output. However, in the words of one high Gosplan 

 official, the choice of appropriate indicators re- 

 mains problematic, because "there is essentially no 

 experience in this area. "13 



As Kremlin policy makers have focused less and 

 less on R&D as a relatively isolated entity and more 

 and more on the interplay of R&D with industry, of- 

 ficial insistence grows that R&D and its applications 

 be closely linked. The aim of policy cannot be sole- 

 ly the expansion of S&T per se or "science for sci- 

 ence' s sake" but must include its use as an instru- 

 ment for economic growth and industrialization. "Rel- 

 evance" has become a big issue, if not the fad of the 

 day, as the Soviet leadership seeks greater and fast- 

 er payoffs from the nation's substantial investment 

 in scientific R&D. Indeed, a major challenge con- 

 sists in formulating a science policy to promote in- 

 novation, to build an effective strategy of research 

 utilization. In the early 1970s Brezhnev, in fact, 

 singled out the application of R&D results as the 

 most important but also the most deficient aspect of 

 S&T policy. "If we examine all the links of the in- 

 tricate chain that binds science to production, we 

 shall easily see the weakest links are those relating 

 to the practical realization of scientific achieve- 

 ments, to their adoption in mass production." It was 

 necessary, the General Secretary stressed, "to create 

 conditions compelling enterprises to manufacture the 

 latest types of products, literally to chase after 

 S&T novelties, and not to shy away from them, figura- 

 tively speaking, as the devil shies away from holy 

 water. "1* 



Despite the espoused need for more effective cou- 

 pling, however, the integration of science policy and 

 economic policy has been slow and difficult to achieve 

 in practice. In May 1974 the Chairman of Gosplan 

 still noted, "It is urgently necessary to shift from 

 the planning of S&T potential, which is what the S&T 

 plan is at present, to planning the mass production 

 and diffusion of new technology ."!-> Planning R&D re- 

 mains geared to the creation of new technology and 



257 



