The political economy of Soviet Socialism, 1918-1928

Following the October Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks embarked upon a series of economic policies in the attempt to establish the world's first socialist economic order. The influence of these radical changes in the political and economic structure of the Soviet Union carried far beyond the borders of Russia. The way social theorists have understood the Russian experience has conditioned the realm and acceptance of governmental policies toward economic development, microeconomic efficiency and macroeconomic stability ever since.;Yet traditional accounts of the economic consequences of the Revolution seem deficient. The misinterpretation of the political economy of the Soviet experience is due to two factors. First, there has been a failure on the part of leading economic historians to take seriously the policy prescriptions of early 20th century European and Russian Marxism. Secondly, standard accounts of the first decade of Soviet socialism do not account for the economic coordination problems the Bolsheviks faced in their attempt to implement a socialist economic program.;The typical attitude appears to be that while the theoretical debate over the feasibility of socialism might be interesting in itself it has nothing to add to our analysis of the practice of socialism. As a result both the historical interpretation of this epoch and the theoretical discussion of socialism misunderstand the significance of the economic policies of War Communism (1918-1921), the New Economic Policy (1921-1927), and the First Five-Year Plan (1928).;My dissertation, 'The Political Economy of Soviet Socialism, 1918-1928,' examines the economic thought and policies of the Soviet experience from the perspective of the theoretical debate over the feasibility of socialist economic calculation. My aim is to reconnect the theory and history of socialism in order to glean the significance of the Soviet experience for comparative political economy today.