A Revisit to the Soviet System

A focused discussion on the Soviet system is not only relevant but also instructive in understanding the nature of state-led economic development in general, as the Soviet socialist system can be viewed as an extreme case of state-led economic development. In order to achieve rapid economic growth, the Soviet central planning system had pushed state management to the limit, with a virtually complete elimination of private property ownership and market mechanism. There existed extremely limited markets and private properties in the Soviet Union. As many scholars have suggested, the complementary role of the extremely limited markets in various forms had eased the rigidity of the planning system and helped keep the economy going in the later years of the Soviet Union. However, the existence of these scanty markets could not change the basic fact that Soviet central planning system stands as a polar opposite to the free-market system.