'Kosygin Reform' - historical background

Alexei Kosygin is considered not only an experienced business executive and a skilful, energetic organizer, but also the most intelligent and intelligent chairman of the government for the entire post-war period of the USSR.

This was also promoted by the "Kosygin reform" - the first attempt after the war to transfer the Soviet economy to the marketplace. It covered not only all branches of industry and agriculture, but virtually all spheres of life.

"Kosygin Reform" was aimed at increasing the economic incentives and independence of organizations. According to the decision of the CPSU Plenum of 1965, it was decided to reform all industrial enterprises. The main goal of this decision was ultimately to increase the effectiveness of their work.

It was envisaged, in addition to the gross indicator, to introduce the concept of the value of sold products, the creation of a common wage fund, the total amount of centralized capital investments. In order to stimulate the activities of enterprises, part of the income was to be left to them.

"Kosygin Reform" had several tasks: to strengthen the vertical of power, to restore the central ministries of industry, to abolish the economic councils.

Implemented the reform of 1965 already under General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. And if he had dared to suspend the flywheel of transformations, launched under his predecessor Khrushchev, then Kosygin's economic reform would most likely have passed. Although no change of power, no "palace" coup was not able at once to abolish the then urgent requirements of the economy.

Before the adoption of the reform, each step of the enterprise collective was regulated to the smallest detail, any attempt at economic maneuvers was blocked. Throughout the country, a military staff system operated with its dominant slogan: "Give the plan at any cost."

In the country, "Kosygin reform" was met with ambiguity. Many of the business executives saw in it a good opportunity to earn some money, others predicted the final collapse of the economy.

Enterprises had the opportunity to become economically self-sufficient, and therefore sought opportunities to increase their profits. At the same time, the transition to a lucrative indicator spurred inflation in the country.

Nevertheless, according to many economists, the period of "Kosygin reform" in terms of its economic and social indicators was the best in all the years of the post-war period.

However, the reform was not perfect: it represented a set of contradictory and disparate solutions, because The expansion of the independence of enterprises was combined with the strengthening of the powers of ministries.

The whole point was that by introducing individual market regulators into a non-market command-administrative system, the Kosygin reform did not give the most important for a market economy-a freely regulated price. And this, in turn, limited the impact of such driving levers as profitability and profit. And as a result, hidden inflation began in the country, the profit gained not at the expense of increasing production efficiency, but because of artificial overstatement of prices, and many other serious problems.

That is why very soon the higher party leadership felt that over their undivided power the threat loomed. And by the mid-1970s the reform had been curtailed, and its goals had not been achieved.

The reformers, including A. Kosygin himself, understood that it was not the economy of the Soviet Union that needed to be reformed, but the foundations of the social system, the way of life of the country. However, they did not represent the mechanism by which this should be done, although they realized that the "child" created by them could really shake the state foundations and break stability in the country.