Creating soviet industry: The house that stalin built

Slavic Review

Volumn 61, Issue 4, 2002, Pages 787-814

  Gregory, Paul R ^a   Markevich, Andrei ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0142034271     PISSN: 00376779     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3090390     Document Type: Article

References (148)

1. Joseph Berliner, "The Contribution of the Soviet Archives," in Paul R. Gregory, ed., Behind the Façade ofStalin's Command Economy (Stanford, 2001), 1-10.
2. For a discussion of this embarrassment of riches, see J. Arch Getty and Oleg Naumov, The Road to Terror: Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks, 1932-1939 (New Haven, 1999), preface.
3. The economic history-Soviet archives working group maintains its PERSA website, in conjunction with Mark Harrison of Warwick University: www.Soviet-archivesresearch.co.uk (last consulted 22 August 2002).
4. Ronald Coase, "The New Institutional Economics," American Economic Review 88, no. 2 (May 1998): 72-74.
5. F. A. Hayek, "Socialist Calculation: The Competitive Solution," Economica, n.s. 7 (May 1940): 125-49;
6. Ludwig von Mises, Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis, trans. J. Kahane (New Haven, 1936).
7. Joseph Berliner, "The Soviet Past and the Russian Transition" (paper, international conference, "The Soviet Economy: Views from the XXI Century," Zvenigorod, June 2001).
8. Joseph S. Berliner, Factory and Manager in the USSR (Cambridge, Mass., 1957);
9. David Granick, Management of the Industrial Firm in theUSSR (New York, 1954).
10. Gregory Grossman, "The Second Economy of the USSR," Problems of Communism 26 (September-October 1977): 25-40;
11. Vlad Treml, "Production and Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages in the USSR: A Statistical Study," Journal of Studies on Alcohol 36 (March 1975).
12. Abram Bergson, The Economics of Soviet Planning (New Haven, 1964), chap. 6.
13. Eugene Zaleski, Stalinist Planning for Economic Growth, 1933-1952 (Chapel Hill, 1980).
14. These commissariats have been discussed in the theoretical and applied literatures: Paul R. Gregory, Restructuring the Soviet Economic Bureaucracy (Cambridge, Mass., 1990);
15. William J. Conyngham, The Modernization of Soviet Industrial Management (Cambridge, Mass., 1982);
16. Alice C. Gorlin, "The Power of Industrial Ministries," Soviet Studies 37, no. 3 (1985);
17. Michael Keren, "The Ministry, Plan Changes, and the Ratchet Effect in Planing" Journal of Comparative Economics 6, no. 4 (1982);
18. E. A. Rees, ed., Decision-Making in the Stalinist Command Economy, 1932-37 (New York, 1997).
19. Glavk (from glavnoe upravlenie) is the acronym used to refer to the branch production units of the commissariat.
20. For a paper covering this latter topic, see Eugenia Belova and Paul Gregory, "Dictators, Loyal, and Opportunistic Agents: The Soviet Archives on Creating the Soviet Economic System," Public Choice 1, no. 2 (July 2002).
21. Sergo Ordzhonikidze guided the Caucasian party organization through the civil war. With reluctance and over the protests of his fellow Caucasian party comrades, he accepted Stalin's call to Moscow, where he occupied a number of central party positions, including the chairmanship of the party's feared Worker-Peasant Inspection. With his appointment to head the super-ministry, the Supreme Council of the National Economy, he became the leading manager of production, in charge of virtually all industrial production. With the breakup of the Supreme Council in 1932, Ordzhonikidze became the head of NKTP, die dominant industrial ministry of the 1930s. Crude, short-tempered, and outspoken, Ordzhonikidze wielded enormous influence. Just as it is difficult to separate the creation of die system from Stalin; so is it difficult to separate the creation of Soviet industry from Ordzhonikidze.
22. Gregory, Restructuring the Soviet Economic Bureaucracy.
23. Mancur Olson, "The Devolution of Power in Post-Communist Societies," in Robert Skidelsky, ed., Russia's Stormy Path to Reform (London, 1995), 9-42.
