Rethinking Price Reform in the USSR

A distinguished and outspoken Soviet proponent of perestroyka, who is one of its key architects, outlines the major components of an “ideal” price reform package before examining its possible consequences and obstacles to its full realization. He then presents what he believes is a workable alternative to the official Soviet policy on price reform, as well as a crude timetable for its implementation (sequence of reforms in retail and wholesale prices). The paper marks a significant shift in the author's view on the subject, journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 027, 052, 124, 227.     

Price Reform in the USSR: Comment on Shmelev

An apparent shift and rethinking of earlier views on prices by one of perestroyka's most outspoken and visible architects prompts an analysis by a leading American specialist in the field. Problems of the three main components of the Soviet price system, namely industrial producer prices, agricultural producer prices, and state retail prices, are examined. Proposals and official plans for changes in the price system are discussed. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 027, 052, 124, 227.     

Causes of the Slowdown in Soviet Defense

This paper discusses the recent official U.S. intelligence estimates indicating a slowdown in the growth rates of Soviet defense spending and military procurement since 1976. The Central Intelligence Agency's explanation for the slowdown is examined. Questions are raised about two of the factors, economic constraints and technical difficulties, and the implications of the CIA's explanation for theories about the relationship of the defense sector to the rest of the economy are considered. The author offers as a possible alternative explanation of the slowdown a change in Soviet military investment priorities de-emphasizing strategic offensive weapons. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 114, 124.     

Recent GNP and Productivity Trends

Two CIA economists present and analyze data on trends in Soviet GNP and productivity from 1960 through 1990. The developments in the 1980s are suitably emphasized and compared with those in the United States. The authors' study and calculations embrace labor and capital inputs as well as total factor productivity. Because measures such as weights to combine labor and capital inputs in the Soviet economy are difficult to derive, the method and findings are discussed in considerable detail. Most estimates are calculated for the business, industrial, agricultural, and nonfarm business sectors. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P27, 040, 052.     

Commonwealth Economics in Perspective: Lessons from the East Asian Model

Different approaches to capitalism in the former Soviet Union are discussed in light of recent reassessments of the East Asian economic experience. A reinterpretation of theories of late-development and of economic learning is proposed to explain the focus of economists on post-Soviet/East Asian commonalities in the areas of state-led development policies and group-oriented management techniques. The paper draws on the author's extensive interviews conducted at academic institutes in Moscow and in the Russian Far East studying the Pacific Rim economies, as well as official sources and literature, Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P20, P52.     

Der musikalische und literarische Protest in “Spelemannen” von Harry Olt und Kalju Lepik

Abstract

In his novella on German-Lithuanian relations, which is the theme of Litauische Claviere, the East German writer Johannes Bobrowski (1917–1965) attributes a proto-Marxist dialectic outlook to the Lithuanian national poet Kristijonas Donelaitis, in that Donelaitis is presented by Bobrowski as a harsh critic of the injustices of 18th century Lithuanian society seen through the prism of a class struggle. As Bobrowski was writing at a time when writers were expected to conform to Party ideology, it is of interest to revisit the official interpretation of Donelaitis work during the Soviet era.     

The Soviet union,Japan, and east Asia: The security dimension

This article explores the ways in which the Gorbachev regime has tried to improve what Soviet policymakers perceive as an unfavorable balance of power in Northeast Asia. It argues that Gorbachev’s initial response, which emphasized regional arms control proposals, has not been successful because Japanese leaders do not see them as meaningful concessions. More recent changes in Soviet policy offer greater prospects for accommodation. Changes in the global East-West environment and domestic trends in Japan also may have a positive impact on Soviet-Japanese security relations. She is the author ofJapan and Arms Control (Canadian Centre for Arms Control and Disarmament, Ottawa, 1987).     

Pleasures of Late Socialism in Soviet Lithuania: Strategies of Resistance and Dissent

This paper deals with popular perceptions of Soviet ideology during the period of Late Socialism. On the premises of colonial theory, mass communication and pop culture studies, the author argues that even totalitarian ideologies are subject to active consumption, excorporation and interpolation. While the official Soviet media provided a rather stable picture of the Soviet citizen, loyal to the Soviet authorities and the Soviet ideals, this paper reveals, on the basis of multiple interviews, how ideology operates at the level of everyday life and popular consciousness.     

