ABSTRACT
As applied in the Soviet Union, the policy of socialist industrialization was one designed to catch up the developed capitalist nations. The Stalinist model of socialist industrialization was, nevertheless, one that had been developed and fully articulated in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. The policies of socialist industrialization were thus formulated and the Stalinist model of economic development applied with considerable rapidity. The post-war model of economic development applied in Central Europe thus had serious drawbacks that soon made themselves felt. The Depression held back regional economic development and the growth of domestic markets. Central Europe contained, too, smaller countries with an established place in world trade patterns and the international division of labour. Iron production in Central Europe rose considerably, too, while Britain took steps to reduce output levels. Such proportions lend support to the idea that the communist economic model locked Central Europe into a dynamic, but ultimately limited model of development.
