Socialist planning as a form of State management of the national economy is a powerful tool for implementing the economic policy of the Communist Party and the socialist State and a great force for building a new society in our country. Socialist planning is based on the comprehensive application of the entire system of economic laws of socialism, proceeds from the laws of socialist reproduction, relies on the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of the objective nature of these laws, and takes into account the specific features and concrete forms of their manifestation in each planned period.

The emergence and development of socialist planning in the USSR are organically linked to the political and socio-economic history of the Soviet state and to the changes in the political and economic situation in the country. During the years of Soviet power, socialist planning has come a long way, starting from the development of separate plans for individual enterprises and districts to the creation of a unified system of state planning covering the entire process of socialist expanded reproduction.

The history of socialist planning in the USSR can be divided into several main stages: the creation of the foundations of socialist planning in the first years of Soviet power; planning during the restoration of the national economy in a multi-structured economy; planning in the pre-war period of building socialism; planning during the Great Patriotic War; planning in the period of post-war restoration and development of the national economy; planning for at the present stage, in the period of extensive construction of a communist society.

Planning in the Soviet state from the very first days of its creation is inextricably linked with the organization of national economy management. The need to consciously manage the economy arose for the Russian working class immediately after it gained political power. The first school for teaching the working masses the basics of economic management and preparing them for the construction of socialism was the organs of workers ' control over production, trade, and finance, created at the suggestion of V. I. Lenin as early as November 1917. "Our slogan," Lenin pointed out, "in the beginning was workers' control... We now see that... the first basic step, which is obligatory for any socialist, workers 'government, must be workers' control. We have not decreed socialism in our entire industry at once, because socialism can only be developed and consolidated when the working class learns to manage... " 1
1 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 37, p. 139.

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Within a few months, a broad network of Workers 'Control Councils was established in the country, with a single body in the center and elected workers' committees at all large enterprises. The main task of the working committees was to control the use of products and materials, the working conditions of employees and the financial situation of enterprises. At the same time, the" Regulation on Workers 'Control" provided that all these functions were to be performed not only in the interests of combating sabotage by manufacturers, but also for the purpose of systematically regulating the national economy .2 The next step of the young Soviet state towards improving the management of the national economy was the creation of the Supreme Council of National Economy (VSNH) under the Council of People's Commissars. It was formed on the initiative of V. I. Lenin in December 1917 to manage state-owned industrial enterprises and regulate the activities of private enterprises through the bodies of workers ' control. At the beginning of 1918, the organization of regional, provincial and uyezd councils of national economy was carried out, which were entrusted with the management and regulation of the entire economic life of this administrative region. The Supreme Economic Council also became the first planning body of the Republic of Soviets. It was charged with developing general norms and a plan for regulating the country's economic life, coordinating and combining the activities of central and local economic institutions.

The transfer to public ownership of the main branches of the national economy and the organization of their central management bodies made it possible to develop economic plans. In his report to the Seventh Party Congress (1918), V. I. Lenin emphasized the great importance of planning the national economy. He said: "The organization of accounting, the control of the largest enterprises, the transformation of the entire state economic mechanism into a single large - scale machine, into an economic organism that works in such a way that hundreds of millions of people are guided by a single plan-this is the gigantic organizational task that has fallen on our shoulders."3 The Supreme Economic Council developed rough outlines of the draft plan for 1918 for a number of industries. Plans for the development of the economy were also drawn up in a number of industrial centers of the country (Petrograd, the Urals, Ivanovo - Voznesensk, etc.). The main task of the first plans was to overcome economic ruin and establish the normal operation of the most important industries. Despite the extremely difficult situation in the country at that time, V. I. Lenin in April 1918, in his "Outline of a plan for scientific and technical work", set before scientists and specialists in various branches of science and technology, economic bodies, and the Academy of Sciences the task of developing a "plan for the reorganization of industry and the economic recovery of Russia"4 . Here V. I. Lenin first put forward the ideas of electrification of the country as the main means of transferring the national economy to a higher technical base, fully improving the scientific foundations and culture of economic activity, scientific organization and rationalization of labor, and increasing its productivity.

However, in the middle of 1918, the creative economic activity of the Soviet state was interrupted by the civil war and intervention. The war required maximum centralization of farm management and planning. The leadership of the entire economic life of the country was concentrated in the central body-the Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defense, headed by V. I. Lenin. Later,

2 See Decisions of the Party and Government on Economic Issues, vol. 1, Moscow, 1967, p. 25.

3 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 36, p. 7.

4 Ibid., p. 228.

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In 1920, it was transformed into the Labor and Defense Council (SRT). Planning was re-arranged to ensure that all economic resources were mobilized for the country's defense needs. The distribution of extremely limited resources of raw materials, supplies and food was centralized. Especially important were state plans for the procurement and distribution of bread and fuel, as well as plans for railway transportation. These plans were subordinated to the tasks of meeting the needs of the front and the most important industrial centers of the country. Many industrial enterprises were switched to fulfilling military orders. The plans of the civil war period were only operational tasks set for short periods of time; their main purpose was to maximize the use of available limited resources for the needs of the country's defense. In the extremely difficult conditions of this period, the organization of socialist planning of production and distribution was the most important factor in the victory of the Soviet government in the struggle against internal counter-revolution and foreign military intervention.

