Introduction

Abstract

One of the fundamental tenets of Marxism-Leninism is the abolition of the exploitation of man by man through the elimination of private ownership of the means of production. Under Stalin this was a major objective of all communist governments. The private sector dwindled rapidly and what was left was generally believed to be a temporary remnant. However, the private sector has not disappeared. In the mid-1950s, mid-1960s, and again in recent years, several East European governments have made attempts to revive private enterprise, despite their expressed adherence to the socialisation of all means of production.¹ A recent Polish textbook on political economy notes that the chief task of the transitional period from capitalism to socialism is ‘the liquidation of the capitalist sector and the gradual transformation of the petty commodity sector, in particular the individual peasant economy’.² The existence of private enterprise remains ideologically undesirable. Two major questions emerge:

• 1. Why has private enterprise survived?

• 2. How does private enterprise function in a Soviet-type economy?