Technologies and institutions of socialism

The article considers the role of Vladimir Lenin in the formation of social institutions of the Soviet society. The author analyzes and compares the works on the theory of socialism in 1917-23 with the results actually achieved. Several stages of formation ofinstitutions of socialism are revealed. Formal socialization of 1918 that eliminated the idle classes. Formation of the social sphere: systems of public health care, education, science and social security. The monopoly of foreign trade that enabled to escape theRicardian trap of specialization. Finally, GOELRO as an experience of macroeconomic planning. During the first five-year plan, a structural shift of the inter-sectoral balance was made with an increase in the share of machine-building, the experience was gained in introducing a holistic set of technological innovations, a system of management of industry sectors was created, and agricultural cooperation was realized. After the Great Patriotic War, with the realization of atomic and space projects, science turns into a direct productive force of society. However, a number of subsequent stages in the development of socialism – informatization as the construction of an integrated system of computer-aided design and economic calculations (OGAS, ASPR, etc.) and development of artificial intelligence systems up to date – have not been implemented in the socialist development paradigm. Nevertheless, the analysis a posteriori of realized and unfulfilled forecasts allows us to identify those contradictions of modernity that can be resolved only in a communist perspective.