Council For Mutual Economic Assistance Research Articles

Internationalism, Cooperation and Personal Entanglements between Cuba, the German Democratic Republic, and Angola in the Socialist World

ABSTRACT On the basis of German and Cuban archival documents, the present article tries to apply the global history notion of ‘entanglement’ to the study of intercontinental personnel circulations within and at the margins of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). It shows the flows of personnel which were set in motion by the implementation of the CMEA’s task of achieving convergence in the sense of ‘aligning the developmental level’ of its member states. At the same time, it examines the contribution of these personnel flows to the convergence function of the CMEA. Angola is taken as a case study by investigating the Cuban–East German–Angolan entanglement in intercontinental mobility, with a specific focus on the circulating personnel; by examining institutional and everyday practices of dealing with inequality in these encounters; and by evaluating Cuba’s role in the CMEA on the level of personnel encounters, exchanges, and interactions. The present contribution zooms into personal encounters between Cubans, East Germans and Angolans in Angola while assessing how the organisational setting of these encounters mediated inequality.

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) as example of international economic cooperation between the USSR and countries of “people's democracy” in the field of development of railway transport

in the context of the formation of a bipolar system of international relations in the mid-1940s. One of the most important aspects is economic cooperation between allies in the new realities. In response to the Marshall Plan adopted by the United States, the USSR is taking steps to create its own economic unification based on cooperation between countries in the socialist bloc. The article is devoted to the history of interstate interaction within the framework of the activities of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Our work will highlight one aspect of this issue – cooperation in the field of railway transport. The purpose of the work is to identify examples of international cooperation between the USSR and the countries of “people's democracy” within the framework of CMEA in the field of railway transport. Research objectives: 1. To trace the history of the emergence of CMEA. 2. Identify the countries of the socialist bloc that collaborated with the USSR in the field of railway transport. 3. Identify the rolling stock of people's democracies that have been operating in the CIS countries to date. Despite the centrifugal tendencies, the collapse of the USSR, the socialist bloc and the actual dissolution of the CMEA, this organization left a significant mark that can be seen on the railways of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States up to the present day. в условиях формирования биполярной системы международных отношений в середине 1940-х гг. одним из важнейших аспектов является экономическая кооперация между союзниками в новых реалиях. В ответ на принятый США план Маршала СССР предпринимает шаги по созданию собственного экономического объединения, основанного на кооперации между странами по социалистическому блоку. Статья посвящена истории межгосударственного взаимодействия в рамках деятельности Совета Экономической Взаимопомощи. В нашей работе будет освящён один из аспектов данного вопроса – сотрудничество в сфере железнодорожного транспорта. Цель работы – выявление примеров международной кооперации СССР и стран «народной демократии» в рамках СЭВ в сфере железнодорожного транспорта. Задачи исследования: 1. Проследить историю появления СЭВ. 2. Выявить страны социалистического блока, сотрудничавшие с СССР в сфере железнодорожного транспорта. 3. Выделить подвижной состав стран народной демократии, эксплуатирующийся на территории стран СНГ до настоящего момента. Несмотря на центробежные тенденции, распад СССР, социалистического блока и фактический роспуск СЭВ, данная организация оставила весомый след, который можно увидеть на железных дорогах стран Содружества Независимых Государств вплоть до настоящего момента.

MAJOR PLATFORMS OF INTER-BLOC KNOW-HOW EXCHANGE IN THE 1950s AND 1960s IN THE CASE OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Through the case study of Czechoslovakia, this article analyses the main platforms through which projects of economic and scientific-technical cooperation between the two sides of the Iron Curtain were implemented in the 1950s and 1960s. The emphasis is placed on mapping the changes that each platform of East-West cooperation underwent over time and on characterizing the impact that these transformations had on the development of international cooperation. In the first place, the role of conferences and scientific-technical societies is examined. In addition, considerable space is also devoted to the rediscovery of the long-overlooked international fairs and inter-company visits that allowed face-to-face contact between experts in the environment of industrial plants and laboratories. The analysis of the role and development of the various platforms of inter-bloc cooperation draws heavily on the archives of Czechoslovak industrial ministries. In addition, the testimonies of individual scientists and experts who participated in international cooperation projects in the 1950s and 1960s provide important support for the article. Although the emphasis of the analysis is on the case study of the Czechoslovak economy, its connection to other member states of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance requires that the Czechoslovak experience be placed in the broader framework of the pan-socialist milieu.

