Socialism: Errors in Theory (Soviet Political Economy of the 1960s–1970s)

The article is devoted to the contradictions of the official political economy of the era of “mature socialism”. The majority of leading political economists, reflecting the official point of view, rightly denied the coexistence of the market and socialism, which was called for by the “commodity economists”. At the same time, however, they considered the established commodity relations under "developed socialism" as formal, not posing a threat to the new system, but, on the contrary, "working" for it. This circumstance, as well as a certain conformism, is connected with the support of scientists for the deepening and expansion of relations within the framework of the "Kosygin" reform of 1965. Commodity in the Soviet economy was not regarded as a sign of incompleteness of socialist transformations; a factor of immaturity of socialism. Such a position was also connected with the Soviet political economists' lack of understanding of how planning could completely displace market elements; how to organize real alienation. Therefore, political economy thought in the USSR in the era of “developed socialism” cannot be considered adequate to the real tasks facing the country.