At the end of the civil war, in February 1920, V. I. Lenin again raised the question of developing a unified plan for the development of the national economy of the country based on electrification, as a plan for the recovery and recovery of the Russian economy, which he wrote about as early as 1918.

V. I. Lenin submitted to the first session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the seventh convocation a draft resolution on developing, with the assistance of representatives of science and technology, a broad and complete state plan for electrification of Russia (GOELRO), a plan for building the material and technical base of socialism. The Central Executive Committee adopted the resolution proposed by V. I. Lenin and instructed the Supreme Economic Council and the People's Commissariat of Agriculture to develop this plan and submit it to the Council of People's Commissars for approval. To develop the GOELRO plan, on the instructions of V. I. Lenin, the Supreme Economic Council established the State Commission for Electrification of Russia, consisting of about two hundred scientists and engineers, headed by the prominent revolutionary scientist G. M. Krzhizhanovsky; professors G. O. Graftio, E. Ya. Shulgin, I. G. Alexandrov, K. A. Krug, and M. V. Shulgin took an active part in its work. A. Chatelain et al.

The work of the commission was carried out with the active daily participation of V. I. Lenin and according to the program developed by him. This program provided for drawing up a plan not only for the construction of a power plant, but also for the development of the entire national economy. The resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee session on this issue, written by V. I. Lenin, states: "Along with the immediate, most urgent, urgent and top-priority tasks of arranging transport, eliminating fuel and food crises, fighting epidemics, and organizing disciplined armies of labor, Soviet Russia for the first time has the opportunity to begin more systematic economic construction, scientific research, and so on. development and consistent implementation of the state plan for the entire national economy " 5 . Based on this resolution, the commission developed the State Electrification Plan of Russia, which became world-famous as the GOELRO plan, within ten months. Noting the great importance and value of this plan, V. I. Lenin wrote: "We have given a state task, mobilized hundreds of specialists, and received them... unified economic plan, built scientifically " 6 .

The great historical significance of the GOELRO plan was that for the first time in the history of mankind, a broad program for transforming the economy of an entire country was developed, designed to:-

5 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 42, p. 340.

6 Ibid., p. 343.

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the structure of the foundation of a socialist society. The GOELRO plan was the first state long-term plan that defined the main directions of electrification and the production program of the most important industries, as well as the prospects for the development and electrification of transport and agriculture in the long term. The GOELRO plan provided not only for the restoration of the destroyed economy, but also for a significant excess of the level of economic development of tsarist Russia. It was planned to exceed the pre-war level of industrial production (1913) by 80-100% and at the same time increase the output of heavy industry by 2.2 times, and the production of consumer goods - by 1.5 times. In comparison with the actual level of 1920, the plan provided for an increase in industrial production by almost 15 times in 10 - 15 years7 .

At the suggestion of V. I. Lenin, the issue of the GOELRO plan was included in the agenda of the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets. In December 1920, the Congress adopted a resolution proposed by V. I. Lenin, in which it approved the work of the GOELRO commission, assessed this plan as the first step of great economic significance, and gave instructions to complete its development as soon as possible. A year later, in December 1921, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution on the GOELRO plan, which was then approved by the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The GOELRO plan was implemented ahead of schedule and played a huge role in the development of the national economy; for many years, it determined the most important directions for building a socialist economy in our country. The great significance of the GOELRO plan also lies in the fact that the most important principles and methods of drawing it up, put forward and developed by V. I. Lenin, became the scientific basis for socialist planning of the national economy.

Lenin's theory of planning contains a wide range of ideas. These primarily include the following basic provisions and principles of socialist planning: the existence of political, economic and organizational prerequisites for the development of the entire national economy according to a single plan; planning, as a manifestation of the economic and organizational function of the socialist state based on compliance with the requirements of democratic centralism; scientific, technical and economic validity of plans; proportionality, as the most important aspect of development of the economy; the allocation of leading links in the plan and the concentration of forces and resources on the implementation of the main tasks of the state; the determining role of long-term plans in their relationship with current plans and the combination of sectoral and territorial sections; the combination of centralized planning with economic stimulation of the creative initiative of local authorities in public production. A number of valuable ideas and theoretical propositions about socialist planning were also expressed in the works of prominent figures of the Communist Party and the Soviet State: F. E. Dzerzhinskiy, G. K. Ordzhonikidze, V. V. Kuibyshev, G. M. Kolesnikov, and others. Krzhizhanovsky, A.D. Tsyurupa, V. I. Mezhlauk, N. A. Voznesensky, as well as in numerous publications of Soviet scientists-economists, historians and sociologists.

