Soviet Economic Thought and Political Power in the USSR PDF
Preview Soviet Economic Thought and Political Power in the USSR
Pergamon Policy Studies on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Aboucher ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF SOVIET SOCIALISM Allworth ETHNIC RUSSIA IN THE USSR Blazynski FLASHPOINT POLAND Dlsmukes & McConnell SOVIET NAVAL DIPLOMACY Douglass SOVIET MILITARY STRATEGY IN EUROPE Duncan SOVIET POLICY IN THE THIRD WORLD FallenbuchI & McMillan PARTNERS IN EAST-WEST ECONOMIC RELATIONS Francisco, Laird & Laird THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COLLECTIVIZED AGRICULTURE Kahan & Ruble INDUSTRIAL LABOR IN THE USSR Koropeckyj & Schroeder ECONOMICS OF SOVIET REGIONS McCagg & Silver SOVIET ASIAN ETHNIC FRONTIERS Neuberger & Tyson THE IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC DISTURBANCES ON THE SOVIET UNION AND EASTERN EUROPE Schulz & Adams POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNIST SYSTEMS Related Titles Brezhnev LI. BREZHNEV — SELECTED SPEECHES AND WRITINGS ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS Close EUROPE WITHOUT DEFENSE? Gorshkov SEA POWER OF THE STATE Laszlo & Kurtzman EASTERN EUROPE AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER Strickland SOVIET AND WESTERN PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Hfe PERGAMON ON THE SOVIET UNION POLICY AND EASTERN EUROPE STUDIES Soviet Economic Thought and Political Power in the USSR Aron Katsenelinboigen wmammmmmimmmmmmmmMmm^mmimmmmmmmmmmmmmg Pergamon Press NEW YORK · OXFORD · TORONTO · SYDNEY · FRANKFURT · PARIS Pergamon Press Offices: U.S.A. Pergamon Press Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford. New York 10523, U.S.A. U.K. Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall, Oxford 0X3 OBW, England CANADA Pergamon of Canada Ltd., 150 Consumers Road, Willowdale, Ontario M2J 1P9, Canada AUSTRALIA Pergamon Press (Aust) Pty. Ltd., P 0 Box 544, Potts Point, NSW 2011, Australia FRANCE Pergamon Press SARL, 24 rue des Ecoles, 75240 Paris, Cedex 05, France FEDERAL REPUBLIC Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg/Taunus, OF GERMANY Pferdstrasse 1, Federal Republic of Germany Copyright © 1980 Pergamon Press Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Katsenelinboigen, Aron losifovich. Soviet economic thought and political power in the USSR. (Pergamon policy studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Economics, Mathematical—Russia—History. I. Title. HB135.K375 1979 330Λ0947 78-17552 ISBN 0-08-022467-9 All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers Printed in the United States of America In memory of my grandparents, Yitshak and Rebecca Katsenelinboigen and Gersh and Sara Feldman Preface This book attempts to demonstrate the process of the evolution of economic theory in the Soviet Union from uniformity under Stalin to diversity in the post-Stalin period. The investigation of this process has a general significance for Soviet studies because economics has taken first place among Soviet humanities and social science to the degree that a variety of opinions has been permitted. In the USSR diversity of opinion has not yet developed in the fields of history, law, and philosophy, for example, as rapidLy as in economics. At the same time, the tolerated diversity of opinions in economics is limited, and not only by the traditional use of Marxist terminology. For example, a taboo is still placed on the discussion of many of the major economic problems, such as the introduction of private property. As well as attempting to explain the reasons for the uniformity of economics under Stalin and for the appearance of diversity in this science during the post-Stalin period, in this book I am also trying to clarify the structure of this diversity, the paradoxes in its development, and the conditions under which it will continue. The connection be tween leaders of Soviet economics and the Party rulers is also exam ined. This examination includes the attitudes of various factions of economists, e.g., reactionaries, conservatives, and modernizers, toward the question of the limitation of the leadersT power, toward some areas of economics, such as problems of mathematical modeling and institutional economics, and toward the Marxist ideology. Such dual analyses allow for a deeper understanding of how progressive and reactionary traits can be neighbors, occupying the same general trend of thought in Soviet economics. It becomes clear, for example, why reactionary Party circles can support economic trends which contain some significant progressive theoretical ideas. IX X PREFACE In trying to paint several pictures of the evolution of Soviet eco nomics in the post-Stalin period, I have concentrated on the analysis of one of its new leading