The Bulletin of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences № 6/2023. Issues of Economic theory.

Petr A. Orekhovsky

Dr. Sci. (Econ.), Professor, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

ORCID: 0000-0003-2816-1298

SOVIET STRUCTURALISM: E. PREOBRAZHENSKY, S. STRUMILIN, N. VOZNESENSKY, YU. YAREMENKO

109-133

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Abstract

Structuralism is a relatively young area of economic research, but it already has its own history in Russia. The first debates over the rates and proportions of the Soviet economy began back in the 1920s. The discussions between “geneticists” and “teleologists” were quite open then. Geneticists defended the traditionalist approach, relying on the exhaustion of the restoration impulse and the need to return the country to “normal”, average world growth rates and the accumulation rate of 16-18%. Teleologists relied on the “law of socialist accumulation” and the “theory of two regulators”. They were confident in the possibilities of accelerated development; even the “starting version” of the 1st Five-Year Plan provided for achieving an accumulation rate of more than 20%. And in the end, despite the monstrous mistakes the Bolshevik leadership made during collectivization, the teleologists turned out to be right. The 2nd Five-Year Plan was more successful — the planned savings rate was reduced, the production of consumer goods was increased, and it was possible to switch from cards to planned trade turnover. The idea of accelerated development and the discovery of the law of socialist accumulation belonged to E. Preobrazhensky, but its implementation, including through planned calculations, was carried out by S. Strumilin, and starting from the 3rd Five-Year Plan — by N. Voznesensky.

The end of the post-war period and the death of I. Stalin marked the end of “adaptive modernization”. The 8th Five-Year Plan, which aimed for faster growth of Group B industries over Group A, failed to be fulfilled. By the end of the 1970s the Soviet economy fell into inevitable stagnation. Economists of that time gave alarmist forecasts about the decline in growth rates, and proposed measures to overcome the crisis, but all of those were palliative in nature. The structuralist theory of multi-level economy by Yu. Yaremenko appeared at the same time. This theory contained a number of provisions that could be called heretical, contradicting both Marxism and the neoclassical mainstream. Despite its fruitfulness, it was ignored by both planners and Soviet leaders.

Keywords: structuralism, NEP, geneticists, damping curve, teleologists, structural crisis, multilevel economy.

JEL: B14, B15, B31, B59, N14

EDN: LFGKKN

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52180/2073-6487_2023_6_109_133

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Manuscript submission date: 01.11.2023

For citation:

Orekhovsky P.A. Soviet Structuralism: E. Preobrazhensky, S. Strumilin, N. Voznesensky, Yu. Yaremenko // Vestnik Instituta Ekonomiki Rossiyskoy Akademii Nauk. 2023. № 6. Pp. 109-133. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.52180/2073-6487_2023_6_109_133 EDN: LFGKKN

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