After the successful development of the GOELRO plan, due to the increased volume of work on coordinating economic activities and the need to strengthen the planning principle and planning discipline, in order to expand the planning front and increase its scientific level, V. I. Lenin came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create a single planning center in the country. February 22, 1921, at the turn of a new period in the development of the Country of Soviets, when, after the victory over the interventionists, the Soviets-

7 "GOELRO Plan", Moscow, 1955, pp. 7-8, 182.

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There was a transition to peaceful work on the restoration of the national economy, and on the instructions of V. I. Lenin, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars established the State General Planning Commission (Gosplan) under the SRT. The formation of the State Planning Committee was a crucial milestone in the history of socialist planning, raising it to a higher organizational and scientific level. The decree of the Council of People's Commissars entrusted Gosplan with: "a) development of a single national economic plan, methods and procedures for its implementation; b )consideration and coordination with the national plan of production programs and planned assumptions of various departments, as well as regional (economic) organizations in all branches of the national economy and setting the order of work" 8.

Gosplan was created on the basis of the GOELRO commission, and all its activities were directly related to the implementation of the GOELRO plan. In the draft resolution on the organization of the State Planning Committee, V. I. Lenin wrote that the commission was created "to develop a single national economic plan based on the electrification plan approved by the 8th All-Russian Congress of Soviets and to monitor the implementation of this plan in general." 9 The head of the GOELRO commission, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, became the first chairman of the State Planning Committee. Its members included such prominent specialists as I. G. Alexandrov, V. R. Williams, I. M. Gubkin, D. N. Pryanishnikov, S. G. Strumilin and others. In order to create a unified system of planning bodies, the Council of People's Commissars decided to create planning branch bodies in economic commissariats and regional (provincial) economic councils under the corresponding executive committees with territorial planning bodies, and then State Planning bodies in the republics. Thus, under the direct leadership of V. I. Lenin, a new system of organization of socialist planning, a unified system of planning bodies of the country, was consistently formed.

As a result, the initial stage of socialist planning was completed and solid economic foundations were established for the planned economy in our country. Now the Soviet State, relying on the established system of planning bodies, was able to start using planning in practice for the restoration of the national economy. During these years, the planning of the national economy was carried out taking into account the existence of a multi - structured economy, the use of market commodity-money relations and the assumption (within certain limits) of the activities of the private capitalist sector. A characteristic feature of planning during this period was the widespread use of economic regulation methods along with direct planning methods.

Lenin's ideas of a unified state economic plan were to be implemented by the State Planning Committee in the difficult conditions of transition to the new economic policy (nep). At the same time, he was guided by the instruction of V. I. Lenin, given in his letter to G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, that "the new economic policy does not change the unified state economic plan and does not go beyond its framework, but changes the approach to its implementation"10 . This was also pointed out in the resolution of the XII Congress of the CPSU (1923), which stated:: "Since the state remains not only an owner, but also an economic entity in relation to the majority of the productive forces of industry and transport and in relation to credit resources, the planned beginning under the NEP is not much different in volume from the planned one

8 "Directives of the CPSU and the Soviet Government on economic issues", vol. 1, Moscow, 1957, p. 203.

9 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 42, p. 338.

10 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 54, p. 101.

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beginnings in the era of war communism. But it differs radically in its methods. Glavkokraticheskoe administration is replaced by economic maneuvering " 11 .

Direct planning methods combined with commercial calculation were applied mainly to enterprises in the socialist sector, which were assigned firm, mandatory tasks. Various forms of economic influence - prices, credit, tax policy-along with certain mandatory tasks were used to regulate the small-scale and private capitalist way of life. The defining role of the socialist sector and the dominance of public ownership in the leading areas of the economy allowed even under the NEP conditions to carry out and develop socialist planning based on Leninist principles.

In the first years of NEP, the economic situation in the country required increasing the role of current planning and creating a system of plans that would combine the long-term plan of GOELRO organically with current plans. Therefore, the center of gravity of the work of the State Planning Committee in the early 1920s was shifted to the solution of current planned tasks for the establishment of normal activities of industry, transport and agriculture. V. I. Lenin in letters to the Presidium of the State Planning Committee in 1921 repeatedly stressed that it was necessary to shift the center of gravity to the development of specific current plans for individual industries. He wrote: "We don't have a unified state economic plan yet. The prevailing tendency is to" raise " everything and everything, all branches of the economy, even all enterprises inherited from capitalism. The State Planning Committee should set up its work in such a way as to develop, at least by the time of harvest, the basics of a national economic plan for the next period, a year or two. Food must be taken as the starting point, for this is the root of the whole mass of difficulties. " 12
In accordance with these instructions, the State Planning Committee developed the state food plan for 1921-1922, which provided for the priority supply of bread and other food products to the army and workers of large industrial centers, which was crucial for a more rapid recovery of the national economy. The first state plan for industry was the indicative fuel supply plan for 1921, the main goal of which was to overcome the acute shortage of fuel and provide it primarily to the most important enterprises and large cities. Then drafts of annual plans for a number of other industries were developed. Most of these plans were initially only indicative, but as they were justified, they became directive planning tasks.