24. Ronald Wintrobe, The Political Economy of Dictatorship (Cambridge, Eng., 1998).
25. Valery Lazarev and Paul Gregory, "The Wheels of a Command Economy: Allocating Soviet Vehicles," Economic History Review 55, no. 2 (May 2002): 324 - 48.
26. Rees, ed., Decision-Making in the Stalinist Command Economy, 6-7;
27. Valery Lazarev and Paul Gregory, "Dictators and Cars: A Study in the Political Economy of Totalitarianism" (paper presented at the University of Houston, March 2002).
28. Decree No. 8 of the Central Executive Committee of Sovnarkom in Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii (GARF), f. 5446, op. 1, d. 15,1. 13.
29. Charter for NKTP approved by Sovnarkom on 11 November 1937, in Svod zakonov i postanovlenii raboche-krest'ianskogo pravitel'stva (Moscow, 1937), 375.
30. Charter for NKLP approved by Sovnarkom on 21 July 1938, in Svod zakonov i postanovlenii raboche-krest'ianskogo pravitel'stva (Moscow, 1938), 207.
31. Decree No. 640 of Sovnarkom from 11 September 1931, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv ekonomiki (RGAE), f. 3429, op. 1, d. 146,11. 809-10.
32. RGAE, f. 4086, op. 2, d. 272,1. 6.
33. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 104,1. 2.
34. Zaleski, Stalinist Planning for Economic Growth, 551. These figures are for 1937.
35. Eugenia Belova, "Economic Crime and Punishment," in Gregory, ed., Behind the Façade, 131-58.
36. Belova and Gregory, "Dictators, Loyal and Opportunistic Agents."
37. "Val" stands for valovaia produklsiia, or "gross production." It was commonly denominated in ruble terms in the constant rubles of a base year, such as 1926-27 prices.
38. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 28, d. 335,1. 5.
39. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 177,1. 10.
40. "Val" stands for valovaia produklsiia, or "gross production." It was commonly denominated in ruble terms in the constant rubles of a base year, such as 1926-27 prices.
41. "Ordzhonikidze: "It is a shame you did not continue it.
42. " Comrade Tal: "We will continue it."
43. Ordzhonikidze: "Now they will not fill it out;
44. they fear we will use it against them and publish the results." RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 177,1. 181. Ordzhonikidze's quick dismissal of this agenda item shows that glavks and enterprises were held responsible for production. Any losses would be automatically covered.
45. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 304,1. 22.
46. NKTP Decree No. 24ss (ss = absolutely secret) from 7 February 1932, RGAE, f.7297, op. 38, d. 5,1.11.
47. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 304,1. 81.
48. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 10,1.10.
49. RGAE, f. 4086, op. 2, d. 276, II. 28-29.
50. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 5,1. 27.
51. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 1, d. 25,1. 17.
52. O. V. Khlevniuk, R. Davies, L. P. Kosheleva, E. A. Ris, and L. A. Rogovaia, Stalin i Kaganovich: Perepiska, 1931-1936gg. (Moscow, 2001), 114.
53. Rees, ed., Decision-Making in the Stalinist Command Economy.
54. O. V Khlevniuk, A. V. Kvashonkin, L. P. Kosheleva, and L. A. Rogovaia, Stalinskoe Polilbiuro v30-egody (Moscow, 1995), 15-16.
55. Khlevniuk, Davies, Kosheleva, Ris, and Rogovaia, Stalin i Kaganovich, 111-19.
56. Ibid., 123.
57. Ibid., 124.
58. Ibid., 127.
59. Gregory, Restructuring the Soviet Economic Bureaucracy, 57-59.
60. Decree No. 330 from 15 April 1934 "For the Purpose of Strengthening One-Man Management in the System of Management of NKLP and the Placing of More Responsibility on the Directors of Institutions," RGAE, f. 7604, op. 362, d. 1.
61. At one time, Piatakov was considered a potential head of government. Stalin'shatred of Piatakov may have been associated with his fear of him.
62. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 28, d. 4,1. 22.
63. Khlevniuk, Davies, Koshclcva, Ris, and Rogovaia, Stalin i Kaganovich, 109.
64. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 106,1.12.
