Scientific and Technical Progress and Soviet Economic Thought of the 1930s

The article is devoted to theoretical approaches of Soviet economists and political figures of the 1930s concerning the issues of the potential of capitalism and socialism in the new technical and economic reality, priority directions and mechanisms of industrialization, coalescence of production, science and education, development of human potential. It is noted that this research experience can be relevant today due to a number of similarities in the nature of technological development, as well as to the conditions of economic reality. Soviet researchers singled out industry, primarily heavy industry, as the leading sphere for implementation of the advantages of the socialist planning mechanism. In their opinion, a system based on planning, as opposed to an anarchic market with the fragmentation of producers and narrow objective of profit maximization, makes it possible to maximize the effects of technical combination, specialization and standardization, the development of a unified energy system, the integration of production, science and education. The authors, although to a lesser extent, also covered the issues of releasing workers from the sphere of heavy low-skilled labor, formation of a more progressive and creative incentive system compared to market competition. There is a high degree of practical orientation of the reviewed works. Due to the specific conditions of that period, Soviet researchers signifi cantly overestimated the problems of capitalism development, having underestimated its adaptability. At the same time, the limitations and contradictions of the market system were highlighted (monopolization, growth of labor intensification, instability of aggregate demand, etc.), which later required active state intervention on a regular basis. The author concludes that the reviewed theoretical heritage has a signifi cant potential for solving modern problems of technological re-equipment under the conditions of external limits. This mainly concerns the issues of using planning mechanisms, human potential development, import substitution policy.