trends—mathematical economics. It is well known that in the West, every economist makes use of mathematical methods to one degree or another. These individuals, called math- matical economists, deal with proving theorems related to mathema tical models of economic systems. The elaboration of algorithms for resolving economics problems, on the other hand, is the domain of operations research. A related group of economists, econometricians, specialize in statistical analyses of economic processes. In the Soviet Union, however, all economists who make any use of mathematical symbols at all are called mathematical economists, a direct result of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Soviet econ omists are scarcely familiar with mathematics. The variety of trends in mathematical economics in the Soviet Union is very much the same as that in the West. The number of economists behind each trend in the Soviet Union, however, is too small to warrant separate grouping. Though I will not give a general evaluation of the role of economic- mathematical methods in the USSR, the development of the economic- mathematical trend seems to promise a partial deliverance of Soviet economics from the fetters of Marxist dogmatism and an increase in communication with Western economics. Keep in mind, however, that with the help of the computers this trend threatens the potential preser vation and intensification of the rigid centralization of the political system. The analysis of the development of the economic-mathematical trend in the USSR is divided into three parts. In Chapter 1, I examine the social environment in the Soviet Union in macro terms because this determines above all the conditions for the development of economics. Chapters 2-5 consider the role of various mutations among the econo mists, the flexibility of the society in allowing the formation of diverse groups around these mutations, and their institutionalization, especially in the framework of the existing research institutes and universities. Finally, Chapter 6 illustrates the confusing struggle among the various trends in Soviet economics and the ways in which this struggle is sup ported by the political leaders of the country. Of course, one must not expect a systematic exposition of the de velopment of Soviet mathematical economics from this book, since on the whole the methodology for studying socioeconomic life in the USSR is undeveloped. It is possible that this work, however, will help in the creation of such a methodology. In Western literature, there are a certain number of books devoted to the development of Soviet mathematical economics. Among these PREFACE xi are A. ZaubermanTs remarkable books, particularly one of his latest works: Mathematical Theory in Soviet Planning (London: Oxford University Press, 1976). Another work of interest is M. Ellman's Planning Problems in the USSR: The Contribution of Mathematical Economics to Their Solution 1960-1971 (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni versity Press, 1973). A group of American economists, J. Hardt, M. Hoffenberg, N. Kaplan and H. Levine edited Mathematics and Computers in Soviet Economic Planning (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1967). This book is a collection of excellent articles including: finformation, Control, and Soviet Economic Planning" by R. Judy, "Soviet Optimizing Models for Multiperiod Planning" by J. Montias, "Input-Output Analysis and Soviet Planning" by V. Tremi, and "Linear Programming and Soviet Planning" by B. Ward. As with all Western analyses, both these works are based pri marily on external sources and observations. The limited access for Western scholars to the informal aspects of Soviet economic life must also limit to a certain degree the group of problems examined in these works. The basic distinction of this book is its reliance on informal, first-hand sources gathered between 1956-73 when I worked in the USSR Academy of Sciences, first as a junior scientist and later as the head of a section, as well as from 1970-73 when I was also a Professor of Economics at Moscow State University. I have talked with the people who began the trends in economics and those who assisted or obviously impeded their development. At times my characterizations of these people may contain too many per sonal remarks because I attempt to show as concretely as possible the development of these scholars. To help the reader better sense the atmosphere in which Soviet economics has developed, I have put into footnotes a number of remarks which support and explain to some degree the development of differing economic schools of thought. For the same reason, I also prepared an appendix where some general problems of economics and sociology are discussed. Some of the ideas discussed in this book were