control systems have also started, ensuring a steady supply of electronics unconnected to other programs.
Publicly Provide Atmospheric Information: Any information on the atmosphere that the program gathers may as well be provided publicly and freely to news organizations and those responsible for weather prediction. The weather over the Union will never be a matter of dire military necessity outside of for some short moments in the case of another world war. Providing universal information will allow for a far greater standard of predictions and further improve agricultural yields through improving weather accuracy. (1 Dice) (80)
The full publication of atmospheric and weather information has been authorized as the exact weather over the Union has a negligible military relevance outside of the start of a third world war. Climate pattern analysis along with the radar screening of clouds and various storm systems from space promises to improve forecast accuracy to allow for a few days of reliable if still questionable predictions. Long term predictions will still inherently come from an almanac and previous regional history, but a precise tracking of adverse weather conditions from the ground and space can significantly reduce crop losses from adverse conditions. Predictions on snows have further been improved, allowing for a steady gain in capability.
Light and Chemical Industry
Samotor Field Development(Stage 1): A new discovery past the Urals has found a field with more oil in place than any other discovered field. Moving towards high throughput utilization of the field is going to be necessary to keep domestic energy prices low and ensure a consistent access to oil and gas. Local deposits are biased towards medium density oils, but even those can be used at a high rate without many technical issues. Outside of the location, the deposit itself is conventional and can enable local refinement of fuels without significant issues. (120 Resources per Dice 35/100)
Starting the exploitation of the massive deposits of oil that are already in place promises to more than supplant other oil fields and compensate for local depletion. Improved techniques pioneered in other fields will ensure an enhanced degree of recovery after conventional extraction is completed, ensuring steady supplies. Far more efforts are certain to be required in order to keep petrochemical prices low with actual investment in the sector, but given the current situation reductions in energy use this year have prevented a continuation in the rapid rise of new energy use.
Air Conditioner Plants(Stage 4): Direct developments in improving air conditioner access are essential for the development of housing and the maintenance of temperatures. Limitations in grid heating systems have led to the current issue with the current program forming an adequate basis for modernizing general temperature control. Further generation housing designs will integrate flexible thermal control as a baseline along with several improvements, but for as long as we are limited to window units there is little that can be done outside of increasing production. Commonality of components will further ensure a smooth transition when larger scale changes are made. (171+10 Omake/175 Stage 4 Complete) (6/300 Stage 5) (Crit-Fail) (-8 CI2 Electricity +1 Steel +1 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor) (+20 RpY)
The drive towards the amplification of climate control and ensuring that every Soviet home that is constructed will have direct temperature control has reached its logical highpoint. If the next generation of planned housing construction will have enough units for central operation, a new generation of air conditioning units and a further evolution of climate control infrastructure will be necessary. Committing the funding now will ensure that every new apartment will have a flexible scheme of climate control utilizing centralized thermostats synchronized to a general system rather than the hang-on units that have predominated previous programs. The expansions necessary to make climate control truly universal will be vast but necessary to improve the comfort of average soviet workers.
Modern Foods Production(Stage 1): To compete with the Americians and ensure that the average worker has the latest products an entire new generation of food production has become necessary. Packaged compact snacking food has been to an extent a popular demand along several population segments and investing into it now can achieve significant returns. Longer storage lives can serve to reduce general food wastage at a small cost in packaging, providing a base of production. Saturation and production sufficiency will take time and more funding then available at the current stage, but that can be done in time. (276/125 Stage 1 Completed) (151/150 Stage 2 Completed) (1/200 Stage 3) (-24 CI5 Electricity +5 General Labor) (+80 RpY)
The committed drive towards improving the production of products of immediate consumption and the accompanying state of the food sector has almost immediately delivered returns. Low moisture volatility foods have already been pioneered for a number of military applications, and by adding sugar and flavorings those same techniques could be applied towards the civilian sector. Everything from crackers to pastries has effectively been packaged after assessments with target audiences as new lines of sweets and general distribution goods have been copied. Establishing two dozen plants each specialized in the production of one of these confectionary goods has taken significant investment but expected returns are massive. Reducing the decay of rapid turnover production alone promises to revolutionize significant portions of the general consumptive sector.