The conditions for planning agriculture during the NEP period were significantly different from industrial planning. Small-scale farming prevailed in the countryside, and the state could not implement the direct planning method here; however, it had a significant impact on the development of agriculture, since the main resources of industrial goods supplied to the village were in the hands of the state, and the state established a system of harvesting agricultural products. To influence the development of agriculture, state planning of its supply with agricultural machinery, fertilizers and other types of industrial products was also used.

11 "The CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee". Part I. Ed. 7-e, p. 692.

12 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 43, p. 260.

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Of great importance for increasing the role of state planning was the fact that with the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922, the organization of planning was legally enshrined in the Constitution of the USSR. It stated that the establishment of the fundamentals and general plan of the national economy was the responsibility of the USSR in the person of its supreme bodies; the rights and obligations of the Union republics and local bodies in the field of economic development planning were defined.

Particularly important for the strengthening and development of socialist planning was the decision of the XII Party Congress (1923) on industry, adopted at the suggestion of V. I. Lenin. It states: "In Soviet Russia, where the main means of industry and transport belong to one owner - the state-the active intervention of the latter in economic life must, of necessity, take on a planned character, and in view of the dominant role of the state as owner and owner, the planned principle thus acquires an exceptional significance at first." 13 The decision established the main tasks of the State Planning Committee of the USSR and defined the procedure and methods of its work. Based on this decision, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in August 1923 approved the "Regulations on the State Plan of the USSR", which stated that a State Planning Commission (Gosplan of the USSR) was established under the SRT in order to coordinate the national economy plans of the Soviet socialist republics that are part of the USSR, develop a single union perspective plan of the state economy and annual calendar plans, as well as for the purpose of systematic monitoring of the implementation of the unified union plan and regulation of the entire national economy 14 .

In the very difficult conditions of a multi-structured economy during the recovery period, the Soviet state successfully used socialist planning to quickly restore the economy and transition to industrialization of the country, as well as to strengthen the socialist system, which helped create the necessary prerequisites for the transition to a full-scale construction of socialism.

By the end of the recovery period (1925), on the basis of the growth of socialist relations in the Soviet economy, conditions were created for the transition from the development of sectoral plans to the compilation of annual control figures covering the entire national economy and representing interrelated directives and tasks of a directive nature for various branches and aspects of the country's economic life. For the first time, annual control figures were developed by the State Planning Committee of the USSR for 1925/26. These control figures had a number of serious shortcomings and did not give a correct perspective on the development of the national economy; they were not approved by the party and the Government in the same way as the control figures for 1926/27.

Of great importance for the further correct development of socialist planning in the USSR were the decisions of the Fourteenth Party Congress (December 1925), in which it was noted that the time had come to begin the broad implementation of Lenin's plan for the industrialization of the country, and the task of ensuring the economic independence of the USSR was set. The decisions of the Congress were based on the control figures for 1927/28 drawn up by the State Planning Committee of the USSR in accordance with the directives of the joint Plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) (July 1927); these control figures were approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, they provided for high rates of industrialization of the country

13 "Decisions of the Party and Government on economic issues", vol. 1, p. 348.

14 See ibid., p. 376.

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The completion of reconstruction tasks and the transition to socialist industrialization of the country determined the need to develop new long-term plans that would continue and develop Lenin's ideas of the GOELRO plan. This task was solved by developing five-year plans for the development of the national economy in the pre-war period, which represented a qualitatively new stage in the management of the national economy, since they made it possible to fully take into account the needs of society and combined long-term planning with solving current problems in the economic, social and cultural fields. The period of the pre - war five-year plans (1928-1941) was characterized by high rates of growth of social production with profound qualitative shifts in the structure and level of development of the productive forces, and the final transition from a multi-structured economy to a single-structured socialist national economy. This period covers three five-year plans; each of them had its own specific, strictly defined socio-economic goals and objectives.

In October 1927. The Plenum of the Central Committee and Central Committee of the CPSU(b) considered and approved theses on directives for the development of the first five - year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1928-1932. The directives for drawing up this plan were adopted by the 15th Party Congress in December 1927. The Congress defined clear and concrete directions of work on drawing up the plan, drew attention to the need to ensure rapid growth of the leading branches of heavy industry, which are crucial for strengthening the country's economic power and defense capability, set tasks to eliminate imbalances in the economy (first of all, imbalances between industry and agriculture) , and pointed out the need to capitalist elements. After the directives were approved, the State Planning Committee of the USSR, with the participation of the Supreme Economic Council and other departments, as well as republican planning and economic bodies, drew up the first five-year plan, which, after approval by the XVI Party Conference (April 1929), was approved by the V Congress of Soviets of the USSR in May 1929.