published in the articles: "Conflicting Trends in Soviet Economics in the Post-Stalin Era," The Russian Review, vol. 35, no. 4, 1976, pp. 373-99; "Soviet Science and the Economist/Planners," Soviet Science and Technology: Domestic and Foreign Perspectives, published for the National Science Foundation by the George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 1977, pp. 230-42; "L. V. Kantorovich: Political Dilemma in Scientific c Creativity," Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics, vol. I, no. 2, 1978, pp. 129-47; and in Studies of Soviet Economic Planning, White Plains, N.Y. : M.E. Sharp Publisher, 1978, pp. 1-229. Acknowledgments At the end of 1973, I emigrated from the USSR. In the United States I met a number of American specialists on the economics and history of the USSR, among whom were Professors M. Adams, V. Bandera, S. Cohen, G. Grossman, M. Feshbach, I. Koropeckyj, H. Levine, A. Riasanovisky, A. Rieber, V. Tremi and R. Tucker. I often spoke with them about the routes along which Soviet economics was developing. Their interest convinced me to write down my thoughts on the subject. Although they are not responsible for my thoughts—and my errors—I appreciate their encouragement· I also would like to take this opportunity to thank Alexander Yanov for the conversations in which he shared with me his methodology for the investigation of social life in Russia. During these conversations we discovered new aspects of the problems and better understood the process of examination. These conversations had a tremendous in fluence and aided me in systematizing the diversity of trends in Soviet economics. I am grateful, too, for the discussions with Professor S. Gale, which alerted me to possible American misunderstandings. I would like especially to thank Professor Grossman, on whose initiative I was given the opportunity to prepare the first draft of this book at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. T. Emmons, editor of the journal, The Russian Review, and Dr. S. Weintraub, editor of the journal, The Post-Keynesian Economics, personally helped me in the preparation of two articles for their re spective journals concerning the problems which are discussed in the present book. Many thanks to them. I am thankful to the National Science Foundation and especially Dr. J. Thomas, to the University of Pennsylvania and especially Professor V. Gregorian and Mr. M. xiii XLV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Doxer, to the Ford Foundation, and the Institute of International Re lations of the University of California at Berkeley, which financially supported the writing of this book, its translation into English, and the editing. In addition, I would like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of: L. Visson, translator; S. Dechert and B. Gale, editors; my wife, Gena, and M. McCutcheon who typed the manuscript. Also, special thanks to my sons, Alex and Gregory, and my friends, A. Ackoff and M. Brodskaya, for their help in preparing the manuscript for the publisher. Ideology, Pragmatism, and the Development of Mathematical Economics in the USSR IDEOLOGY AND PRAGMATISM IN SOVIET SOCIETY The activities of Communists throughout the world serve the ide ology of constructing a Communist society on the basis of Marxist theory; however, this service is performed by varied means, some times by deviating from orthodox Marxian doctrine. In such cases the result may be either the elaboration of creative but genuinely Marxian concepts or a fundamental revision of the theory. But how does one differentiate between a Communist who has developed Marxism in a creative fashion from a revisionist? In both cases there are deviations from the doctrine. On the other hand, how does one distinguish when a Communist is a genuine Marxist and when he is a dogmatic Marxist, since both adhere to the original tenets of the doctrine. Perhaps in this respect the situation of Marxism parallels that of organized religion. In the history of the Christian Church, for example, in struggles be tween orthodoxy and heresy, a heretic ultimately came to be defined as a person who had less power. The usage of power as a tool for the solution of complex problems inevitably increases the role of the prag matic aspect of the doctrine, i.e., the inclination on the part of those in power to sacrifice doctrinal purity in order to increase their power. Marxist Ideology AU of the above applies to the situation of Marxist ideology in the Soviet Union. Like every doctrine claiming to be absolute and infallible, Marxism-Leninism was proclaimed sacred by the Russian Communists and its creators have been canonized. In the USSR deviations from Marxism cannot be subjected to any discussion which would cast un- 1
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