Second Generation Plastics(Stage 2): New plastics are a promising field of domestic development with few international equivalencies and a core internal product for improving the economy, exports, and defense commitments. Current generations of new plastics will serve to augment general production systems across the country and replace less corrosion resistant polymers. Further stages have already been planned to improve the general system of production with more advanced polymers brought to the market. (169+15 Omake/175 Stage 2 Complete) (19/125 Stage 3) (-24 CI3 Electricity -3 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (+30 RpY)
The full scale replication of short and long chain terephthalate and their industrial scale production has started along the Union at a maximum pace. Increasing the yields of more chemically durable plastics promises to have them replace far more expensive stainless steels in a number of industrial applications while further enhancing specialized equipment distribution. Work on further developments in the plastics industry has also technically been initiated with the first technical surveys over bringing in a further generation of engineering polymers through exploring ether-ketone intermolecular effects. Licensing from the German industry already shows promise and a further generation of ultra hard plastics can start replacing aluminum in some applications.
Agriculture
Domestic Meat Programs(Stage 2): The promise of a chicken in every pot and meat on every table at least once a day is a massive promise given the state of agriculture, but one that can be met. Focusing on high return increases in chicken and cattle production while pig populations are climbing to fill previous facilities and economically utilize them can serve to further improve production. High compactness methodologies have already matured with new breeds of both animals delivering increased portions of meat on a faster timescale. Increasing funding further can even continue the expansion of chicken production to start working on lowering the price and meeting some meat demands. 362/150 Stage 2 Complete) (212/200 Stage 3 Completed) (12/250 Stage 4) (-40 CI4 Electricity +4 General Labor) (+70 RpY)
Further intensification and densification of pork along with chicken farming have been funded with rapid increases in the secondary utilization of grain and improvements in common species. Enhanced breeding methodologies for the production of more meaty faster growing chickens have increased meat production per bird by almost half, improving energy efficiency while minimizing total food burdens. Density improvements via the utilization of modern food chemistries and re-enforcements against excessive disease have further helped to improve the efficiency of farming. Pork has unfortunately been more conventional as there are few easy efficiency gains that can be made with current pigs. Compaction and closed lots have helped some, but those innovations have already been used across the industry. Further efforts will inherently have to focus on poultry, as it is both far cheaper and far faster to increase. Easy gains in the chicken industry can provide the Soviet people with plentiful eggs and ensure a new time of plenty.
Agronomy Institutes: The harsh soils of much of the nation and the variety in soil conditions across much of the Union is in desperate need of further study. Dedicated institutes to evaluate local soils and discover optimal procedures for their fertilization and tillage are required to further improve yields and improve the sophistication of agriculture. The system itself will cost fairly little compared to the relative impacts, and the publication of regional agricultural information can help every enterprise and business farming in a similar soil and climate. (100 Resources per Dice 36/75)
Collecting more personnel for improving the state of agronomy has come as a priority with the current state of agriculture. Smaller institutes around the more remote areas of the Union have been funded to improve studies of new soils. The primary focus of the program has come towards improving the state of general production and ensuring that a sustainable productive capacity can be maintained. Current funding has only been adequate to start construction of the institutes and studies have yet to be commissioned. Once funding is provided large scale analysis can start, improving the state of agriculture in the next plan.
Agricultural Insurance Enterprises: Setting aside funding towards the development of financial enterprises set to operate without a significant profit and for the public good has been done for some other industries, and there is little reason why it cannot be done for insurance. Fundamentally organizing insurers that can operate on a universal level with both the private and public sector with the goal of being money neutral can help to provide stability to every farmer and ensure that any significant disruption or drought will not disrupt the sector. (130/100) (Completed) (-4 CI1 Electricity +1 Educated Labor)
Providing physical outreach to the average farmer to ensure a steady increase in the use of insurance and the reduction of risk has been challenging, but massive economical returns are expected. Policies to formally expand the insurance are still in consideration leaving the expansion in a legalistic gray area. As the Supreme Soviet has better things to do, the expansion has still broadly passed as it is not like forming a new enterprise is outside the remit of the ministry. Distribution of the offices and outreach programs to encourage adoption are expected to favor the largest farmers first, but that is broadly expected.