The main objectives of the first five-year plan were to implement the socialist transformations dictated by the laws of the transition period from capitalism to socialism. The plan organically linked the tasks of industrialization of the country and the transition from small-scale agriculture to large-scale, technically armed agriculture. The first five-year plan provided for the transformation of the country from a backward, agrarian one to an industrial one equipped with advanced technology. Along with huge economic construction, the five-year plan outlined major tasks to improve the material and cultural standard of living of the people. The solution of all these major tasks was to ensure the building of the foundation of socialism in the USSR. In the first five-year plan, the line for higher rates of development of the production of means of production (group "A") was clearly expressed; tasks were outlined for the extractive and manufacturing industries, transport and agriculture, which together would ensure the accelerated growth of a large-scale machine industry capable of re-equipping the entire national economy on the basis of socialist principles of socialization of production. In the field of heavy industry, the design of the first five-year plan provided for the fulfillment and over-fulfillment of a number of the most important tasks of the GOELRO plan, especially in terms of electrification of the country. Emphasis was placed on the creation of new branches of mechanical engineering and energy. At the same time, it provided for the creation of technical and economic prerequisites for strengthening the country's defense capability and eliminating the economic backwardness of the national republics.

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The workers of the Soviet Union launched a nationwide competition for the implementation of the five-year plan in four years. Counter-planning aimed at exceeding state plans has become widespread. As a result, the first five - year plan in terms of overall output was completed ahead of schedule-in 4 years and 3 months. In 1929-1932, the production of industrial products increased 2-fold, and that of machine-building products-more than 4-fold. Electricity production increased 2.7 times 15 . Due to the allocation of the principal amount of capital investments for new construction and the creation of new types of production facilities in 1929-1932, about 1,500 new industrial enterprises were put into operation, that is, almost one and a half times more than in the entire first decade of Soviet power16 . New branches of mechanical engineering (production of tractors, combine harvesters, automobiles, airplanes, diesel locomotives, electric locomotives) and chemical industry (production of synthetic rubber, artificial fibers and plastics) have emerged. In essence, the domestic machine-building industry was created anew. Another most important outcome of the first five-year plan was the successful development of the collective farm system; in 1932, the share of crops planted on collective and state farms reached 78%17 . By the end of the five-year plan, the socialist sector had become completely dominant in the country's economy; the share of the socialist system in the national income of the state had increased to 93% by 1932, compared with 44% in 1928.18 A number of major measures were implemented to improve the material and cultural standard of living of the people, and unemployment was eliminated. As a result of the implementation of the first five-year plan, the foundation of a socialist society was built in the USSR.

The second five-year plan (1933-1937) was developed for the first time under conditions when socialist production relations became predominant. Guidelines for its preparation were determined by the XVII Party Conference (1932), and in general, the plan for the second five-year plan was approved by the XVII Party Congress in 1934.

The main political task of the second five-year plan was to build a socialist society in which all capitalist elements and the causes that gave rise to them would be finally eliminated. To this end, it was envisaged that the socialist sector would continue to develop rapidly, that handicrafts in industry would be fully co-operated, and that agriculture would be collectivized. The main economic tasks of the five-year plan were to complete the technical reconstruction of the entire national economy by significantly updating the production apparatus, increasing the role of quality indicators (labor productivity and production costs), further electrification of the country and increasing the standard of living of the people. Thanks to the victory of the collective farm system, it became possible to more fully cover the plan of agriculture. Due to the rapid growth of cities, it was planned to develop master plans for the reconstruction of the largest of them.

The main tasks of the second five-year plan were also completed ahead of schedule (for industry - in 4 years and 3 months). In 1937, the output of gross industrial output increased 2.2 times compared to 1932, including the production of means of production (Group A) - 2.4 times and the production of consumer goods (Group B) -

15 "Steps of the five-year plans", Moscow, 1968, p. 71.

16 "Results of the implementation of the first five-year Plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR", Moscow, 1933, p. 48.

17 Ibid., p. 137.

18 "Steps of the five-year plans", p. 73.

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2 times 19 . This convergence in the growth rates of both divisions of social production indicated that even during the period of the creation of a powerful heavy industry, the party and the Government paid great attention to measures aimed at improving the standard of living of the people. The production apparatus of the main branches of the national economy was radically updated. By the end of the five-year plan, more than 80% of production was received from new or completely reconstructed enterprises. As a result of the successful development of new equipment, the tasks for increasing labor productivity and reducing the cost of production were exceeded, and labor productivity growth became the predominant factor in increasing production volume. During the second five-year plan, the material well-being of working people has significantly increased. National income has increased more than twice. Due to the increase in commodity resources in 1935, the card system of distribution of the most important types of food and industrial goods was eliminated. There was a real cultural revolution: illiteracy was almost completely eliminated and the transition to universal seven-year education in cities was implemented, and the number of students in higher educational institutions in the country increased dramatically. As a result of the successful implementation of the second five-year plan, the Soviet Union has become a powerful industrial-collective-farm socialist power and has reached the second place in the world and the first place in Europe in terms of absolute industrial production.

