Abstract

In connection with the failures in the reorganization of the Soviet economy, increasingly frequent attempts have been made recently not only to rethink the path traversed by the Soviet economy and the difficulties it has experienced but also to clarify its place within the historical process as a whole. This is not accidental: even as it deals with the very concrete questions of Soviet history, our social thought has again and again encountered general problems whose lack of resolution simply blocks further progress. "Anyone who tackles particular problems without first resolving the general ones," wrote V.I. Lenin at one time, "will inevitably ‘stumble’ upon these general questions at each step without being aware of it. But to stumble blindly upon them in each particular case means to condemn one's policies to the worst vacillation and lack of principle" . We shall try to keep this methodological principle in mind in analyzing the historical interaction between Soviet politics and economics