Soviet Economy

On Sunday, February 8, the fourth lecture of Pavel Usanov’s new course will take place in Tbilisi!

The session will focus on the Soviet economy during the rule of Stalin.

Was Stalin a supporter of the NEP? What were the “right” and “left” deviations, and how did Stalin eliminate his rivals for power — Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev, and Lev Kamenev? How did Stalin attempt to carry out “primitive accumulation of capital” under socialism? Why did he abandon the NEP? What was the credit reform of 1931? Was the first Five-Year Plan effective? Was the Stalinist economy prepared for war? Was Stalin a failure? And what can we learn from the experience of a planned economy in the Soviet Union?

These and many other questions will be answered in depth at Pavel Usanov’s lecture.

On Sunday, you will learn how the economy functioned under Stalin and whether it was effective. Myths about the Stalinist economy will be debunked, the consequences of the first Five-Year Plans will be examined, and modern statistics on economic growth during the Stalin years will be presented. The meeting will also introduce key academic literature on the structure of society, politics, and the economy in the Soviet Union.

The lecture is part of the course “The Economics of Dictatorship,” which examines the most well-known examples of dictatorships and how their economies functioned.

Pavel Usanov (@usanovpv) is an economist, PhD in Economics, a member of the Presidium of the Ayn Rand Foundation, and the founder and director of the Friedrich von Hayek Institute of Economics and Law. Join us to meet the author of the popular YouTube channel “Pavel Usanov” and four books.