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1 ACTA UNIVERSITATIS STOCKHOLMIENSIS Stockholm Studies in Economic History 1 ACTA UNIVERSITATIS STOCKHOLMIENSIS Stockholm Studies in Economic History 2 3 SEVEN YEARS THAT SHOOK SOVIET ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL THINKING REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN COMMUNIST ECONOMICS 1985 -1991 Bengt Svensson Doctoral Thesis in Economic History at Stockholm University, Sweden December 2008 4 Copyright: Bengt Svensson, Stockholm 2008 ISSN 0346-8305 ISBN 978-91-86071-08-0 Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice AB, Stockholm Distributor: Stockholm University Library Cover Photo: Kazimir Malevitj. Suprematism, 1915. Russian Museum, St. Petersburg 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 PART 1. INTRODUCTION 8 1.1. Aims 8 1.2. Sources 9 1.3. Organization of the thesis 11 1.4. Earlier research and background 12 PART 2. THEORY AND METHOD 23 PART 3. STATISTICS 25 PART 4. THE STARTING POINTS OF THE DEBATE 29 4.1. Introductory remarks 29 4.2. On market economic theories 30 4.3. The Law on State Enterprises 36 4.3. Contradictions 37 4.5. Conclusions 41 PART 5. SAFEGUARDING THE SOVIET SYSTEM. NEW IDEAS 43 5.1. Introductory remarks 43 5.2. Forced growth, shortages, markets 45 5.3. Price formation 48 5.4. Centralization and decentralization 58 5.5. Ownership 52 5.6. Labour and social and economic equality. The structure of remunerations 65 5.7. Learning from other socialist countries 70 5.8. The meaning of socialism. Options in a crisis situation 70 5.9. Summary 75 6 PART 6. A SOCIALIST MARKET? 78 6.1. Introduction 78 6.2. Radical reform 79 6.3. Beginning of systemic criticism 81 6.4. What type of a regulated market? 86 6.5. Labour, equality and fairness 88 6.6. The meaning of socialism 93 6.7. Stationary structures. Influences. 95 6.8. Summary 95 PART 7. THE ENDGAME 96 7.1. Introduction 96 7.2. Gradual transition or shock therapy 97 7.3. Obstacles and public choice 111 7.4. Summary and stationary structures. 114 PART 8. REFLECTIONS ON THE DEBATE 116 PART 9. CONCLUSIONS 119 APPENDIX 1. DRAMATIS PERSONAE 121 PARTICIPANTS 121 NOTES ABOUT AUTHORS 129 APPENDIX 2. WHAT IS “SHOCK THERAPY”? A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RUSSIA 133 APPENDIX 3. MAIN POLITICAL EVENTS 1985—1991 151 APPENDIX 4. FIVE-YEAR PLANS, EQUALITY AND ECONOMIC LEGISLATION 154 APPENDIX 5. EXPLANATIONS 157 REFERENCES AND SOURCES 161 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The subject of this thesis is the development of theoretical economic thought in the Soviet Union during Michail Gorbachev’s rule from 1985 to1991. My first professor of economic history and supervisor was the late Professor Ernst Söderlund at Stockholm University, who guided me to my licentiate degree (as it was called then). In the good tradition of Professor Eli F. Heckscher - for whom I had the very beneficial experience of working - Professor Söderlund stressed the importance of economic theory in our trade. In the equally good Nordic tradition, he emphasised the importance of thorough criticism of sources used. These instructions have stood me in very good stead in both my academic and professional lives. Having returned to Stockholm University, I am grateful to members of the higher seminar of the Department of Economic History. My main supervisor Thomas Jonter, Associate Professor and Head of the Department, has keenly used his epistemological knowledge and experience to lead me through the intricacies of my research. Professor Ulf Jonsson and Ronny Pettersson, Ph.D., Reader at the Department, have used their experience, knowledge and scholarship to constructively and encouragingly supervise my research. Professor Johan Söderberg has been a pertinent and useful critic of many of my first drafts. Ilya Viktorov, Ph.D., has given me valuable comments and insights. Special thanks are due to Mr. Stefan Pessirilo for his efforts to correct and polish my English. In my opinion, stationary structures are important in Russian history, which points to the necessity of a comprehensive view on history. In this context, Russian cultural history also provides useful perspectives on the main subject of this thesis. I am grateful to my teacher, Professor Per-Arne Bodin of the Department of Slavic Languages at the Stockholm University, for stimulating insights in this field. I am also grateful for the inputs that I have received from the higher seminars of the Department of Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University and the Department of Economic History at Umeå University. Last but not least, I thank my wife, Karin v. Vietinghoff, for her patience and help. With her strong background in economics and other social sciences, she has contributed to making this thesis hopefully more readable with her thorough proof- reading and useful substantive comments. Thank you for the stimulating discussions and support. Needless to say, all remaining mistakes and unclarities are mine. Bengt Svensson December 2008 8 PART 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Aims In 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved. Therewith