The results of the successful development of the national economy of the U.S.S.R. over the past two five years have made it possible to practically set the main economic task of the U.S.S.R. for the coming historical period: to catch up and overtake the highly developed capitalist countries in economic terms, that is, in the production of national income and basic products per capita. The third five-year plan for 1938-1942, adopted by the XVIII Party Congress (1939), was to become an important stage in solving this problem. It provided for a 1.9-fold increase in total production in the USSR and, accordingly, rapid development of the main branches of industry .20 The plan paid special attention to the sectors that form the basis of technological progress. The third five-year plan was supposed to be a five-year plan for the primary development of high-quality metallurgy, chemical industry, qualified mechanical engineering, and electric power industry. Much attention in the third five-year plan was paid to the proper placement of new enterprises in the regions of the country. One of the most important tasks was the integrated development of the country's economic regions. In order to bring industry closer to the sources of raw materials, create stand-in enterprises, and promote the economic growth of national suburbs, industrial construction in the eastern regions has taken on a wide scale. An important task was to create large state reserves as one of the main prerequisites for proportional economic development. The importance of reserves has increased especially in the context of the aggravation of the international situation on the eve of World War II.

The most important task of the planning bodies to ensure a new upsurge in the national economy is the organization of checking the implementation of plans in order to open up new reserves for the implementation of plans and prevent the emergence of imbalances in the economy; in this part, the functions of the State Planning Committee of the USSR were expanded. Appointed at the end of 1937 to the post of Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR, N. A. Voznesensky paid great attention to the systematic verification of the implementation of the State Planning Plan of the USSR. -

19 "Results of the implementation of the second five-year Plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR", Moscow, 1939, pp. 13, 62.

20 "Steps of the five-year plans", p. 111.

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changes to the plan. He wrote: "A matter of honor for planned employees... transform the organs of socialist planning of the national economy into combat headquarters for checking the implementation of national economic plans. " 21
Due to the fact that during the third five-year plan, the complexity of the development of the Soviet economy began to become important, which required scientific development of large-scale promising problems for the development of a number of industrial hubs, entire industries and individual economic regions of the country, it became necessary to involve large scientific forces in the work of Gosplan. To this end, at the beginning of 1940, at the initiative of N. A. Voznesensky, the Council of People's Commissars established a permanent Council of Scientific and Technical Expertise (later it was renamed the State Expert Commission). It included academicians A. Ya. Baykov, I. P. Bardin, V. S. Kulebakin, V. P. Nikitin, V. N. Obraztsov, S. G. Strumilin, E. A. Chudakov, L. D. Shevyakov and other prominent scientists and specialists. The Council conducted state expertise of the most important national economic problems, schemes for the development of branches of the national economy and the location of enterprises, specialization and integrated development of the economy of economic districts and projects of large complex construction projects, thereby contributing to the increase in the scientific validity of plans.

The third five-year plan was generally implemented successfully, despite the difficulties associated mainly with the diversion of significant material resources to strengthen the country's defense capability. In 3.5 years (by mid-1941), the main indicators for the development of the national economy stipulated in the third five - year plan were fulfilled by 85-90%, 22 and if not for the war, this plan , like the previous ones, would have been fulfilled ahead of schedule. On the whole, the pre-war five-year plans played an outstanding role in solving the most important tasks of socialist perestroika in our country, in the economic and social development of Soviet society; they helped to achieve high rates of reproduction, major changes in the structure of the national economy, and a significant increase in the material and cultural standard of living of the Soviet people.

The successful economic development of the USSR was interrupted on June 22, 1941 by the treacherous attack of Nazi Germany. The socialist system of planned economic management was subjected to the most difficult test during the Great Patriotic War and brilliantly withstood it. Despite the temporary loss of the territory where 40% of the country's population lived, 63% of coal was mined, 58% of steel was produced, 60% of aluminum, 38% of grain, 84% of sugar, 23 the national economy was quickly rebuilt in a military way. Socialist planning was a powerful means of organizing a well-coordinated military economy. Relying on the centralized planned management of the economy, the Soviet state in a short time carried out a radical restructuring of the entire economy of the country in accordance with the needs of wartime. More than 1,360 large enterprises were evacuated to the east24, at the same time there was a forced construction of new heavy and defense industry enterprises. Civilian industry was involved in the production of products for the front on a large scale.

In the conditions of the war economy, the nature of planned management of the national economy has changed significantly, and new forms of economic development have been required.-

21 "Bolshevik", 1938, No. 2, p. 16.

22 "Steps of the five-year plans", p. 112.

23 N. A. Voznesensky. Military economy of the USSR during the Patriotic War, Moscow, 1947, p. 42.

24 "Steps of the five-year plans", p. 120.

