instances, the basic directions provide a set of 

 highly visible priorities to which decision makers 

 can flexibly relate in deciding problems of choice. 

 Basic directions facilitate the practice described by 

 American observers as "decentralizing through prior- 

 ities." In an important way, then, they form "a 

 parallel mechanism to the plan, ideally correcting 

 for the plan's limitations and contradictions. "100 

 Finally, the significance of the "basic directions" 

 has been attested to in a message by General Secre- 

 tary Brezhnev to the Academy of Sciences on its 250th 

 Birthday: 



Scientists and specialists in the various 

 branches of the natural sciences, technol- 

 ogy, and the social sciences have given and 

 are continuing to give the Party enormous 

 help in accomplishing all these tasks and 

 in working out plans and implementing them. 

 For this, the Party gives them all heartfelt 

 thanks . 



However, comrades, in the future you will 

 have to work even harder, more persistently 

 and more effectively. We have no intention 

 of dictating to you the details of research 

 topics — that is a matter for the scientists 

 themselves. But the basic directions of the 

 development of science, the main tasks that 

 life poses, will be determined jointly. ^01 



In the industrial ministry hierarchy, research, 

 development, and innovation objectives must be incor- 

 porated with other economic goals. The character of 

 R&D at this stage, especially the increased predict- 

 ability of results, eases the task somewhat. The dis- 

 aggregation is usually straight-forward, although dif- 

 ficult to realize in practice. Targets of all-union 

 importance, by way of the GKNT, are included in plans 

 of ministries along with tasks of branch significance 

 initiated at that level. As a rule, the technical 

 administration of the ministry is charged with formu- 

 lating branch targets, a process which in principle 

 is conducted in close coordination with the economic- 



133 



