While certain official privileges would be provided to citizens depending on status (as a party official, member of the intelligentsia, factory worker, or toiling peasant ()), access was by no means guaranteed even for the upper echelon, as "commodities like
dachas and housing in a ministerial apartment block were in extremely short supply, and mere membership in the eligible group was not enough to secure the prize. To get privileges, [one] needed contacts with somebody higher up; in short, [one] needed a patron." Another notable operation of
blat system was the institution of
tolkachs. In the Soviet Union, the
Gosplan was not able to calculate efficient or even feasible plans, so enterprises often had to rely on people with connections, who could then use
blat to help fulfill quotas. Eventually most enterprises came to have a dedicated supply specialist – a
tolkach (literally "pusher") – to perform this task. ==Usage==