Comparison of the concepts underlying the reforms and the course they have taken in the field of private economic activity in the Soviet Union and China, the key question being whether the Russians will achieve similar successes with their reforms, once all the teething troubles are overcome, to those of the Chinese. Statistics: types of enterprise in the USSR and their employees; contributions made by enterprises under different types of ownership to total output of selected items of agricultural output, 1985-88; some financial data on private businesses in China. (EVD)