Kibita N. Soviet Economic Management Under Khrushchev: The Sovnarkhoz Reform

Londom: Routledge, 2015. — 246 p. — ISBN10: 1138182958; ISBN13: 978-1138182950 — (Basees/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies. Book 89)The Sovnarkhoz reform of 1957 was designed by Khrushchev to improve efficiency in the Soviet economic system by decentralizing economic decision-making from all-Union branch ministries in Moscow to the governments of the individual republics and regional economic councils. Based on extensive original research, including unpublished archival material, this book examines the reform, discussing the motivations for it, which included Khrushchev’s attempt to strengthen his own power base. The book explores how the process of reform was implemented, especially its impact on the republics, and analyzes why the reform, which was reversed in 1959, failed. Overall, the book reveals a great deal about the workings, and the shortcomings, of the Soviet economic system at its height.The search for a more efficient economic administration1953–1956: exploring the horizons for administrative reorganization
XX CPSU congress – December 1956 CC CPSU Plenum: the height of expectations
The Sovnarkhoz reformDecentralization of decision making: hopes and disillusionmentSetting new elements
First disillusionment: plan for 1958
Republican budgetary rights
Decentralizing the supply system: losing control over resources
Gosplan of Ukraine: setting its authority in the republicRecentralizing economic administrationThe turning point
November 1962 CC CPSU Plenum: giving up on the reform?
Recentralization in UkraineEpilogue