The Political Economy Of Stalinism

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.

Bringing together the Soviet historical experience and Stalin-era art in novels, films, poems, songs, painting, photography, architecture and advertising, Dobrenko examines Stalinism's representational strategies and demonstrates how real socialism was begotten of Socialist Realism.

First published in 1964, Was Stalin Really Necessary? is a thought-provoking work which deals with many aspects of the Soviet political economy, planning problems and statistics. Professor Nove starts with an attempt to evaluate the rationality of Stalinism and discusses the possible political consequences of the search for greater economic efficiency, which is followed by a controversial discussion of Kremlinology. The author goes on to analyse the situation of the peasants as reflected in literary journals, then looks at industrial and agricultural problems. There are elaborate statistical surveys of occupational patterns and the purchasing power of wages, followed by an examination of the irrational statistical reflection of irrational economic decisions. Professor Nove’s essay on social welfare was, unlike some of his other work, used in the Soviet press as evidence against over-enthusiastic cold-warriors, among whom the author was not always popular. Finally, the author seeks to generalise about the evolution of world communism.

The "red files" revealed. Examining the period from the early 1930s through Stalin's death in 1953—the height of the Stalinist regime—this enlightening book reveals what we have learned from the archives, what has surprised us, and what has confirmed what we already knew. Most of the authors have worked with these archives since they were opened.

First published in 1964, this title deals with many aspects of the Soviet political economy, planning problems and statistics. It evaluates the rationality of Stalinism and discusses the possible political consequences of the search for greater economic efficiency.

Stalinism in a Russian Province reexamines the agrarian policy pillars of Stalin's 'revolution from above' initiated in 1929-30, and is the first major study of its kind since the opening of Soviet archives. Through a pioneering application of the theoretical approaches of moral and political economy to Stalin's peasant policy, Hughes reevaluates the causes and processes involved in the great political, economic and social changes in the Soviet countryside. Rather than a bipolarized conflict between state and peasant, he profiles the socially variegated response of different peasant groups to collectivization and dekulakization and argues that it was as much a process involving social conflict between peasants.

'A lively and well written comparison of economic transformation in China and the USSR/Russia, combining a good knowledge of the Chinese economy with a radical critique of Western transition orthodoxy, this very topical and very controversial book will be useful reading for students, administrators in many countries and international agencies, and business people.' - Michael Ellman, University of Amsterdam `Peter Nolan makes a pungent challenge to conventional wisdom by arguing that the Chinese approach to system reform has been vastly more successful than the shock therapy applied to Russia. His book is based on extensive comparison and deep insight into the political economy of both countries.' - John Toye, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex This book is the first attempt to analyse systematically the dramatic contrast in the results of post-Stalinist reform in China and Russia. It argues that there emerged a 'transition orthodoxy' about how to reform the communist systems of political economy. However, it was deeply flawed. The advice which flowed from this orthodoxy was the primary cause of the Soviet disaster. The decision not to follow it was the main reason for China's enormous success in its reform programme.