Economic Reform of Socialism: The Soviet Record

Abstract

For more than three decades, the Soviet Union has been engaged in an almost continuous process of reforming the centrally planned economy inherited from Stalin. The objective of the reform programs of all Soviet leaders from Khrushchev to Gorbachev has been to make the economy more efficient and responsive to consumer wants, while retaining its socialist character. The reforms made by Khrushchev and Brezhnev came to naught, because they left the essential features of the Stalinist economic system in place. Although Gorbachev's reforms enlarge the scope for the private sector, they, too, leave much of the old system in place. Far more radical moves toward privatization and marketization will be required to achieve the goal of creating a socialist regulated market economy that can satisfy consumers and keep up with the West.