Second Generation Seed Program: Massive programs towards the production of new cultivars of wheat derived from other nations cultivars of northern and winter wheats to derive the best traits of them. Work will involve the continued irradiation and cross breeding effort, effectively expanding it towards the use of international cultivars and working to further improve food yields. This program will be extended towards a new generation of potato cultivars and several other essential crops. The seed program will only mildly improve quality, but even a mild increase of nutrient uptake in intensive agricultural programs can reduce prices more than a decade of improving technical finesse. (90/75) (Completed) (-8 CI1 Electricity +1 Educated Labor)
Due to some access limitations, the sourcing of novel cultivars has come slowly, but it has still occurred through global trade. Mass purchases of seed crops of Norin 10 wheat along with several further improved mixed dwarf cultivars have a massive promise of delivering improved results. Further seed programs have driven towards the state backed implementation of improved potato and vegetable cultivars as a standard with costs lowered for five years to encourage faster adoption. Work on domestic irradiation and UV programs so as to improve the cultivars further have also started, with the expectation that even the American improvements can be overcome with local scientific talent.
Services
Distribution of Banking Branches: To properly allow for banking to be used by the people, the goal of the program should be the construction of a branch in every town and village. The goal of the state should be to ensure that every worker has a savings account in some form rather then holding their money outside the system, improving the monetary supply available for investment and ensuring that financial services are universally available rather then confined to a few elites. (80 Resources per Dice 118/150)
Massive expansion of the banking sector has been funded with thousands of branches planned to provide to most significant rural communities, ensuring that most citizens are a short bus ride away from financial services. Encouraging monetary storage in the banks is another matter but that too can be eventually solved with the system maintaining itself over the next few decades. As increasing funding is stored inside of the banking system rather than privately, the money can be made useful for encouraging further growth, allowing the economy to continue development. Some citizens will almost certainly continue hoarding their money under mattresses and in strange corners of their homes, but such habits are inevitable due to the previously misguided policies pursued by the government.
Expanded Childcare(Stage 3): Childcare services are still insufficiently utilized for the massive number of working mothers across the Soviet Union. Continuing large scale expansions can serve to more than meet the demand, ensuring that children are educated and not burdensome to families. The encouragement for childcare will likely increase birth rates especially as it is provided for free, ensuring that the next generation of Soviet workers is ready. Improving educational standards in childcare also promises to improve outcomes for children in the school system, increasing achievement and eventually university graduation rates. (199+15/200 Stage 3 Complete) (14/250 Stage 4) (-7CI2 Electricity +1 General Labor)
Continued development of childcare services has seen a general uptick in utilization of services but gains in workforce participation have lagged behind. The drive towards expanding services has also allowed for smaller towns to be integrated into the general services network. Utilization in rural areas themselves is only slowly expected to increase as the reliability and training of personnel improves. Integrated educational efforts have started to be tried at scale, with dense urban areas prioritized for the improvement in general attainment. Further improvements have been focused towards a general growth of the system along with a standardization of educational aims, with an effective last year preparatory course entirely integrated.
Transportation Enterprises(Stage 1): The massive procurement of more trucks is needed to sustain current industrial development and decisively get ahead of attrition to poor roads. Work on the import of new vehicles along with a general expansion in domestic demand can serve to significantly improve logistics. Funding programs are going to be more limited by road development than anything else, leaving some of it questionable, but to continue growth expansions are needed now rather than later. (182/150 Stage 1 Completed) (32/175 Stage 2) (+1 Petroleum Fuels +1 General Labor) (+10 RpY)
Improvements in the general truck stockpiles and the foundation of several enterprises focused around contracting for local level transportation have helped the Union to improve commercial activity. Contemporaries in the private sector have historically derived significant profits with everything from organized companies to individuals with trucks securing a significant share. Improvements in state efforts have come with further purchases of the most modern trucks, capable of pulling heavy trailers anywhere with developed roads. Capacity limitations from a lack of developed infrastructure have limited transportation capacity outside the Western Union but that is rapidly being fixed.