65. Ibid., 3.
66. RGAE, f. 7604, op. 1, d. 37,1. 11.
67. NKTP Decree No. 32 from 8January 1934
68. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 1, d. 25,1. 192.
69. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 10,1. 4.
70. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 28, d. 334,11.11-14.
71. Belova, "Economic Crime and Punishment," 139-40.
72. These matters are discussed in Getty and Naumov, Road to Terror, chaps. 4-5.
73. Gregory, Restructuring the Soviet Economic Bureaucracy, 129.
74. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 28, d. 4,1.15; d. 5,11.11-17; d. 6,1.117.
75. GUMP's Decree No. 138 from 7 July 1933
76. RGAE, f. 4086, op. 2, d. 275,11. 46-48.
77. Belova, "Economic Crime and Punishment."
78. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 28, d. 58,1. 5.
79. NKTP Directive No. 12 from 5 January 1934, "About die Rewarding of Technical Workers and Leading Workers in Factory No. 8,"
80. RGAE, f. 7297. op. 1, d. 25,1. 41.
81. NKTP Directive No. 76 from 1935, "About Forbidding Glavks and Trusts to Reward Managerial Personnel of Factories and Trusts without the Approval of the Ministry
82. " RGAE, f. 7297, op. 44, d. 9,1. 16.
83. Lars T. Lih, Oleg V. Naumov, and Oleg V. Khlevniuk, eds., Stalin's Letters to Molotov, 1925-1936 (New Haven, 1995), 168, 217-18.
84. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 104,1. 2.
85. Ofitsialnye zadachi Narkomalov i glavkov i real'naia praklika. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 252,1. 2.
86. O. V. Khlevniuk, Stalin i Ordzhonikidze:Konjlikty v Polilbiuro v 30-e gody (Moscow, 1993), 32.
87. Ibid.O. V. Khlevniuk, Stalin i Ordzhonikidze:Konjlikty v Polilbiuro v 30-e gody (Moscow, 1993), 32.
88. Paul Gregory, "The Dictator's Orders," in Gregory, ed., Behind the Façade, 13-14.
89. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 28, d. 35,11. 2-14. The distribution of the workload can be seen from the distribution of decree-signing. The commissar signed fewer than half of die decrees. First deputy Piatakov signed the most decrees and clearly directed the daily activities of the commissariat. Pavlunovskii and then Rukhimovich signed directives classified as secret and related to defense production. The same division applied to the glavks, where the deputy director or chief engineer could also sign directives. The director of the glavk, however, signed a higher proportion of decrees than the commissar did for the commissariat.
90. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 106,1. 1.
91. Decree No. 59 from 16 March 1932, "On the Question of Insuring the Production Program and Capital Construction of Trust Soiuzsevera for 1932," RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 5,11. 38-40.
92. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 304,1. 81.
93. NKTP issued Decree No. 70 on 14 February 1932, RGAE, f. 7297, op. 1, d. 1,1.263.
94. Belova and Gregory showed the commissariat's practice of issuing two plans. To their enterprises, the commissariat handed down plans that exceeded the official state plan. Records reveal that the glavks played exactly the same game with their subordinates. In a collegium meeting of NKLP of 5 March 1933, the commissar made the following complaint: "First of all, we must bring an end to the practice of our glavks issuing to their en terprises and trusts plans in excess of those approved by the commissariat's collegium. This may have been allowed last year, but if it continues, it will cause an ovcrexpenditure of funds and create a difficult financial situation. We must insist that the glavks issue plans that correspond to those approved by the collegium." RGAE, f. 7604, op. 1, d. 137, 1. 9.
95. Belova and Gregory, "Dictators, Loyal and Opportunistic Agents."
96. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 9,1. 4.
97. R. W. Davies, Crisis and Progress in the Soviet Economy: 1931-1933 (Basingstoke, Eng., 1996), 292-301.
98. For Ordzhonikidze's letter to Molotov
99. see GARF, f. 5446, op. 16a, d. 84,11. 6-8.
100. GARF, f. 5446, op. 16a, d. 84,11. 7, 8, and 6-8.
101. Ibid., 9.
102. Ibid., 3.
103. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 28, d. 334,1. 42.
