ABSTRACT
This chapter critically evaluates the history of Soviet experiences to explain why the Soviet economy of 1917–91 was not a labor-time planned economy. Although input-output tables were essential to the calculation of the total labor time needed to produce goods and services, and were available to Soviet planners, they never seriously considered using them and instead depended on material balances. The chapter explores the implications for Marxian planning based on labor-time calculation (PLTC) for 21st-century socialism. PLTC is one of the essential components of Marx's communism. During the period of War Communism from 1918 to 1921, Lenin and the Bolsheviks attempted to nationalize industries and abolish the market economy. In 1921, the Soviet government ended the period of War Communism and adopted the New Economic Policy (NEP). All the debates on planning during the NEP suddenly stopped with Stalin's counterrevolution in 1929.