苏维埃制度崩溃原因的初步分析

苏联解体的轻率和突然令人震惊,但官方的苏联历史是神化的.并非国有制过度这种所谓的恶疾导致了苏维埃体制的崩溃.苏联经济落后及其被军备竞赛所耗尽只是意识形态的神话.石油价格波动同样未在苏联解体过程中发挥重要作用.后苏联时期俄罗斯相当长时期内的危机,不是从苏联延续下来,而是在拆解苏联时形成的.只有极少数公民有意识地否定苏维埃制度的主要基础.厘清苏联解体的原因,需要我们应打破教条和陈词滥调以及意识形态语言的藩篱.应区分苏维埃构想和其在实践中的具体表现--苏维埃制度.苏维埃构想并没有消灭自己,也没有退化或自我毁灭,而只是在成长中出现了疾病,其一系列制度无法适应苏联社会和苏联人发展的新形势.苏联体系的主要特点,或者说斯大林主义,是在 1905-1917年革命、内战、20 世纪 20 年代的新经济政策、30 年代的集体化和工业化、卫国战争期间形成的.当时的环境导致苏共在具体的制度设计上选择的范围很小,只能基于现实的威胁、资源潜力和历史上造就的具有惯性的文化环境.二战结束后,苏联的领导层未能妥善解决摆脱"斯大林主义",摆脱动员发展状态这样的复杂问题,进而导致了一系列的政治危机并由于冷战而深化其严重性.苏联既是被冷战的对手所扼杀,更死于自己的双手.苏联合法性的危机酝酿了 30年才成熟.苏维埃制度早期的合法性源自对群众对社会苦难的记忆.伴随着城市化的发展,至 20世纪 60-70年代,苏联社会从根本上发生了改变.但城市化给对苏维埃的不满制造了客观的前提条件.一种隐性的危险日益增大,即以前的苏维埃制度的思想基础迅速急剧地衰弱乃至消失.苏联短期内有两代感觉自己毫无生活保障的年轻人被改革、公开性、集会以及文化多元论弄得神魂颠倒.精英阶层的反苏部分的行动利用了这种世界观危机并使之加剧.而新一代领导人既无法迅速揭示也无法预防社会上已经出现的矛盾,而且无法找到有效的方法解决成熟的问题.党的高层与苏联社会现实的脱离令人震惊,他们自以为掌控着国内进程,但实际上底层的干部掌握着形势.这使得戈尔巴乔夫日益激进的改革导致雪崩式的后果.从这一意义上讲,苏联的解体是文明和世界观危机的结果.其实质在于,苏联社会与国家没能胜任在代际更替的过程中更新社会制度合法性手段的任务;无法保障文化历史类型嬗变的延续性,这种递嬗发生在现代化和城市化过程中并和整个社会走出20世纪20至50年代的动员型发展状态的危机相吻合.     

Labor Unrest and Movements in 1989 and 1990

An American political scientist analyzes the Soviet miners' strikes of 1989 and their consequences during 1990. Focusing on the three coal-mining regions of the Kuzbas, Donbas, and Vorkuta, the paper is based on rare access to official and unofficial local newspapers and interviews. Included are analytical accounts of similarities and differences in the strikers' demands and strategies, as well as of efforts to form and sustain new local, regional, and national labor unions. The conceivable outcome of the unrest and organizations emerging in 1989 is discussed in light of developments through the end of 1990. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 124, 830.     

Servants of Empire: An Imperial Memoir of a British Family

This article assesses three recently published books on various aspects of Afghanistan:-

- A Long Goodbye: The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan by Artemy M. Kalinovsky, an assistant professor of history at the University of Amsterdam;

-The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Francis J. West, a US Marine combat veteran;

-Vulcan's Tale: How the Bush Administration Mismanaged the Reconstruction of Afghanistan. by Dov S. Zakheim, a US Government official;

The background and training of these authors largely shape their viewpoints. However a careful reading of their books can sharpen our understanding of how the Soviet and US wars resembled and differed from each other, particularly with respect to nation-building, decision making, use of technology, and conflict termination. For the Russians, the similarities outweigh the differences, but there are still Americans who want to prove that they can win a war that the Soviets lost. From their perspective, the differences between the wars outweigh the similarities. The international context is completely different, the US has spent fifty times more money than the Russians and has deployed far more most sophisticated technology. Equally important, the outcome of the end-game is, as yet, unknown. But to most Afghans, comparisons are pointless; the Soviets and Americans both equally deserve to be labelled imperialists.     

Post-colonial folk dancing: reflections on the impact of stage folk dance style on traditional folk dance variation in Soviet and post-Soviet Estonia

ABSTRACT

The focus of this article is on traditional folk dance in Soviet and post-Soviet Estonia. Dance variation is analyzed through the prism of postcolonial theories to reveal the sequential effects of the colonial situation developed during the Soviet period. Specific causes and characteristic traits of the Soviet influence are explored. Colonialist echoes of the Soviet regime within contemporary Estonian culture are reflected in two trends in the variation of traditional folk dance: first, “contamination” of traditional folk dance with stage dance elements promoted during the Soviet era and, second, a regular search for “genuine” folk dance as a reaction to Soviet colonial heritage.     

