This book examines the origins, development and reasons for change of
the first Soviet economic system. Programmes are compared with outcomes
and theory with practice in the fields of nationalization, workers'
control and management, money and planning, industrial organization and
food procurement. The organization of military supply and industry is
examined separately, to emphasize that the initial approach to economic
organization was affected not only by external events, but also by
ideology, class struggle and social pressures. The economic and social
analysis, which lay behind policy-making, was often distorted by
prejudice, and the economic system, which emerged was the result of
efforts to replace market relations by administrative measures.
Unexpected and unwanted outcomes induced some leaders to rethink initial
policies, while others continued to adhere to rigid programmes, even
after the conclusion of civil war.