Chapter 2: Criticism of the Soviet-style planned economy
2.1. Ambiguous beginning
So far, the only planned economy in history that had been practiced in earnest and some continuously was the Soviet-style planned economy. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, when referring to a planned economy, it can be said to refer to a Soviet-style planned economy. Although it is a well-known economic policy, it actually has origins that make it questionable whether it truly deserves to be called a "planned economy."
The Soviet-style planned economy had vague beginnings to begin with. The State Planning Committee (Gosplan), the commanding body for the Soviet-style planned economy, was established in February 1921, immediately after the end of the civil war and intervention war following Russia's October Revolution. Of course, during this period the Soviet economy was in a state of catastrophe due to the war. The so-called New Economic Policy (NEP) was launched by the Lenin administration as a trump card for postwar reconstruction.
Although labeled as "new," this policy was actually aimed at restoring capitalism for a limited period of time and using it to restore economic power. As a revolutionary government advocating communism, this policy was daringly regressive. It was a product of Lenin's pragmatism, which adopted policies.
However, it was not an all-out market economy, but rather a mixed economic policy in which marketization was focused on handicrafts and agriculture, and key sectors such as foreign trade, heavy industry, and communications and transportation were excluded from the market economy.
According to Lenin, this was a special economic recovery policy that could be called "state capitalism" insofar as the state controlled the market rather than leaving it unchecked.
During this period of post-war turmoil, Gosplan, which became the mainstay of the planned economy, was established. However, the original Gosplan was only an advisory body, and its role was limited to coordinating the economic plans of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union and formulating a common federal plan.
In the first place, the first post-war reconstruction plan launched by the Lenin administration was an electrification plan called the GOELRO Plan, and the agency in charge of that plan was not Gosplan, but GOELRO, the Russian State Electrification Commission, which had been established a year earlier than Gosplan. Lenin's government saw the nationwide electrification project as the foundation for postwar reconstruction, and Gosplan was initially hidden in the shadow of GOELRO. This GOELRO Plan is said to have become the prototype for the later Five Year Plan.
This process resembles that of the Economic Planning Agency in post-World War II Japan, whose predecessor was the Economic Stability Headquarters, established as a directive body to promote post-war reconstruction, and which remained in existence until the consolidation of administrative agencies in 2001.
The Economic Planning Agency of Japan, which adopted capitalism, did not become a full-fledged planning economy institution, but eventually became a statistical and analytical institution, ending its role, but in the case of the Soviet Union, Gosplan, which had originated as a product of state capitalism, then strengthened as a national planning agency. However, it is necessary to pay close attention to the historical fact that the Soviet-style planned economy had begun as a product of the special economic policy of state capitalism during the postwar reconstruction process.
👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.
