ABSTRACT

The Sovnarkhoz Reform of 1957 was designed by Khrushchev to improve efficiency in the Soviet economic system by decentralising economic decision making from all-Union branch ministries in Moscow to the governments of the individual republics and regional economic councils. Based on extensive original research, including unpublished archival material, this book examines the reform, discussing the motivations for it, which included Khrushchev's attempt to strengthen his own power base. The book explores how the process of reform was implemented, especially its impact on the republics, and analyses why the reform, which was reversed in 1959, failed. Overall, the book reveals a great deal about the workings, and the shortcomings, of the Soviet economic system at its height.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

part I|34 pages

The search for a more efficient economic administration

chapter 1|12 pages

1953–1956

Exploring the horizons for administrative reorganization

chapter 2|12 pages

XX CPSU congress – December 1956 CC CPSU Plenum

The height of expectations

chapter 3|8 pages

The Sovnarkhoz reform

part II|46 pages

Decentralization of decision making

chapter 4|10 pages

Setting new elements

chapter 5|8 pages

First disillusionment

Plan for 1958

chapter 6|4 pages

Republican budgetary rights

chapter 7|12 pages

Decentralizing the supply system

Losing control over resources

chapter 8|10 pages

Gosplan of Ukraine

Setting its authority in the republic

part III|35 pages

Recentralizing economic administration

chapter 9|16 pages

The turning point

chapter 10|8 pages

November 1962 CC CPSU Plenum

Giving up on the reform?

chapter 11|9 pages

Recentralization in Ukraine