An Economy in Transition

Abstract

Looking back to the period of the Cold War and before, one can see that it was characterised not only by political tension and by the arms race, but was also reflected in the economic relations between East and West. Trade relations between Russia and the West were always conditioned by the reluctance of the Soviet Union to entertain closer commercial links with the West, particularly with the United States. It was one of the factors that motivated Stalin to accelerate the process of industrialisation. This also had military significance in allowing the USSR to develop its arsenal of weaponry and consequently to strengthen its defence capabilities. It was a major reason for Russia’s quest for self-sufficiency and economic independence, sometimes bordering on autarky. Under Stalin’s rule the economic objective of industrialisation was to be achieved as far as possible without dependence on Western economies. Any economic interdependence with the West was regarded as an attempt by the capitalist world to achieve political and economic domination. The Marshall Plan which at first received a favourable reaction from Poland and Czechoslovakia, was perceived by the Soviet Union as an attempt to detach some of the East European states from the Soviet sphere of influence. It was denounced as trying ‘. . . to restore the power of imperialism in the countries of the new democracy and force them to abandon their close economic and military collaboration with the Soviet Union . . . to form a bloc of states linked to the United States’ (Claudin, 1975, p. 469).