How did the Soviet Union compare economically with its allies and adversaries before and during World War II? Was Soviet economic survival under massive German attack to be expected? What was the cost of the war in rubles, lives and foregone postwar economic well-being? In this book Mark Harrison answers these questions, providing a comprehensive analysis of the hitherto secret Soviet statistical record.
How did the Soviet Union compare economically with its allies and adversaries before and during World War II? Was Soviet economic survival under massi...
This book examines the little-known phenomenon of blat--the use of informal contacts and personal networks to obtain goods and services under the rationing that pervaded Soviet Russia. Alena Ledeneva analyzes the historical, socioeconomic and cultural aspects of blat, and explores its implications for post-Soviet Russia. The political and economic reforms introduced since the collapse of the Soviet Union have radically affected everyday practices, but an understanding of blat remains crucial for interpreting the social, economic and criminal problems that affect the development of a market...
This book examines the little-known phenomenon of blat--the use of informal contacts and personal networks to obtain goods and services under the rati...
The Soviet Union in the Horn of Africa is the first major attempt to address the paradoxes of Soviet behavior in the area. Dr. Patman provides a careful historical background to the recent conflicts and shows how the Soviet Union and its East European partners dramatically switched from being close allies of Somalia to allies of Ethiopia--intervening in the Ethiopian-Somali war of 1977-8 to ensure the military defeat of their former ally. However, he does not confine himself simply to retrospective analysis. He also assesses the Soviet experience in the region in the decade since 1979, and...
The Soviet Union in the Horn of Africa is the first major attempt to address the paradoxes of Soviet behavior in the area. Dr. Patman provides a caref...
This is the first study in English of a major and instructive episode in the history of the Soviet Union. The Stakhanovite movement commemorated the mining of 108 tons of coal by Alexi Stakhanov in 1935 and it was an important symbol by which the state urged workers to achieve greater productivity. As Siegelbaum shows, Stakhanovism can be used to explore the social relations within Soviet industry at a critical stage in its development. In this sense, Stakhanovism was an important symbol of a shift in official priorities from construction of the means of production via increasing inputs of...
This is the first study in English of a major and instructive episode in the history of the Soviet Union. The Stakhanovite movement commemorated the m...
In this book Kazimierz Poznanski offers an integrated study of institutional change in the Polish economy since 1971. He examines the economic peak of the communist phase, the decline of the system, and the post-communist transition since 1989. He provides a complete reevaluation of conventional views of communist economies and the post-communist transition, arguing that the political pressures that affected the communist system have continued to have a disastrous impact on recent "shock therapy" reforms.
In this book Kazimierz Poznanski offers an integrated study of institutional change in the Polish economy since 1971. He examines the economic peak of...
Paying particularly close attention to the provisional party organization and to the party secretaries who direct its activities, this book examines the changing position and role of the Polish United Workers' Party and its apparatus between 1975 and 1986. The role of the party secretaries and the way they perform is seen as a major determinant of the nature of party leadership and of the strength of political authority in communist states. The author argues that the protracted crisis of the Polish system reflects less the weakness of communist party power than critical problems encountered...
Paying particularly close attention to the provisional party organization and to the party secretaries who direct its activities, this book examines t...
In this book, Iliana Zloch-Christy analyzes the causes and consequences of the massive East European debt that began in the 1970s. In assessing the region's convertible currency debt problem, the author addresses five main issues: the origins of the debt; the possibility that such a debt was essential to Eastern Europe's economic development; the effects of the countries' own adjustments to the problem; the value of the aid provided by the West; and the outlook for the debt during the rest of the decade. The book analyzes the flaws of the centrally-planned economies that led to the crisis as...
In this book, Iliana Zloch-Christy analyzes the causes and consequences of the massive East European debt that began in the 1970s. In assessing the re...
In this important new study of Soviet Jewry, Yaacov Ro'i examines their struggle for emigration from the establishment of the State of Israel to the outbreak of the Six-Day War. Using a range of personal interviews, he explores how Jewish self awareness arose both as a result of the founding of the State of Israel and as a product of the Holocaust. Local groups developed and sustained Jewish cultural interests and their Jewish identity in the face of popular anti-Semitism and Soviet policy. The author continues by analyzing the campaign conducted in the West and mobilized by the Israeli...
In this important new study of Soviet Jewry, Yaacov Ro'i examines their struggle for emigration from the establishment of the State of Israel to the o...
This book makes an important contribution to the current re-evaluation of the origins of Stalinism. Hitherto, Western scholars have focused on leading personalities to analyze the crisis of the New Economic Policy. Dr. James Hughes, however, examines the processes at work under the NEP from the regional perspective of Siberia. He looks at party-peasant relations, the kulak question, Stalin's patron-client network in the provinces, the regional impact of the grain crisis of 1927-28 and the use of emergency measures to overcome it. He concludes that Stalin's experience of conditions that were...
This book makes an important contribution to the current re-evaluation of the origins of Stalinism. Hitherto, Western scholars have focused on leading...
