Complaints on shortages aired in Soviet weekly

Literaturnaya Gazeta, a Soviet political weekly, published some of the 500 letters it said it received bitterly complaining about clothing shortages in what appeared to be a criticism of the way the entire Soviet economic plan system works. Western diplomats said they believed the story could signal the start of much more strident criticism of weaknesses in the plan system in an attempt to combat waste and inefficiency in all branches of industry.