Legal Consulting Programs: With the current legal system reforms the availability of reliable and cheap representation has consistently been questionable. The average worker does not have the knowledge base to navigate the legal system on their own. Rather than allowing people to be guilty through no fault of their own, they can start by ensuring that there is an accessible supply of lawyers for every trial. Training is not going to be exceptional, but they can still adequately serve. (80 Resources per Dice 34/100)
With the other priority efforts and the state of the economy, the further development of legal services have taken a secondary priority. The necessity of massive development of more profitable ventures along with a general lack of cheap skilled personnel have limited the program. Work on hiring more expensive workers and improving pay has already started, but fundamental work towards improving the training of legal experts is still necessary. New classes larger than any before it are graduating, but more time is needed to sufficiently build up the local industry.
Hotel-Enterprises: Previous ignorance of the hotel industry has led to significant shortages in rooms for even basic enterprise meetings much less tourism. Rather than trying to do Voznesesnky's idea for a standardized basic hotel that would only appeal to the most desperate of students, semi-luxury structures can be constructed to appeal to the general workers and managers. Room sizes can be expanded outside of local norms with far nicer accommodations and a copying of common included services as in the West. (207/200) (Completed) (-18CI3 Electricity +2 General Labor) (+30 RpY)
Deviating from the original designs and ramping up the construction of hotels near large business centers and in vacation destinations has been relatively simple. The scale of the program itself has been vast with a constant commitment of supplies and personnel to ensure that travelers for business and vacation can have rooms of adequate quality with a set of basic services. Most of the enterprises have been founded on a minimal service model with paid room service integrated as standard. Interpretations of what minimal services should be offered have deeply varied amongst the enterprises established, but most have started to compete with private efforts, ensuring that in the next year Soviet tourists and enterprise management personnel can have an adequate quality stay near any significant area of the Union.
Bureaucracy
Unified Passport Zone: The passage of a unified zone of migration and free movement is still distant, but unifying standards for passports and ensuring that any passport in European CMEA can go anywhere else represents a massive step in improving the mobility of labor. Workers from abroad are necessary for further development and the continued construction of the economy. Free movement is also the first step towards further economic integration and the elimination of trade barriers. Work towards that will likely take much of the next plan, but it will be pushed through due to strong internal backing. (75)
Unification of passports and visa legislation has been passed in CMEA organizations with ratification expected by the end of the decade. Free movement for the current series of Comecon passports has been legislated with implementation and exact procedural interpretations still taking some time. Only European CMEA has been included in the current programs, but some tentative initiatives have been proposed for the integration of Asian partners but they have been rejected due to the significant social differences. Further integration of the European economy is expected to drive an increase in turnover and provide for improved access to labor, ensuring that economic growth can further be accelerated even for the poorest Comecon members.
Resumption of Punishments: We are now almost twenty years past any Stalinism and the laxity in punishments has led to consistent failures in discipline. Rather than a full re-introduction of punishments, the most severe cases can be made examples of with a decade spent in prison and a full revocation rather than simple restrictions on pensions. The focus of this is around the anti corruption effort itself making it deeply politically involved from all sides. Some of the more reform-minded have criticized it, but given what their laxity caused their voices have mostly been ignored as irrelevant. (6)
Something as controversial as the imprisonment of the worst of the managers and politicians that have broken the law both blatantly and endemically has immediately posed several issues. Supporting Abramov in his initiative towards punishing those that have broken the law has led to vicious attacks by the political spectrum about a return to Stalinism as every corner of the political environment has made its comments known on the issue. Pressure towards giving the people something has seen the laws placed back on the books in the instance of a near certain determination of prolonged and deliberate guilt, ensuring that only in instances of overwhelming evidence can the laws be used. Their passage has still been pressured even in a reduced and rationalized form, but the pressure of another incident has driven the Supreme Soviet towards some action.
