European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse David s. Broder soviets say fabled King Mikhail has no clothes Moscow All week in the soviet capital my mind has turned Back 16 years. In the Spring of 1974, just a few months before Richard Nixon was forced to resign from the presidency because of watergate i made my first reporting trip to Eastern Europe visiting Czechoslovakia Hungary and Yugoslavia. The question an american journalist a especially one from the Washington Post a was asked incessantly was a Why Are you hounding this Man Nixon who has done so much for world peace a today an american reporter in Moscow is constantly challenged by soviet citizens who ask Why Washington officialdom and . Public opinion put soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev a on such a Pedestal a As one Man put it. The soviets living under Gorbachev Sec his faults and shortcomings in a Way most americans from president Bush on Down have chosen to ignore. To them his fabled Charm has worn thin. Even his diplomatic successes shrink in comparison to his Domestic failures. The other afternoon while Gorbachev was delivering his opening address to the 28th Congress of the soviet communist party i took an interpreter and wandered up and Down arbat Street with its shops and vendors interviewing people. One of them was a woman of about 40 named Galina. Like most others she declined to give her last name. She was visiting from her Home in the caucasus. Galina is a physician who supervises a Laboratory where biopsies Are performed on patients suspected of having cancer. She is a communist party member. But when i asked her what her expectations were of the party Congress she shrugged. A i would just like the situation to stabilize. There has been so much turmoil a she said referring to the infighting Between Gorbachev and his critics and also to the breakaway movements in the republics comprising the soviet Union reached a dead relationship Between the parly leadership and the people has no place to go. People no longer believe the a do you include Gorbachev in that statement a i asked. Xci is us reason to Sente a i feel we have end a she said. A the rate from the that last sentence explains the difference Between the internal and the external perceptions of Gorbachev. In America and elsewhere in the West Gorbachev is seen As this unique historic figure a a Man utterly unlike any of his predecessors in the party chairmanship gracious accommodating reasonable rational eager for peace and seemingly ready to incorporate Large elements of democracy and capitalism into his country. At Home Gorbachev a emergence is not seen As miraculous at All but rather As the predictable adaptation by an entrenched bureaucracy that faced a rising Public demand for change. He does not stand alone in the Public Eye but is linked a As Nixon was linked to Halde Man Ehrlichman Mitchell Magruder and Dean a to a regime whose failures Are ail too evident to those who live Here. A the party is responsible for where we arc a said Vitaly Korotich the witty Edi in i. Tor of Oga Nyok the weekly Magazine Quot 1 m a 4 Quot of course a she said. A the is not spa that is the voice of Reform. A stagnation William f. Buckley was not created by Mickey economic failure dominates daily life. Shortages Are endemic. Woja Tscheslaw Nikonov a political scientist on the staff of the Central committee recited Public opinion poll figures demonstrating that a most people say they lived better five years ago than they live the five years coincide with the period of Gorbachev a Rule. He has been in Power Long enough that he cannot escape being blamed for what has gone wrong a and much has in the eyes of soviet citizens. Young radicals like Sergei Oda Rich a 23-year-old organizer i met in Kiev speak of Gorbachev As if he were a criminal. Older people View him More Toler Antly a but without Awe. A at the moment he is needed a said theater director Les Taniuk 52, a but he does not give us the same thrill he does you a my favorite comment came from 85-year-old Oksana Meshko a Helsinki watch human rights activist who was arrested Early in her life by Stalin and again at age 75, by Brezhnev. Asked about Gorbachev she said a despite the enthusiasm everyone Felt for his words there have been no visible results of his decisions. This great statesmanship leaves Many of us Cool to him. But we see no one to replace him a at the the loss of Public Confidence puts Gorbachev Between a Rock and a hard place in the current party Congress. If he can hold on As party Secretary it would give him control of a giant bureaucracy a but one that is increasingly discredited in the eyes of the Public. But if he chooses or is forced to abandon his party Post and attempts to govern solely As an unelected president his Only support would be Public opinion a which is no longer reliably in his Comer. That is Why Arkady n. Murashev executive Secretary of the inter regional group the caucus of democrats in the supreme soviet Calls Gorbachev a a King without a c the Washington pos Sweden faces Tough sailing Over taxing Waters All of Sweden the hyperbole goes takes july off and anyone cruising the Waters in the area of drag Skog sgt understands Why. One also understands Why there is one Sailboat for every five swedes since the archipelago Southwest of Stockholm extends More than 100 Miles and almost As much to the Northeast. The swedish summer is a temptation to vacation the year round which brings us to business nicely caught by a Graffito reproduced in a foreign edited guide to Sweden. Scrawled on the Wall of a Large company in Stockholm was who will do the Job a swedish population 8,100,000 a Over 65 1,000,000 a left to work 7,100,000 a under 21 2,900,000 a left to work 4,200,000 a on Holiday 350,000 a left to work 3,850,000 a state employees 850,000 a left to work 3,000, xxx on military service 550,000 a left to work 2,450,000 a local authority workers 750,000 a left to work 1,700,000 a on sick leave 700,000 a left to work 1,000,000 work shy 994,800 a left to work 5,200 a in prison 5,198 a left to work 2 the Graffito ended Quot you and me a and in a fun and games. But. The statistics crowding around this Beautiful land of Sun and Snow Arentt heartening. One statistic puts it with piquancy. In 1987 the year on which the tables Cente More people got Rich in Sweden through lotteries than throw i work 1,435 swedes won at least 200,000 Kroner . $33,000 from various forms of gambling and lotteries 1,100 after taxes from working. A taxes. Sweden has Long had the heaviest tax Burden in the West. In 1987, taxes took 55.8 percent of Gross income up from 49.4 percent in 1980. During the same period Only West Germany new zealand and the United states reduced however the tax Burden. Sweden a capital gains tax is the highest in the world As is its highest wealth tax. The average tax Burden in other european countries is 38 percent. It would be reassuring to know that swedish socialism was paying off for the Middle class or for the working class but the figures begrudge such findings. A swedish Doc Tor earns $46,000, and after taxes keeps $21,000. A graduate Engineer earns $38,000 after taxes $19,000. A a us Driver earns $20,000 after taxes $13,000. Gross wages including employers social Security contributions for swedish Industrial workers were the seventh highest among 15 Industrial nations in 1987, real wages for swedish Industrial workers after taxes fell by 0.6 percent Between 1980 and 1987, even though Gross wages Rose by 72 percent in the same period a because of the heavy Burden of taxation in Sweden concludes the swedish Ekonomy Ifakat a research group in Stockholm a wages after tax will have to remain among the lowest in the european Community countries if Sweden is to be Able to maintain its competitiveness a it is As simple As that during 1970-80, Sweden a productivity increased 1.2 percent per year while the rest of Europe increased by 2 percent. Since then through 1987it has been 1.1 percent for Sweden 1.7 percent Tor the rest of Europe. A graphic Way to Pul it devised by the Ekonomy Ifakat is that if Sweden a Rale of growth had continued at the postwar 1945-1970 rate of 3.5 percent by the year 2000 the difference in accumulated earnings by the swedish worker Over the growth rate of 1.1 percent would amount to what it costs to buy a House in an Urban area. A but one must drive such thought from the Nind completing a vacation in Sweden a Why a Antony sighted to Cleopatra of an evening a do you insist on talking about world affairs a a cd fume r Sal p r t s s syndic la
