8A 
review the party program and statutes and elect the Central Commit- 
tee and the Central Auditing Commission. In fact, however, these 
are symbolic powers and the Congress is composed of several thousand 
members who meet for a few days once every 5 years. 
The Party Congress does serve as a forum for both bape a reran 
and criticism of the leading party line and for voicing disagreements. 
The Congress includes the report of the Central Committee and 
reviews foreign and domestic policies, which are followed by laudatory 
statements and speeches on the new economic plans and reports. 
The Party Congress can, as in 1956, be the location for a major 
announcement on de-Stalinization. It can also serve as a forum for 
disagreement, as at the 22d Party Congress* or the 24th Congress 
in 1971 when both the Ukranian and Byelorussian party chiefs at- 
tacked the Ninth Five Year Plan’s emphasis on consumer goods.*! 
Ocean issues were directly discussed at the 23d Party Congress in 
1966. Michael Sholokhov, the prominent Soviet author lashed out 
at the Minister of Fisheries A. Ishkov for his poor management of 
the industry. Speaking as ‘‘a representative of Soviet literature’’ he 
criticized Ishkov’s lack of concern about the harm done by pollution 
throughout the Soviet Union.*? Sholokhov conducted a lengthy 
discourse on the need to save Lake Baikal and the absence of planning 
tO,, 7 . preserve ‘the glorious sea sacred Baikal!’’’ He emphasized 
that “‘the Quiet Don is vanishing,” and the threat of exhausting fish 
reserves in the Azov Sea. Sholokhov particularly criticized Ishkov 
for his attitude and poor managemant and operational techniques, 
that result in depleting fish stocks. Sholokhov stated that he had 
reluctantly toned down his presentation at the request of friends who 
said that he was being too rough on the Minister of Fisheries.** His 
speech was well received and repeatedly interrupted by prolonged 
and stormy applause. 
LOWER PARTY ORGANS 
The structure and operations of the lower party organs will not 
be examined in this study, but it should be kept in mind that they 
are important administrative units of the party used for supervision 
and transmission of higher party directives and also for making deci- 
sions at their level of operation. Jerry Hough in his extensive study 
notes that the party first secretary at the republic or provincial level 
is a perfect like official and an integral part of the administrative 
system.** He is responsible for representing the center in his area, 
coordinating the work of local agencies, and seeing that decisions 
reflect broader perspectives. The top policy decisions are made in 
the central party organizations. However, since it is often difficult 
to distinguish between routine administrative questions and those that 
49 Slusser’s account of the October 1961 proceedings analyzes the conflicting approaches. 
41Cook, p. 7. 
42 Marshall I. Goldman notes that the Chief Administration for Fish Control of the Ministry of 
Fisheries was one of numerous agencies that set up investigative commissions on Lake Baikal pollu- 
tion and approved of the plans for the factories. ““The Spoils of Progress: Environmental Pollution in 
the Soviet Union” (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1972), pp. 190-191. 
43Speech by Comrade M. A. Sholokhov (Pravda April 2, 1966), p. 5. Condensed and translated 
text in Current Soviet Policies, Volume 5. The Documentary Record of the Twenty-third Congress of 
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Columbus, Ohio: American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Slavic Studies, 1973), pp. 66-8. 
44 Jerry F. Hough, ‘‘The Soviet Perfects: The Local Party Organs in Industrial Decision-Making” 
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969). 
