Tsagolov School: Content, Scientific Significance and Practical Significance

The article is devoted to the formation, scientufic content and current significance of the School of Tsagolov N.A. The author proves that its specifi city is the methodologicalself-sufficiency of a certain version of political economy as a science. Its main content is the creation of a system of laws and categories of political economy in a broad sense, including economic systems of all modes of production (formations). The fundamental importance was the development of the basis of the system: the initial relation of the “economic cell”, the basic relation and the basic economic law. The development of the system of laws and categories of the political economy of socialism was the most challenging and debated. It was presented as a structurally multilevel system with agroup of fundamental relations and laws forming the main specifi city of the new mode of production, relations of the first stage of the new formation, rudimentary relations. Later, on the basis of this methodological approach, the author has singled out a group of heterogeneous relations and processes that arise under socialism, are opposite to its essence and undermine the foundations of the system. The actual practical significance of the school consisted in the fact that its representatives initially recognized the focus of radical economic reforms of the early 1990s through the dismantling of the foundations of socialism and the restoration of capitalism by the introduction of the original, basic relations adequate to capitalism. Representatives of the school warned of the destructive and dramatic consequences of the chosen path of reforms. Such assessments and forecasts stemmed from the experience of developing political economy in the broad sense, deep development of transitional relations. Holding a number of international conferences and publicayion activity in the early 90's off ered a variant of the Chinese orientation of reforms and its justification. The fairness and scientific validity of the critical attitude to the essence of reforms was proved by practical results. The author suggests the development aimed at redistribution of resources in favor of creative layers of entrepreneurship, investment-active economic policy, taking into account the accumulated evidence of ineffi ciency of the economic model formed over three decades.