Eastern Regions in the Economic Strategy on the “Take-off” Stage of the Soviet Industrial System

The article delves into the strategy and implementation of economic development in the eastern regions of Russia from the pre-war five-year plans to the “Kosygin reform”. It highlights the substantial growth in the importance of these regions in the national economy during this period. However, historical perspectives on the long-term consequences of the “Eastern shift” in the production and population proportions vary. Some researchers believe that such a course met and meets the fundamental interests of the country. Others dispute this, attributing it to excessive geopolitical ambitions and a distorted understanding of the economy’s actual needs. Based on the historiographic analysis and documentary sources, the author offers an interpretation of why the authorities prioritized the advanced economic development of the eastern territories and how they executed this strategy. It is concluded that implementation of such a course has led to a radical change in the territorial structure of production. At the same time, as the period under review drew to a close, the focus shifted from advanced development to sustaining the achieved level, resulting in a deceleration of economic growth in the eastern regions. This was primarily ascribed to the decreasing efficacy of the “socialist economic system” and the ruling elite's persistent aversion to reforming economic institutions. One overarching argument posited in the article is that there was a substantive “shift of productive forces” towards the East in the broader context of the Soviet era, coinciding with the period of the “take-off” of the Soviet industrial system. The foregoing allows us substantiating the relationship between high rates of economic growth and “intensive economic development” of the eastern regions of the country.