Dynastic Rule by Norman Geraldine;

Author:Norman, Geraldine; [Geraldine Norman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4862990
Publisher: Unicorn Publishing Group
Published: 2017-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

It was debated whether the Academic Council of the museum – curatorial staff only – or a new Workers’ Collective should call the tune in the democratic management of the museum. The volume of discussion and criticism of the current directorship reached such a pitch that an internal newspaper called Panorama was born. It was published fortnightly and became the mouthpiece of the young Turks.

The first issue was published on 11 July 1989 and proclaimed itself the journal of the Party Bureau, the trade union, the Komsomol Committee and the Director’s Office – quite a line-up. Six months later, in January 1990, it became simply the journal of the Workers’ Collective. The first issue contained, among other things, an interview with Suslov who had been appointed chairman of the new joint venture, in addition to his role as Deputy Director – the clash of interests was quickly pointed out.

Suslov explained in his article that the main thrust of the museum’s endeavours lay in its major development scheme, as finalised in 1985, which was going to be very expensive. The joint venture, he predicted, would generate the millions of roubles that were required to pay for it. He was wrong.

It was initially billed as a joint venture with National Geographic but, although they had expressed an interest in it, no actual contract was signed. The foreign partner in the joint venture, as designed by Suslov and reluctantly signed into existence by BB, turned out to be a company founded for the purpose by a native of St Petersburg, George Garkusha, and his American wife. It was called the Transatlantic Agency and was to take 55 per cent of all profits leaving the museum with 45 per cent. The Agency was to control foreign exhibitions, shops, replicas of museum items, a museum restaurant and staff canteen. A 400-room hotel at 30 Palace Embankment and Number 31 Millionnaya was planned.

Suslov, as chairman of the joint venture, saw himself as pioneering an international management role – but he had been trained in the Soviet system and was lost in the complexities of Western economics. Effectively he had put all the development plans of the Hermitage in the hands of one man and his wife. Garkusha, a former Hermitage porter, had gained his managerial experience as an employee of the Soviet Trade Department in America. He had picked up a limited amount of knowledge but not enough.

Unsurprisingly and understandably, the joint venture’s plans became, the focus of intense criticism in the pages of Panorama. ‘In general the financial situation was desperate,’ comments Mikhail. ‘That’s why the Hermitage got involved with the joint venture. Garkusha, who ran it, came up with some good ideas. Everything that he was proposing has now been done without him – the shops, public relations, exhibitions, even the café […] They are absolutely normal ways to try to earn money. The problem was that he wanted to keep it all in his own hands. The Hermitage would not earn money itself: he would earn it and give some back to the Hermitage.

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