MIKHAIL GORBACHËV 125with a single break, sometimes did not end until nine at night. Gor-
bachëv soon came to recognize that this dragged things out too much
and he carried a proposal to limit reports to ten minutes – with the
maximum set at fifteen. Contributions to discussion should not last
longer than five minutes.^42
He insisted on a definite topography for the Politburo’s movement
towards big new decisions. The Walnut Room in the Kremlin lay
between the Politburo venue and Gorbachëv’s office, and it was there
that he brought together five or six of the more influential members to
agree on how to handle the agenda that he had drawn up.^43 He encour-
aged a corporate sense of responsibility. The crucial thing was for
the Politburo to agree on a policy and stick to it. There was a break
for lunch, which they ate together at a single long table. No alcohol
was allowed, and everyone continued to discuss the same topics as in
the formal meeting. Brisk efficiency was demanded.^43 The Party Secre-
tariat too experienced the fresh atmosphere. Gorbachëv disliked
its penchant for showy announcements and bureaucratic practices.
He pointed out that economic growth had been nil in February 1985.
He described this as an abysmal record, and called for instant improve-
ment.^45 Likewise he accused government ministers of failing to
understand the emergency in food supply because they themselves
enjoyed the privilege of Granovski Street cafeteria near the Kremlin.
He threatened to withdraw this facility and deprive their staff of their
Chaika cars.^46 He organized urgent preparations for the next Central
Committee plenum as well as for the Political Consultative Committee
in Sofia. He wanted all-out action from every official.^47
Gorbachëv favoured a drastic reform of the Soviet order. As yet he
had no definite practical measures in mind. But his impatience was
obvious. He told aides that farming cooperatives were superior to the
existing system of collective agriculture.^48 Something drastic needed to
be done. He resented how the leadership had been behaving for years:
‘They strangled the countryside with rockets. Until recently, whenever
the question arose about supporting the countryside, Ustinov would
stand up and say: “Only over my dead body.”’^49 Gorbachëv was later to
claim that the general situation in the USSR had troubled him in Stav-
ropol as early as 1975.^50 He and his friend Eduard Shevardnadze,
the Georgian Communist Party First Secretary, met on holiday in
the Abkhazian city Pitsunda in 1979 and shared their thoughts on the
subject. Shevardnadze said: ‘Everything’s gone rotten – there’s got
to be change.’^51 Gorbachëv himself had taken risks in other private