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We are planning for a radical change in the proportions of the national economy and for rapid territorial shifts in the distribution of industry. The main features of the planned economy during the war years were the centralization of planning, its concreteness, efficiency and flexibility. The most important tool for mobilizing the resources of the entire country for defense needs were state military-economic plans, which were systematically drawn up starting from the third quarter of 1941. Direct management of planning, as well as all issues of national defense, was entrusted to the State Defense Committee (GKO), which approved military-economic plans and carried out day-to-day monitoring of their implementation. Planning deadlines have been reduced. The main type of plans during this period were quarterly plans, as well as monthly and even decadal plans. The implementation of plans for military orders was monitored daily. Tasks for the most important types of military products were set by the State Defense Committee directly to the factories.

Using the advantages of the socialist planned economy, the national economy of the USSR provided for the needs of the front at the expense of its own economic resources. The planned management system also made it possible to organize, in extremely difficult conditions characterized by very limited food resources, the supply of the population with the necessary minimum food. Thus, the planned economy was one of the most important factors that allowed the Soviet people to break the military machine of nazi Germany and ensure victory in the Great Patriotic War. The entire system of planned management of the national economy with honor passed a difficult exam during the war years.

In the post-war period, the State Planning Committee of the USSR and the entire system of planning bodies faced new major tasks, which were solved in new five-year and annual plans. In the first years after the end of the war, the Soviet economy developed according to the tasks of the fourth five-year plan (1946-1950), adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in March 1946. The main task of this plan was to restore the economy of the war-affected areas, restore and then significantly exceed the pre-war level of development of the country's economy. The leading elements of the fourth five-year plan were the restoration and development of heavy industry and rail transport.

Planned management of the economy made it possible to carry out a rapid restructuring of the branches of the economy to meet the needs of peacetime. Already in 1946, the transfer of industrial enterprises to the production of civilian products was largely completed. The pre-war volume of industrial output was restored in 1948, that is, in three years. The tasks of the fourth five-year plan in the field of industry and transport were successfully completed. In 1950, the national income exceeded the pre-war level of 1940 by 64%25 . The pre-war volume of production of consumer goods and retail trade was restored and exceeded. In 1947, the card system was abolished.

Success in restoring the national economy destroyed by the war allowed the Soviet state to put forward broad tasks for the further development of the socialist economy and national welfare in the fifth five - year development plan of the USSR for 1951-1955. The main objectives of this plan were approved by the XIX Congress of the CPSU (1952). The plan provided for a broad program of improving the proportions in the national economy, technical improvement of the missile defense system.-

25 Ibid., p. 174.

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increase productivity and reduce production costs. The tasks of the fifth five-year industrial development plan were successfully completed. Gross industrial output grew by 85% over the five-year period instead of 70% according to plan 26 . Tasks on the most important types of heavy industry products and on improving the standard of living of the people were exceeded.

In February 1956, the XX Congress of the CPSU adopted directives on the sixth five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1956-1960. The directives indicated that the sixth five-year plan should be a five-year plan for the further powerful development of the productive forces and a significant increase in the standard of living of the Soviet people. In the course of implementing the directives of the XX Congress of the CPSU, it became necessary to make some clarifications in the tasks of the sixth five-year plan. In the future, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR recognized the need to develop a long-term plan for a longer period - for 1959-1965.

As a result of the implementation of grandiose transformations in all areas of economic and socio-political life, Soviet society had all the necessary material, political and social prerequisites to start creating the material and technical base of communism, to ensure the rapid growth of all branches of the national economy, using the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution, to meet material and spiritual needs more and more fully people. An important stage in the implementation of this program was the seven-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1959-1965. The main objectives of this plan were approved by the XXI Congress of the CPSU (1959) in the form of "Control figures for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1959-1965". The Congress established that "the main task of the seven - year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1959-1965 is to continue a powerful rise in all sectors of the economy based on the predominant growth of heavy industry, and to significantly strengthen the country's economic potential in order to ensure a continuous improvement in the living standards of the people."27 One of the characteristic features of the seven-year industrial plan was the implementation of progressive changes in the structure of industrial production through accelerated development of the chemical industry, energy, radical changes in the structure of the fuel balance due to increased oil and gas production, and rapid development of mechanical engineering. Significant changes were envisaged in the allocation of the country's productive forces; more than 40% of the total capital investment was directed to the development of the eastern regions. 28
The seven-year plan was successfully implemented. The main production assets of the national economy increased significantly during this period. National income has increased. New natural resources were identified and brought into economic circulation. At the same time, mainly due to mistakes made in the management of agriculture, the plan for agricultural production was significantly under-fulfilled. Due to the lack of raw materials, the growth rate of production of consumer goods decreased. In a number of industries, plans for putting production capacities into operation were not met.

After the October 1964 Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Communist Party and the Soviet Government, based on a thorough analysis of the state of the country's economy, focused their efforts on the fundamental issues of improving economic relations in our society, improving the management system of the national economy, and improving the quality of the economy.-

26 Ibid., p. 207.

27 "Materials of the Extraordinary XXI Congress of the CPSU", Moscow, 1959, p. 181.

28 "Steps of the five-year plans", pp. 245-246.

