ABSTRACT
The New Economic Policy (NEP) with its uneasy compromise between proletarian state and mass peasantry also left open the future direction of economic development: those around Trotsky argued for greater Soviet integration into the world economy and increased tempos of industrialisation, while the Stalin-Bukharin leadership favoured economic autarky. The Soviet economy made a partial recovery under NEP but the apparent stabilisation of world capitalism necessitated a reorientation of relations with major capitalist states and diplomatic initiatives were undertaken to increase co-operation and attract investment. A consequence of the period of industrialisation was that the Soviet economy became almost closed to the operations of the world capitalist economy. While the Soviet economy allowed the regime to meet its basic commitments, labour disputes tended to concentrate on control over production, frequently at the level of just one shop, although the provisions of labour legislation could be enlisted to promote the interests of management or workers.
