Scientific-technological progress and the advantages of socialism: the evolution of Soviet economic thought

The article examines the development of Soviet economists’ views on the scientifictechnological progress consequences, the advantages of socialism associated with it, as well as the prospects for building the material-technical basis of communism. The author identifies four stages in the evolution of approaches to these problems. At the first stage, prior to the XXII CPSU Congress in 1961, as the scientific-technical revolution took shape, the emerging ideas had not yet been formalized into a single theoretical system. At the second stage, which took place in the first years after the XXII Congress, the key points were established and developed into widely recognized conceptions. Special attention was paid to automation, chemicalization, development of new types of energy. In the late 1960s — early 1980s maintaining the previous theoretical foundations, more attention was paid to local aspects. At the final stage, with the beginning of perestroika, a number of key provisions were revised. These included recognition of a greater importance of the second industrial revolution, highlighting the leap in the development of microelectronics in the 1970s (later called the information revolution), etc. Changes in research approaches at different stages are associated with economic practice, successes and difficulties in introducing elements of the scientific-technological revolution into production.

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