104. RGAE, f. 4086, op. 2, d. 3567,1. 50.
105. Directive No. 734 from 26 October 1932
106. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 44, d. 1 ( Prikaz 7 NKTP za 1932), 1. 310.
107. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 5, d. 2,11.12-14.
108. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 28, d. 335,1. 32.
109. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 5, d. 2,11.12-14.
110. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 177,11.15-16.
111. Berliner, Factory and Manager in the USSR;
112. Granick, Management of the Industrial Firm in the USSR.
113. RGAE, f. 7604, op. 1, d. 169,1.4.
114. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 10,11. 4,15.'
115. Directive No. 96 from 22 February 1932
116. RGAE, f. 4086, op. 2, d. 276,11. 28-29;
117. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 304,1. 81; and NKTP Directive No. 267s from 28 December 1932
118. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 5,1. 310.
119. Belova and Gregory, "Dictators, Loyal, and Opportunistic Agents."
120. Gregory, Restructuring the Soviet Economic Bureaucracy, 161;
121. E. A. Rees, "Introduction," in Rees, ed., Decision-Making in the Stalinist Command Economy, 4.
122. Eugenia Belova, "Conflict Enforcement under Dictatorship: The Case of the Soviet Economy" (Hoover Institution Working Paper, November 2001).
123. Belova and Gregory have described a number of high-level disputes resolved by administrative means, where die disputing parties were an industrial commissariat and Gosplan or the Commissariat of Finance. The procedure was to form a compromise commission, in which each party was represented, to hammer out a resolution acceptable to all parties. In such disputes, the industrial commissariat was frequently the de facto winner. Belova and Gregory, "Dictators, Loyal, and Opportunistic Agents."
124. RGAE, f. 7604, op. 1, d. 291,1. 4.
125. GARF, f. 5446, op. 27, d. 92,1. 24.
126. GARF, f. 5446, op. 16a, d. 689,1. 20.
127. Ibid., 1-3.
128. Disputes within a glavk were assigned to the glavk administrator. Such conflicts were to be resolved internally and not passed on to arbitration organs. Dirty linen was not supposed to be washed in public.
129. RGAE, f. 7604, op. 1, d. 453,1. 12.
130. Joint decree of Sovnarkom and the Central Committee, No. 2074 from 14 September 1935
131. GARF, f. 5446, op. 16, d. 433,11. 6-8.
132. Ibid., 3-5, 4.
133. E. A. Rees and D. H. Watson, "Politburo and Sovnarkom," in Rees, ed., Decision-Making in the Stalinist Command Economy, 24.
134. GARF, f. 5446, op. 16, d. 99.
135. GARF, f. 5446, op. 15a, d. 66.
136. GARF, f. 5446, op. 16a, d. 20.
137. GARF, f. V604, op. 1, d. 402, 11. 4, 39 (the appellations of the Commissariat of Light Industry), 11. 11-13 (the appellation of the Sovnarkom of the Ukrainian republic), 11. 24-25 (the appellation of the Commissariat of the Wood Industry), 1. 30 (the appellation of the executive committee of the Leningrad region).
138. GARF, f. 5446, op. 16, d. 68.
139. GARF, f. 5446, op. 16, d. 115.
140. GARF, f. 5446, op. 16, d. 100.
141. Valery Lazarev, "Evolution of die Soviet Elite and Its Post-Communist Transformation" (paper presented at the conference "Initial Conditions and the Transition Economy in Russia," University of Houston, Houston, Texas, 19-21 April 2001).
142. Andrei Markevich, Report No. 3, "The Ministry of Heavy Industry in the 1930s," University of Houston Working Paper, 2000.
143. Soiuzkino, a powerful, independent organization responsible for Soviet film making and important to the dictator as a source of propaganda, also generated revenue.
144. RGAE, f. 7604, op. 1, d. 129,1.15. Correspondence with the Central Committee, Politburo, and Central Executive Committee of the Russian Republic on the production activities of light industry.
145. David Granick, Soviet Metal Fabricating and Economic Development (Madison, 1967).
146. RGAE, f. 4086, op. 2, d. 3566,1.11.
147. Ibid., 9-10.
148. RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 106,1.1.