Codify Convertibility: The new Euro has only just been founded and a scheme of convertibility towards it for external currencies has started to be implemented. A basis on gold is still expected for the new currency with each Euro pegged to a set quantity of gold. What this now formalizes is unspecific currency convertibility towards the Euro without the use of any intermediary and starts the transition of international transactions towards the universal use of Euros. Domestic work is still expected to happen in specialized currencies across the block, but a plan towards converting all economic activity towards the Euro by 1980 has been started. (78)
A finalized plan for the integration and replacement of all separate currencies across CMEA has been completed with only a minimal degree of bickering. An effective representative trust with membership determined by the population of each respective country has been organized as a block wide monetary apparatus for European CMEA. This has been combined with efforts to start with the formalization and unification of the general currency system. To improve monetary supplies, the new currency is expected to significantly loosen its backing towards gold in its immediate creation, followed by a general separation from it by 1980. The path ahead will be hard, especially as a new centralized monetary monetary apparatus is likely to be criticized for a number of decisions, but the gains from unifying commerce and valuation in the block cannot be under-estimated.
An Expanded Food Program: Moving to expand a new food program through conventional avenues along with any food being purchasable can ensure that the general diet of the Soviet People will be improved. Providing every citizen with a bare minimal degree of credit to purchase food will shift demand away from bare necessities, serve as an effective income raise for the poorest, and start the long work towards shifting towards a developed socialist system. Quantities that are expected to be allocated will be a small factor, but a notable one towards entirely eliminating hunger for the Soviet people. Eliminating misuse by parasites may be tempting, but the costs involved are more than would be gained by simply allowing them similar access. (35)
With the recent economic downturn and a need to combine targeted agricultural policy and improve worker incomes to replace older services in areas of significant utilization a new food program has been proposed. Broadly speaking, it is expected that a minimal provision of effective funds meant for spending on local food products can be provided to every citizen with a registered residential address. There have already been severe criticisms on the motions effective enablement of labor parasitism, but the need to have a functional welfare policy towards the reduction of discontent has been judged more important. Any criticism of breaking with Marxism is meaningless when there could be a genuine danger of massive rioting. Administrative excesses and increasing funding is expected to be avoided by using the same infrastructure as normal food distribution, with locally produced food eligible for purchase. To avoid issues in surge spending, coupons are expected to be distributed monthly, providing each citizen a stable base to survive on and effectively eliminating discontent from poverty.
Start a Commission on Agriculture: Creating an expert commission on agriculture away from various idiocies can provide a better idea on policy and more importantly a consensus on what to do. Instead of pushing through policy because of ministry advice, referring to an ostensibly impartial organ can help to provide some legitimacy to policy-making and minimize the issues involved. Organizing it and making it function is another matter, but a few agronomists should be manageable and mostly in agreement. (2)
With the paranoia over the exercise of ministerial power and the need to justify themselves to their electorate any suggestion or motion for a ministry to create a full independent commission arbitrarily and without the involvement of the Supreme Soviet has been entirely rejected. Debates have started on creating a new organization for studying agriculture and proposing policy but the crisis just a few weeks later has had the motion entirely tabled. It is almost certain to be lost in the legislation pursued to stimulate the economy and stabilize the situation. The only bright spot is that the more formalized stance also prevents other ministries from expanding their capabilities in a similar manner.
Call a Second General Meeting: Now that the worst actors are out of the ministry and more new personnel have been hired that have zero idea what they are doing, another meeting to talk over a plan can be made. The anti corruption investigation has hollowed out a wide range of capability and is not going to slow down. Without some form of ministry-wide plan to hire new personnel and a minimal degree of coordination, the current situation is not likely to get much better. Coordinating the initiative can also restore some internal confidence as the predominant mood is panic. (58)
The commonly held opinion in the ministry is that anti-corruption has gone too far and done too much damage to the integrity of the Ministry and the integrity of the Union. With every investigation important personnel are lost and the general damage to the economic system only steadily mounts. The ministry itself cannot be expected to endure more if it is to be held together and most of the high ranking personnel are in agreement. Either the investigation itself is brought to a controllable tempo or the entire ministry will be brought down in front of it, especially as no offense is expected to be treated as too minor in time. The most obvious and most corrupt will still be thrown out, as they are political dead weight, but the nation needs to move on rather than chasing the phantoms of the past. The option in theory does exist to be obstinate and indecisive, leaving the investigation to continue on its logical path, but given the perfect excuses provided in the economic downturn that may compromise any semblance of a position from within. Taking the offensive against what could be spun as a corrupt bargain and backstabbing everyone involved could be a theoretical path forward, but it is almost certain to backfire as it would be easy to paint as a return to Stalinist methods of organization.