Soviet Aid and the Mongolian Economy: The Global South in CMEA, 1962-1991

ABSTRACT This paper examines the economic relations between the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Mongolia within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) from the 1960s to the 1980s. After its accession to the CMEA in 1962, Mongolia not only demanded economic assistance from other member states, but actively sought to incorporate preferential treatments for developing member states into the basic documents of the CMEA. Such a Mongolian attempt culminated in the ‘Comprehensive Program’ of 1971, from which other non-European member states such as Cuba and Vietnam would benefit. In this way, Mongolia co-developed the guiding principles of the ‘North-South’ economic relations within the CMEA.

Soviet Coordinators of International Economic Cooperation in the Eastern Bloc in the Period 1948-1953

This article is a discourse on the main trendsetters of international economic cooperation in the Eastern Bloc in the period 1948-1953. Special emphasis is placed on the architects of cooperation between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, since both countries established themselves as economic leaders after the Second World War and, moreover, developed a number of specific close links between their industries. The article focuses on the role of top officials of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In addition, the paper also explores the role of Soviet advisors who stewarded the economies of the other Eastern Bloc states, both from Moscow and as seconded delegates directly from the ministries and enterprises of the individual members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

Regional economic integration in the Eurasian Economic Union: theory, lessons from the past and new opportunities

The article shows that the processes of world development initiate changes in various areas of international cooperation both at the global and regional levels. This is also happening within the framework of regional economic integration cooperation. The author proves that the modern transformation of integration processes has an impact on the development of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). This process requires a comprehensive theoretical analysis and systematization. The purpose of the article is to analyze and evaluate integration processes in the EAEU. The scientific novelty of the article is the systematization of new phenomena and characteristics in regional economic integration in the world in the 21st century. The author also tries to formulate new tasks for the EAEU in building a progressive integration process. Another point of view, which the author substantiates in the article, is that the foundation for the development of integration in the EAEU should be taking into account ongoing global changes, previous experience of economic integration within the framework of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) and the development of industrial cooperation between the EAEU countries and non-regional partners both in industry, and in agriculture, that means, in the real sectors of the economy. The author concludes that it is production cooperation in the real sectors of the economy in the EAEU that will ensure the necessary stability of both national economies and the progressive development of the integration process in the current conditions of the world economic process increased turbulence and the global system transformation. And since the EAEU faces such large-scale and vital tasks, then, according to the author, a reassessment and some redirection of integration efforts are required. It is on this basis that an adequate formation of new principles of financial cooperation in the EAEU is possible.

From convergence to divergence: Mozambique’s failed campaign to join the CMEA and the reconfiguration of East-South relations

ABSTRACT This article analyses Mozambique’s failed campaign to join the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). It explores the motives and strategies of the Mozambican politicians who led the campaign and the reactions of planners and politicians in Eastern Europe, embedding them in a longer history of their bilateral and multilateral economic relations and the various steps before, during and after the accession campaign from the 1960s to the late 1980s. The dynamics in this debate shed light on the CMEA’s transition from geographical expansion to stagnation and the broader shift from visions of economic convergence to an acceptance of divergence.

The China market: East German and Bulgarian industrial facility export to the PRC in the 1950s

ABSTRACT Alongside the Soviet Union, partner countries on the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) substantially contributed to a decade of industrialization in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) during the 1950s. This article looks at East German and Bulgarian industrial projects in China in the realm of the extraction and refinement of basic materials. What was the impact of such exchanges on small CMEA economies as suppliers of industrial goods? What were the rationales of the participating institutions and protagonists in promoting industrial exports to China? All differences between the industrialized German Democratic Republic and the still mostly agrarian People’s Republic of Bulgaria (NRB) notwithstanding, economic officials in both countries saw the PRC as a crucial market for utilizing industrial capacities and increasing export opportunities. The immense significance that was ascribed to industrial exports to China also left its imprint on the structure of the economic bureaucracy, with the foundation of special bureaus and new foreign trade enterprises. Arguing that the Soviet Union’s CMEA partners had their own interests to pursue relations with China, this article aims to nuance a discussion where the alliance’s limits and eventual failure dominate the scene.

Совет экономической взаимопомощи в поисках путей развития сельского хозяйства Монголии: доклад экспертной группы от 12 сентября 1963 г.

