ABSTRACT
The avowed purpose of the Soviet government is to bring Russian industrial power, in the shortest possible time, to parity with that of the United States. The much faster expansion of the sector producing means of production has been obtained by a priority which is perhaps the decisive feature of the Russian economy. Russian industry however produces less of everything, and the difference in amounts produced is far more pronounced in consumer goods than it is in investment goods. The chapter argues that Soviet communism is a synthetic version of early industrial capitalism. Of course every industrial nation has some part of its industrial plant engaged in producing plant and equipment. This is necessary in order that plant and equipment which wears down or becomes outdated can be replaced, and so that in every field the productive apparatus can be enlarged and improved.
