Simply tinkering with the economy or even offering more material incentives will not be adequate. Liberalization of the general political and intellectual climate is necessary to restore some legitimacy to the regime in the eyes of its population and to make people believe that they have some stake in the system, no matter how illusory this actually is. Only then will they be ready to make the sacrifices that the regime will require. Although innovative, General Secretary Khrushchev realized that such a policy is fraught with dangers and has definite limits. There will be a need for change, but not so great that it threatens the dominant group's seizure of power. The system must be reformed, but without weakening the rudimentary class relations from which the elite derives its privileges. The publication of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” will lead to the discredit of pro-Stalinists and the pseudo-culture of socialist realism. People will be inspired to think and speak independently, and this freedom from accusation of anti-Soviet speech will foster loyalty to the leadership. This, in turn, will lead to improved productivity and, ultimately, economic revival – the most effective means of consolidating control. Shukhov, the protagonist of the novel, is a poor and ignorant man: an anomaly in Russian literature. He is not an aristocrat, an intellectual or an ardent victim like most heroes of Russian novels of the nineteenth century. Shukhov is a simple peasant, perhaps even illiterate. When he sees the poem Kolya is copying, for example, he doesn't recognize the strange way of writing each line directly under the previous one. He is impressed by men like Caesar who lived in Moscow, who according to Shukhov... middle of paper... do not rely on the coercive power of the market, especially unemployment. Nor can it offer workers the positive incentives to work that a true socialist democracy would provide. Both require a total transformation of the property and power relations of the Soviet system and, in different ways, would deprive the elite of any basis on which to continue to govern: the first by restoring capitalism, the second by enabling a politicized and self-conscious economy . society collectively to determine policies, priorities and how these would be achieved. The only conceivable course of action is a social and political thaw to restore people's trust in government and, consequently, secure their sacrifices. The publication of this novel will be strategic for the liberalization of Russia and for the consequent glorious and undoubted conquest of power in the Party by General Secretary Khrushchev..