ABSTRACT
The Soviet state has always been committed to the goal of catching up with and overtaking the advanced industrial countries of the West. In the ideal case for the political leadership, the Politburo makes defense and economic policies, and the high command and the industrial managers carry them out. Inevitably, however, the industrial and military bureaucracies have developed interests and values of their own. The system requires an enormous and costly bureaucracy to develop the plan, transmit the instructions, and monitor compliance. Political scientists distinguish between associational interest groups and institutional interest groups. In the Soviet command economy, the important economic decisions are made by the political leadership. The command economy allows the political leadership to make these allocation decisions without being concerned about the market. In the command economy, consumer preferences play only a minor role in the allocation of resources.
