Alienation and the Soviet Economy: The Collapse of the Socialist Era

In 1971 this seminal book pointed out the fatal defects of Soviet economic organization that would lead to the collapse of the Soviet economy. Two decades later the book was reissued without a word changed with new introductions. Paul Craig Roberts tells how reality triumphed over Marxism, and he examines the implications for the future of Russia and eastern Europe. In 1971 Roberts created a firestorm among Sovietologists with his argument that the economies of the USSR and its East Bloc allies were doomed because their “planned” economies produced outputs that were worth less than the inputs. Roberts demonstrates that Soviet managers organize production by interpreting gross output indicators instead of price and profit movements, with the consequence that the Soviet economy is organized polycentrically like a market economy but devoid of economic rationality. Roberts shows that Marxist goals are expressions of passion for conviviality and represent not experience but inordinate aspirations. The reissue of this book in 1990 was welcomed by members of the Economic Institute of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences.