Scientific and Technical Policy of the USSR of the 1950—1960s: from the Problem of Implementation to Attempts of Systemic Reform

Abstract

The Soviet Union history of the late 1940s — early 1950s embraces the end of the post-war economic recovery, the change of the country’s top leadership and emerging attempts to reform the existing centralized management system. Within the framework of these processes, a key role is given to science. The Soviet functionaries tended to consider scientific and technological progress as a resource for improving economic indicators and boosting the economy of the country. The author analyzes the main prerequisites for changing the goal-setting of the Soviet science and technology policy in the period of the 1950s; examines the problem of integrating the latest developments into production processes in the framework of the planned economy; and describes the key institutional transformations that took place during this period. Conducting such an analysis makes it possible to single out the key problems in the implementation of the science and technology policy of the Soviet Union in the middle of the 20th century and to trace how it was combined with the economic reforms carried out in the country.