Harrison M. Soviet Planning in Peace and War, 1938-1945

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. — 332 p. — ISBN10: 0521529379; ISBN13: 978-0521529372 — (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies, No. 45)This book is about the impact of war on the Soviet system of economic planning and management between 1938 and 1945. What was the dynamic of change in the prewar Soviet economic system? How well was the Soviet economy prepared for war? What kind of war followed the German invasion of 1941, and what costs did it inflict on the Soviet Union? How did the Soviet economy measure up to wartime requirements, and what changes in economic organisation resulted? What lessons were laid down for the postwar Soviet approach to both peaceful and warlike tasks?Economic planning and the search for balanceA planned economy in crisisEconomic imbalance in the prewar years
The administrative context
The rise of VoznesenskyResponses to crisis 1938-41Gosplan under the Voznesensky regime
Plans and performance 1938-41
ConclusionsThe coming of war: plans and realities in 1941Preparing for warThe Soviet military-economic potential
Contingency planning for warThe German invasionThe impact of war: the evacuation process
A note on the evacuation of 1942Plans and realitiesThe impact of war: mobilisation and conversion
Planning and the regime of emergency measures
ConclusionsThe Soviet productive effortThe tide of combatBattle losses and arms balances
The role of supplyOutputs and inputsThe structure of production
Fixed capacity and new investment
The workforce and labour inputsMeasures of mobilisationMobilisation of the working population
Mobilisation of the national income
Conclusion: phases of economic mobilisationThe search for economic balance in wartimeThe restoration of economic balanceArms and the basic industries
Planning and the regime of emergency measures
The centralisation of manpower controlsGosplan under Voznesensky againReconstruction and reconversion
Further changes in plan methodologyWartime planning and economic self-regulationPlanning and self-regulation of the enterprise
Planning and the market economy
ConclusionsSoviet lessons from World War IIThe political economy of socialismThe law of value 1941-7
Voznesensky, Stalin and afterwardsThe lessons of war and the system of governmentThe reform of Stalinist institutions
Permanent lessons from World War II
ConclusionsAppendicesSoviet arms production 1930-45
Soviet heavy industry output 1928—45
Soviet arms balances 1941-5
Composition of the USSR Sovnarkom 1938-45
Abbreviations and technical terms