Development of the Forces of Production

The prevailing Marxist perspective is that unless underdeveloped societies undergoing the transition to socialism rapidly develop their forces of production, they can only aspire to a "socialism of poverty". One of the problems, however, with an agroexport strategy is that it is susceptible to the same kind of "accumulation bias" evident in the heavy industry or capital goods approach to socialist development. An important area of problems associated with the development of the forces of production in underdeveloped countries attempting a transition to socialism is that of finances and prices. The reorientation of the government's agricultural policies and its increasing reliance upon small-scale commodity production was in response to the country's grave economic crisis and the government's limited fiscal resources. Most contemporary Marxist economists recognize that establishing a coherent price system in the transitional economy is absolutely essential because coherent prices are required for both economic planning and the management of state enterprises.