Neither the crowd-“elitism” party, nor the crowd-“elitism” society of the USSR rebuffed this perversion of the course of Communism building. Therefore economic problems and problems of Socialism in the USSR connected with them appeared unsolved, moreover new problems added and previously unsolved problems «rose from the dead». Yet they have to be brought to light and solved because by the Predestination there is no room for the civilization of speaking human-like sensible apes and their demonic masters and bosses. So let us come back to the facts that J.V. Stalin regarded as incontestable progress of Socialism and to the way he understood problems that were to be solved.
J.V. Stalin regarded national economy of the USSR as an integral system, i.e. as an object of management constituted of a number of elements with different functions that interact with each other. He conceived developing this multi-industry production and distribution system as development and update of the element basis and the interconnection system of elements. Anybody can make sure that it is true after a careful consideration of the text of “The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR”. At the same time the integrity function should se subject to certain laws forming the hierarchy of mutual multiplicity.
The most important law among them must be the main economic law of Socialism formulated by Stalin the following way: «providing maximum satisfaction of ever-growing material and cultural needs of society by means of continuous growth and improvement of Socialist production on the basis of advanced techniques and equipment».
The law of planned (proportional) development of national economy is in its turn subordinate to the main economic law. In “Digression 6” we analyzed carefully the understanding of the words «planned» and «proportional».
Explaining the interrelation of economic laws of socialism and their interconnection with life, J.V. Stalin pointed out that unlike the force of law of value under spontaneous market capitalism, economic laws of Socialism do not have the characteristic of automatism of the kind. They take knowledge. Only after that effective planning and national economy management becomes possible according to the knowledge and public needs. In particular:
«…the law of balanced development of the national economy makes it possible for our planning bodies to plan social production correctly. But possibility must not be confused with actuality. They are two different things. In order to turn the possibility into actuality, it is necessary to study this economic law, to master it, to learn to apply it with full understanding, and to compile such plans as fully reflect the requirements of this law. It cannot be said that the requirements of this economic law are fully reflected by our yearly and five-yearly plans». (“Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.”, “Remarks on Economics Questions Connected with the November 1951 Discussion”, part 1. “Character of Economic Laws Under Socialism”.)
Many people suppose that J.V. Stalin attached no importance to «the law of value» as a code of objective showings of economy efficiency such as production cost value, market prices and profitability and therefore national economy of the USSR appeared so inefficient. Actually is absolutely untrue.
J.V. Stalin attached special importance to «the law of value» that was impossible to achieve under the conditions of capitalist economy. But beginning from the first edition of “The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR” economists and first of all titled fools from the economic department of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and union republics or the present Russian Academy of Sciences could not or did not want to understand what J.V. Stalin wrote. Neither they understood what there was behind accountants’ guides in the course of economical activities. J.V. Stalin wrote the following lines concerning «the law of value».
«…the sphere of operation of the law of value is limited by the social ownership of the means of production, and by the law of balanced development of the national economy, and is consequently also limited by our yearly and five-yearly plans, which are an approximate reflection of the requirements of this law (put in bold type by the authors: the important thing here is that saying approximately Stalin admitted inevitability of mistakes caused by different reasons. Any plan is subject to them therefore it is not the most precise realization of the plan that is the best way of using national economy production facilities among feasible ones).
Some comrades draw the conclusion from this that the law of balanced development of the national economy and economic planning annul the principle of profitableness of production. That is quite untrue. It is just the other way round. If profitableness is considered not from the stand-point of individual plants or industries, and not over a period of one year, but from the standpoint of the entire national economy and over a period of, say, ten or fifteen years, which is the only correct approach to the question (all put in bold type by the authors), then the temporary and unstable profitableness of some plants or industries is beneath all comparison with that higher form of stable and permanent profitableness which we get from the operation of the law of balanced development of the national economy and from economic planning, which save us from periodical economic crises disruptive to the national economy and causing tremendous material damage to society, and which ensure a continuous and high rate of expansion of our national economy». (“Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.”, “Remarks on Economics Questions Connected with the November 1951 Discussion”, part 3. “The Law of Value Under Socialism”).
«When speaking, in my "Remarks," of the profitableness of the socialist national economy, I was controverting certain comrades who allege that, by not giving great preference to profitable enterprises, and by tolerating the existence side by side with them of unprofitable enterprises, our planned economy is killing the very principle of profitableness of economic undertakings. The "Remarks" say that profitableness considered from the standpoint of individual plants or industries is beneath all comparison with that higher form of profitableness which we get from our socialist mode of production, which saves us from crises of overproduction and ensures us a continuous expansion of production (all put in bold type by the authors).
But it would be mistaken to conclude from this that the profitableness of individual plants and industries is of no particular value and is not deserving of serious attention. That, of course, is not true. The profitableness of individual plants and industries is of immense value for the development of our industry. It must be taken into account both when planning construction and when planning production. It is an elementary requirement of our economic activity at the present stage of development». (“Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.”, “Reply to Comrade Alexander Ilyich Notkin”, “The fifth point”).
J.V. Stalin made a reserve bluntly. He wrote:
«…there can be no doubt that under our present socialist conditions of production, the law of value cannot be a "regulator of the proportions" of labour distributed among the various branches of production». (“Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.”, “Remarks on Economics Questions Connected with the November 1951 Discussion”, part 3. “The Law of Value Under Socialism”).
The function of inter-industry proportions regulation should be performed the main economic law of Socialism. It results in defining the objects for the production system and in the law of planned (proportional) development of national economy. This law opens up possibilities of bringing production capabilities into accord with needs of society in the best way possible.