the socialist society in its Soviet version and the socialist planned Soviet economy disappeared. However, in spite of a change in the direction of a market economy in Russia from 1991, the Soviet heritage is still today - in 2008 - very much alive. A significant part of the Russian economy is still run by government-controlled companies, in particular after the wave of “restatefication” under the presidency of Vladimir Putin. Also, the mainstream media are to a large extent controlled by the state. In addition, serious doubts about the functioning of the legal system have been reported. Corruption seems to continue to be a difficult problem. The linear transition from a socialist-planned economy to a modern well-functioning market economy failed. What were the reasons for this failure? The main theme of this thesis is to analyse the Soviet economic theoretical debate in the period 1985 - 1991 in order to investigate if the reason for this failure can be traced to the academic debate among professional economists. A central point of departure is thus to analyse whether the prevalent economic theories in this period contributed to the collapse of the Soviet economy, and thereby paved the way for a more market-oriented economy. When Michail Gorbachev became secretary general of the Communist Party in 1985 it opened up possibilities for a more open debate, albeit within certain limits. The ambition of the new leadership of the Soviet Union in 1985 was to reconstruct (perestroit’) the Soviet economy. Thus Michail Gorbachev, the new secretary general and later the first and last president of the Union, increased the possibilities of a more open discussion on several issues including the academic debate on economic theory. The concept describing this ambition was “glasnost’”, from the word voice golos in Russian and glas in Church Slavonic. The perestroíka period has been the subject of research concentrated on economic, social, and political changes. Some of these findings will be presented in this thesis as contextual background. However, no studies have addressed the academic economic theoretical debate per se, and its possible driving force for change in the Soviet economy. The purpose of this thesis is threefold. First and foremost, the purpose is to analyse the Soviet economic theoretical debate in the period 1985 to 1991. There are a number of central questions at issue in this context. Which were the themes and aspects of market economics that were of interest to the economists? Was the theoretical thinking among Soviet economists influenced by market economics and 9 experiences from other reforming socialist countries in Eastern Europe? Did they use the theoretical tools offered by market economics? Secondly, the purpose is to analyse if this economic debate played an important role in the transition from a socialist planned economy to a more market-oriented economy. Did the economic debate have a stabilizing or de-stabilizing effect on the dominating socialist theory? Is it possible to consider the period 1985 to 1991 as constituting the “formative years” for the transition to a market economy? A possible indication of this can be found in the G7 report from 1991, which argued for such a transition through an inter alia programme for macroeconomic stabilization. Thirdly, in the research on Russian history many scholars have emphasized the importance of economic and cultural stationary structures that could be dated back to the medieval Russian culture. Examples of such historical structures include the personalisation of economic exchange, the role and importance of the state and the authorities, i.e. autocracy, the lack of democratic traditions, the collectivist attitudes of large strata of the population, and the rift between the elite and the masses. These stationary structures (e.g. “la longue durée”, path dependence) also influence modern Russia. According to certain scholars, they can be interpreted as socio- cultural dispositions (“mental maps”) which make people think and act within the framework of the context to which they belong. In this line of thought, the logic of such structures makes it difficult, if not impossible, to think and act outside such socio-cultural and economic contexts. The result of the reform process initiated by Gorbachev and the swift transition to a market-oriented economy by Yeltsin in the last year of the period (1991) has been called “wild capitalism” (dikií kapitalizm), with a decreasing standard of living for the majority of Russians, widening economic disparities, and the emergence of a class of “oligarchs.” In 1991 “shock therapy” versus gradual transition had become an issue as a result of the recommendation of the G7 report . The debate was to a large extent structured around questions of a special Russian socio-economic context. The central question that was debated in this respect was whether Russia could and should, bearing in mind its unique cultural and historic traditions, pursue a socio- economic solution inspired from the western world, or if the Russians ought to follow their own Slavonic traditions.
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