An Empirical Analysis of Soviet Economic Relations with Developing Countries

Soviet trade with the developing countries is analyzed using formal statistical techniques. Soviet imports of primary products are found to grow more rapidly but to be no more stable than imports of these products by market economies. Evidence is found of Soviet price discrimination in trade in favor of LDC members of the CMEA and against LDCs with which it has bilateral clearing agreements (BCAs). BCAs are correlated with greater trade volumes, relatively diverse export structures and more stable LDC exports to the Soviet Union. No evidence exists that Soviet aid deliveries are linked systematically with later Soviet imports. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 124, 421, 443     

Dependence and opposition. Problems in Soviet Estonian historiography in the late 1940s and early 1950s

Abstract

Soviet rule was established in Estonia by late autumn 1944. By that time only two historians with a PhD degree from the University of Tartu remained in the country, one of whom was Professor Hans Kruus. Until World War II, neither of the two had published any work that interpreted history from the viewpoint of Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist ideology. Thus, as far as Estonia was concerned, this type of ideologically based reinterpretation of the past did not exist, and had to be organized from scratch. The main aim of this article is to examine Estonian historians' dependence on the official Soviet interpretation of history after 1945 and during the early 1950s. How were they guided and controlled through the Stalin era, i.e. until 1953? What happened in this respect between Stalin's death and the XX CPSU Congress at the beginning of 1956? And how did the results of that Congress influence later writing of history? The article also examines the possibilities for opposition among professional historians to the official Party interpretation of history. In what context did this opposition arise, how did it manifest itself, and in what ways might it possibly have influenced Soviet Estonian society?     

The official art of the Khrushchev Thaw: The Severe Style as an ambassador of the Estonian national school at Baltic art exhibitions in Moscow

In Estonian post-Socialist art history writing, the term ‘national’ has mostly been introduced as a defense mechanism against the Soviet regime. The aim of this article is to indicate that concept ‘national’ also played quite an important role in ‘official’ Soviet cultural politics, especially after Stalin’s death. The processes of cultivating ‘national particularities’ in the arts will be exemplified by the Baltic exhibitions in Moscow in the end of 1950s and 1960s.     

A Convergence of Political Interests: Isi Leibler,the Communist Party of Australia and Soviet Anti‐Semitism, 1964‐66

During the period from 1964 to 1966, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) moved from a position of denying the existence of anti‐Semitism in the Soviet Union to voicing open public criticisms of Soviet policies towards its Jewish minority. These criticisms were unprecedented for an official Communist Party, and had considerable influence on the international communist movement. This paper explores the negotiations between Jewish community leader Isi Leibler and the CPA which induced these criticisms. It is argued that Leibler negotiated with the CPA on two fronts: official dialogue with the elected Sydney‐based CPA leadership, and unofficial private discussions — which can arguably be termed secret collusion — with other senior CPA officials in Melbourne. These unofficial discussions seem to have been crucial in shifting the CPA from its traditional position.     

Economic and Strategic Position Of the Soviet Far East

The role of the Soviet Far East in the Soviet regional system is conditioned by its remoteness from the country's commanding center, its harsh physical environment, and strategic importance. The region is weakly integrated into the mainstream of the Soviet economy. At the same time, its most powerful economic links are with the distant metropolis—a strongly dependent, parasitic relationship made more dominant by the cost of the massive military build-up. Huge Soviet efforts to accelerate the growth of the Far East are proving largely unsuccessful, despite the construction of the BAM. Economic priorities are shifting to West Siberia, while Far Eastern resource projects are proving increasingly unattractive to Japan. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 124, 731.     

Soviet Economy: A Welcome Addition to an Important Field of Study

The results of the inaugural meeting of a panel on the Soviet economy, convened by the editors of Soviet Economy, are summarized. The panel noted that 1985 economic performance had been fairly good by recent Soviet standards, although the external trade balance had deteriorated sharply. Turning to the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (FYPXII) and the annual plan for 1986, the panel noted the clearly taut nature of both plans, and the apparent inconsistencies between them. The consensus was that the FYPXII targets would be very difficult to achieve, although outsiders may find it hard to judge due to the inherent ambiguities in measuring quality changes, and the potential for significant hidden inflation in growth statistics. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 124).     

Social,environmental and economic sustainability of Kazakhstan: a long-term perspective

This paper explores the evolution of Kazakhstan's development through an analysis of population trends, infant mortality, air emissions, water management, oil production, income, cost of living and average salary. The longitudinal data analysis demonstrates that the development of Kazakhstan during the Soviet period was far from sustainable in terms of uncontrolled environmental pollution. Time-series analysis illustrates that the 1990s transition to the market economy temporarily eased environmental degradation but also brought about initial socio-economic disarray and decline in living standards. Further support for rural areas and economic diversification is needed to move away from Kazakhstan's heavy reliance on mineral resource extraction to a more sustainable path of development.     

The 2014 Thai Coup and Some Roots of Authoritarianism

ABSTRACT

Thailand is the only country currently ruled by a coup-installed military government. The 2014 coup aimed not only to abolish the influence of Thaksin Shinawatra but also to shift Thailand’s politics in an authoritarian direction. While the army authored the coup, the professional and official elite played a prominent role in engineering the coup and shaping political reforms. This article examines some historical antecedents of this authoritarian turn, first in the broad trends of Thailand’s modern political history, and second in the emergence and political evolution of the Bangkok middle class.