6 - The age of perestroika

Summary

Stages of economic reform

In previous chapters, we have let the Soviet economists with their conflicting views and proposals occupy the scene. It is time to bring order into the discussion by offering a framework in which to situate the proposals aired during the last thirty years. At this point, a comparison with East European reform concepts is also useful. By setting Soviet discussions against the framework to be proposed and contrasting them with East European concepts, we can assess the degrees of radicalism and consistency in Soviet proposals. By doing this in the context of perestroika we hone to be able to provide an answer, even if only a tentative one, to the question posed in the first pages of the book: is the Soviet economics profession capable of meeting the challenge posed by the reform effort? Is the crisis of perestroika, so evident by 1989, due to following or to ignoring the advice of the economists? Is there any connection between perestroika and Soviet economics?

The Kautsky–Lenin single factory image of the socialist economy lies at the roots of Soviet economic thought. After the revolution, it was reconfirmed in the 1919 programme of the Bolsheviks and later formed the backbone of Stalinist economic thinking. As Gavriil Popov points out, Stalinist thinking on socialism had so much in common with the image of future society displayed in the 1919 programme that there was no perceived need to change the party programme until 1961. More controversially, Popov thinks that the single factory model was also basically implemented in practice.