Sentence:  Over all these fairly awkward problems Khrushchev was to skate rather lightly ; and , though he repeated , over and over again , the spectacular figures of industrial and agricultural production in 1980 , the `` ordinary '' people in Russia are still a little uncertain as to how `` communism '' is really going to <WSD>work</WSD> in practice , especially in respect of food . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have an effect or outcome; often the one desired or expected