Gorbachev′s book Perestroika is used to explain why the author believes the new policy of restructuring of the Soviet economy cannot and will not work. The policies of Perestroika are introduced and evaluated and the existing socio‐economic system presented. At the end of this sceptical...

The major objective of Aganbegyan′s book is to enhance arguments made by Gorbachev in the latter′s Perestroika. New Thinking for Our Country and the World . Like his leader, Aganbegyan asserts that the ultimate purpose of perestroika is people′s welfare and that the policy of the...

With the process of continuous specialisation within economics and with its incessant subdivision into different schools, the practitioners of the discipline are becoming more and more alienated from each other. The need and opportunity to communicate are disappearing. When a dialogue takes...

The major reason for the divergence of views regarding the definition of productive labour is the fact that the concept is viewed from different perspectives. For example, neoclassical economists see a world comprised of atomistic and selfish individuals. In this world, any kind of labour...

Was the October Revolution inevitable? If yes, what was its real character? If not, could it have been avoided or taken a different course? What was the role played in it by Lenin? Using the dialectical method of analysis, an attempt is made to provide answers to these questions. The following...

Attempts to find answers to such theoretical questions as the character of Soviet‐type societies and the major tendency of their development. Argues that, as long as the analysis is conducted in convenient and extreme terms of “either capitalism or socialism or communism”: as long as the...

The traditional analysis of the Soviet‐type economies denies the existence of markets to these economies. The usual argument is that these economies lack freedom and are characterized by the absence of private property. Additionally, the conventional analysis implies that theory of markets is...

Gives a brief account of what has happened, what is happening and what is going to happen in the country formerly called the Soviet Union. Analyses the socio‐economic nature of the Soviet system and its evolution prior to Gorbachev′s reforms. Presents the causes for the emergence of...

The traditional analysis of the Soviet‐type economies denies the existence of markets to these economies. The usual argument is that these economies lack freedom and are characterized by the absence of private property. Additionally, the conventional analysis implies that theory of markets is...

Questions the meanings of the economic concepts which are usually taken for granted by many economics textbooks. Discusses notions of “property” (including actual, legal, private and public property), “possession”, “market”, “capitalism”, “socialism”, “communism” and...