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planning and economic stimulation of production. At the present stage of the country's development, when the main program economic task is to build the material and technical base of communism, the main requirement of the party is to ensure high rates of economic growth in order to create the most advanced national economy in the world in terms of efficiency and scientific and technical level. The main directions were to increase the efficiency of public production and, on this basis, to further improve the standard of living of the people.

An important step towards building the material and technical base of communism was the eighth five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1966-1970. This plan was developed in accordance with the decisions of the March and September (1965) Plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the directives of the XXIII Congress of the CPSU (1966).: "In the new five-year plan, special attention is paid to accelerating scientific and technological progress and improving production efficiency, as the most important economic and political task." 29 These decisions marked the beginning of the implementation of economic reform in our country, which provides for a new approach to economic management and defines the basic principles of the party's economic policy at the current stage of the country's development.

A characteristic feature of the eighth five-year plan was that it provided for the rapid technical re-equipment of the entire national economy and the introduction of scientific and technological progress into production in order to significantly increase the efficiency of social production and accelerate the growth rate of labor productivity. The plan provided for a significant increase in the average annual volume of agricultural production and an acceleration in the growth rate of consumer goods production. Along with the high rates of development of mechanical engineering, it was planned to further improve its structure in accordance with the needs of technological progress. It was planned to increase the output of instrumentation, radio electronics, and chemical equipment production at a faster pace.

By implementing the decisions of the XXIII Party Congress and the Plenums of the Central Committee, the Soviet people achieved outstanding success and fulfilled the eighth five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the country in terms of the most important economic and social indicators. The results of the eighth five-year plan mark the further movement of Soviet society towards communism, strengthening the country's economic and defense power. They clearly reflect the organic unity of the development of the material and technical base and growth, the living standards of workers, the quantitative growth of the resources of the national economy and further profound qualitative changes in the economy, the growth of productive forces and the improvement of socio-economic relations.

The Soviet economy today consists of a highly developed industry equipped with advanced technology, a large-scale socialist agriculture, a gigantic construction industry based on industrial methods, and technically modern transport and communications. For 53 years, of which more than two decades are spent on wars and the subsequent restoration of the economy, our country has become the largest industrial power in the world. Compared with 1913, the national income increased in 1970 by more than 44.7 times, the gross output of industry - by 89.8 times, the gross output of agriculture - by 3 times, the cargo turnover of all modes of transport - by 30 times, the number of workers and employees in the national economy - by 7 times, the production of agricultural products-by 4 times.-

29 "Materials of the XXIII Congress of the CPSU", Moscow, 1966, p. 44.

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labor productivity in industry increased by 18.2 times, labor productivity in agriculture-by 5.4 times, real incomes of workers - by 7.6 times, and real incomes of peasants-by 12 times 30 . The enormous growth of social production and the improvement of the standard of living of the working people are the result of the creation under the leadership of the Communist Party of a powerful productive potential of the country, increasing its national wealth, which embodied many years of selfless work of the Soviet people.

In March of this year, the XXIV Congress of the CPSU will consider and approve directives on the ninth five-year plan for 1971-1975, which marks a new stage in the movement of our country along the path of communist construction. This plan is intended to ensure the further development of the material and technical base of communism and to better meet the material and cultural needs of the Soviet people. For this purpose, the possibilities and advantages of a planned socialist economy should be maximized, the efficiency of social production should be increased, and the deep sources of its intensive development should be activated through faster growth in labor productivity and better use of the capacity of the production apparatus.

The December (1969) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which played a major role in the struggle for the successful fulfillment of the tasks of the eighth five-year plan, noted that a huge reserve for accelerating the development of the national economy is to improve planning, improve production management and labor organization. Speaking at a joint solemn meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR on April 21, 1970, dedicated to the centenary of the birth of V. I. Lenin, L. I. Brezhnev pointed out: "The correct formulation of planning is now becoming extremely important. There is no doubt, comrades, that many of the difficulties that we have to face in the field of economics have their roots in various shortcomings in planning, in the imperfection of plans, as well as in their insufficiently precise implementation. Therefore, one of the most important tasks is to constantly improve planning methods, increase the scientific, technical and economic validity of plans, both current and prospective. " 31
The State Planning Committee of the USSR, in accordance with these instructions, will have to consider and solve, in collaboration with scientists and business executives, a number of important problems of implementing a new system of planning and economic incentives, develop and implement a number of measures to improve planning methods, and ensure that the ninth five-year plan for 1971-1975 is completed, so that it at all levels of the national economy.

There is no doubt that the Gosplan of the U.S.S.R. and the entire Soviet planning system, enriched by fifty years of experience, guided by the fundamental ideas of V. I. Lenin and the instructions of the party and Government, will ensure the further progressive development and improvement of socialist planning and will contribute to the solution of the problem of rapidly creating the material and technical base of communism in our country.

30 N. K. Baibakov. Implementation of Lenin's ideas of scientific planning. Kommunist, 1970, No. 5, p. 25.

31 L. I. Brezhnev. Lenin's cause lives and wins, Moscow, 1970, pp. 27-28.

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