ABSTRACT
The title of this chapter has quite deliberately been chosen in a somewhat provocative manner, seeking to indicate our intention to penetrate the rationale behind, rather than the practice and system of, economic planning as it emerged during the early stages of Bolshevik rule. The assumption underlying this endeavour is that the emergence of the vast planning apparatus, and of the tasks placed before it, had an essentially political rather than economic rationale. Hopefully, the ensuing discussion will live up to the expectations that are implied by this introduction.
