ABSTRACT
Party-state economic planning, instituted throughout Eastern Europe during the Stalinist period, was not simply a device to accelerate industrialization, but had clear ideological, political, and social implications. Under Stalinism, capital was generated and accumulated with little regard for efficiency, diversification, balanced modernization, fiscal discipline, or consumer consumption. In addition, the military and security apparati absorbed the best materials and expertise, which deprived the civilian sectors of the economy. The boundary between legal or tolerated and illegal or unregistered economic activities is often indistinct and fluid in Eastern Europe. In most East European states, the official labor unions continue to function as standard Leninist "transmission belts" enforcing official policy through the union hierarchy, while monitoring the mood on the shop floor and filtering information upward to the government. Communist rule in Eastern Europe embraces all important decisions pertaining to economic planning, and involves centralized administrative control over material resources and economic privileges.
