The political economy of Stalinism : evidence from the Soviet secret archives
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The political economy of Stalinism : evidence from the Soviet secret archives
Cambridge University Press, 2004
- : hbk
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-300) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This book uses the formerly secret Soviet state and Communist Party archives to describe the creation and operations of the Soviet administrative command system. It concludes that the system failed not because of the 'jockey'(i.e. Stalin and later leaders) but because of the 'horse' (the economic system). Although Stalin was the system's prime architect, the system was managed by thousands of 'Stalins' in a nested dictatorship. The core values of the Bolshevik Party dictated the choice of the administrative command system, and the system dictated the political victory of a Stalin-like figure. This study pinpoints the reasons for the failure of the system - poor planning, unreliable supplies, the preferential treatment of indigenous enterprises, the lack of knowledge of planners, etc. - but also focuses on the basic principal-agent conflict between planners and producers, which created a sixty-year reform stalemate.
Table of Contents
- 1. The jockey or the horse?
- 2. Collectivization, accumulation, and power
- 3. The principles of governance
- 4. Investment, wages, and fairness
- 5. Visions and control figures
- 6. Planners versus producers
- 7. Creating Soviet industry
- 8. Operational planning
- 9. Ruble control: money, prices, and budgets
- 10. The destruction of the Soviet administrative command economy.
by "Nielsen BookData"