[]Backstabbing: A conspiracy at the top offices in the vague terms of reducing the scale of anti corruption and crafting policies to ensure the ministry can preserve is still a conspiracy. Pivoting towards striking against the ministry and as one responsible for cleaning up the mess can serve some limited political advantage. Doing it so blatantly will ensure an immediate power struggle internally, but theoretically nothing anyone can do internally can bring the whole mess down. (Broader Investigation, Far More Severe Political Consequences)
[]Let it Pass: Avoiding any commitments and ensuring the program is executed to its planned scope and scale is the closest position to relative neutrality that can be taken. No one will be that offended that a minister with the post for two years chose first to save themselves. Those under the most intense scrutiny will rail against it and the plan will continue to be hindered, but a stable career may be worth throwing a few dozen high ranking personnel to the wolves. (Continues as Planned)
[]Enable Consolidation: Voznesensky's corrupt cadres have gotten us into this mess and have effectively caused much of the reaction. Every single one that is still working is dead weight, even if most have not internalized it yet. Out of a sense of political and internal disagreement and in order to get the state to move on as quickly as possible, corruption can be cut at its roots. Lists of political enemies who have a significant reserve of evidence can be jettisoned, finalizing internal takeovers and ideally using them to buy a pause on investigations. (Three Additional Anti Corruption Rolls Next Turn(6 dice total)) (Ends Investigation) (Will Owe a Favor)
[]Apolitically Maneuver: Creating the appearance that the massive removal of several prominent members of the old guard are being replaced only for their corruption will be challenging given the state of general paranoia. Instead of focusing specifically on factional and ideological lines, work can be conducted towards ensuring that orders from above focus more on a wholesale picture. It will still be a politically targeted series of removals, but one that at least has a few fig leaves of cover. Controversy is almost certain to mount with each supporter that gets jailed, but being fired with a large pension and getting a dacha will be acceptable to some. (Two Additional Anti Corruption Rolls Next Turn(5 dice total)) (Ends Investigation) (Will Owe a Favor)
[]Move Past It: The investigation needs to die, that is the unquestionable conclusion in the ministry and to a large portion of the Supreme Soviet. Investigating our own people has brought up massive rifts in politics and has basically destroyed the capacity for a coordinated response to the current crisis. Leaning hard on Abramov and Kosygin to reallocate the investigation, or to at least cleanly pause it for the crisis will come with costs, but it will buy a significant degree of capability. Rehiring and non-advancement will be prioritized over removing every last guilty worker, maintaining capacity and reducing impact. (Ends Investigation) (Will Owe Favors)
Request a Loan: The reality of the cutback plan is that debt will be necessary for further financing, even if it is questionable at the current point. A strong investment into the ministry has been practically expected given the low initial share of funding. Some may criticize the program as a return to Voznesensky's stimulus spending, but it needs to be done in order to ensure a smooth transition to a lower spending baseline. A lot however depends on the state of the economy, if a recession were to occur, a portion of the necessary financial capacity would not be available. (90) (Immediate +2500R) (Repayment -850R/y for the rest of the plan)
Immediate authorization for the increase in credit has been passed along with general provisions towards the increase of spending across the Union. The expected recessionary quarter after a decade of uninterrupted growth struck in the second quarter, with the significant failures of the Gorky plant, rapidly mobilizing politics. The actual text of the money provided in the loan itself has been maintained, but further emergency spending has been authorized. Actual political consequences for the loan and the spending itself have been relatively minimal, as the prevailing mood in the Supreme Soviet has almost turned on a dime with major plant failures. The funding that has been generally restricted has been authorized for deficit spending to resume economic growth and compensate for sectoral failures.
12 Hour Moratorium
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