Introduction. By the time Mongolia joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, it was a remarkably agriculture-oriented economy, which made it logical that Mongolian representatives would raise the problems of their national agriculture at meetings and sessions of the Council’s bodies. Goals. The study aims to investigate some specific decisions that facilitated the compilation of the CMEA expert group report dated 12 September 1963, and attempts an analysis of its key provisions. Materials and methods. The paper focuses on archival materials contained in Collections 561 (‘CMEA Secretariat’) and 302 (‘Permanent Mission of the USSR to the CMEA’) of the Russian State Archive of the Economy, as well as files from Collection 10 (‘International Conferences and Meetings’) of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History. The main research methods employed are the historical-descriptive and historical-genetic ones. Results. The report was prepared by a group of agricultural experts representing CMEA member countries which worked in Mongolia from 13 August to 12 September 1963. The experts’ departure was a consequence of a change in the initial procedure for developing proposals aimed at improving Mongolia’s agricultural production. Conclusions. The CMEA expert group report of 12 September 1963 had a complicated and ornate background be traced back to the 16th Session of the CMEA which admitted Mongolia to the organization. Structurally, it consists of 7 same-type sections describing various areas of assistance to Mongolia’s agriculture. In the course of the works, the expert group reviewed the list and scope of positions for the proposed assistance, and at the same time — most importantly — expert support was provided to meet the requests of Mongolia’s representatives, while the latter were still to defend the implementation of the measures recorded in the Report in the course of coordinating the national economic plans of the CMEA member countries.

Geothermal Potential of Hot Dry Rock in South-East Baltic Basin Countries—A Review

The beginning of 2022 was a time of major changes in the perception of energy availability and security in European countries. The aggression of Russia against Ukraine destabilizing the European energy economy, combined with the withdrawal from fossil fuels which has been going on for a dozen years, has strengthened activities to introduce new energy technologies based on renewable energy sources. One of the most promising and stable sources of renewable energy is geothermal energy, in particular enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) in hot dry rocks (HDR). These deposits occur at a great depth in almost every place on Earth, but due to their low permeability, they require hydraulic fracturing, which results in high investment costs. This technology has been developed for several decades. The current situation in Europe seems to confirm that its rapid development to a level that guarantees stable and profitable operation is crucial. This is of particular importance in the case of former member states of the economic zone of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which until recently were heavily dependent on Russian energy. This review, based on the latest available data, covers potential HDR prospective areas in the countries of the south-eastern Baltic basin, including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. It is specific to this region that the original heat flux density is lower as a result of the paleoclimatic effect associated with the youngest ice age; however, thermal conditions do not deviate too much compared to western Europe, especially Rhine Graben, and significantly exceed the conditions of Finland, where an EGS project is currently being operated. In Lithuania, the most prospective area is the ZNI intrusion (south of Klaipeda), characterized by a geothermal gradient of up to 40 °C/1000 m. In addition, the Precambrian batholith south of Liepāja (Latvia) and the Rapakivi granites in the north and center of Estonia are promising EGS sites. Poland has relatively the most explored EGS potential, in both volcanic, crystalline and sedimentary rocks, especially in the area of the Szczecin Trough, Gorzów Block, Moglino-Łódź Trough and Karkonosze Mountains. Unfortunately, local tectonic conditions, in particular the development of faults and natural fracture zones that affect the directions of fracture propagation during hydraulic fracturing, have not been sufficiently recognized, which is one of the main barriers to the expansion of EGS pilot projects in these countries. These issues present challenges for the researchers, especially in terms of petrophysical analyses of rocks in target zones and local stress conditions, which have a key impact on fracturing operations and profitability of the systems. Despite high investment costs on the one hand and a significant slowdown in the global economy in 2022 on the other, it remains hopeful that the authorities of individual countries will decide to accelerate research work, leading to the implementation of pilot projects of EGS installations, and that this technology will be further improved to ensure a stable clean energy supply.

The Planned System of Cuba in 1970—1975 in the Context of Joining the COMECON

The paper analyzes changes within the planning system of the Cuban Republic that took place in the context of changing methodological base of planning while entering the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon). The end of 1960s was marked by a radicalization of the methods of socialist construction: the system of economic register was applied and diminished the role of the category of value. This led to an economic imbalance, loss of control over the costs of production, deterioration of motivation to labour, etc. In addition, the plan of 10 million tons of sugar production in 1970 was not achieved. These factors prompted the Cuban leadership to reconsider the planning methodology and the development strategy, and to rely heavily on the experience of the USSR. Thus, the Soviet Gosplan experts started consulting their Cuban colleagues from the Central planning committee to a greater extent. However, sometimes there was misunderstanding between the parties, which is revealed in the conversations between the Soviet Gosplan head N. Baybakov and Cuban leader F. Castro. Carlos Rafael Rodríguez played a significant role in political economy diplomacy, and gave a speech as a representative of Cuba at the XXVI Comecon session when the country was accepted to the organization. Entering Comecon spurred the process of changes within the Cuban economic policy: the category of value recuperated its significance within the planning system, new annual plans were based on the value indicators and the input-output models. The midterm planning was also reintroduced due to 5-year plans preparation. Cuba integrated the mechanism of plan coordination with the Comecon countries, while the USSR continued to be its most important partner. Nonetheless, the process was slow: the 1971—1975 five-year plan had not been connected to the Comecon mechanism of plan coordination. Cuba insisted on a special attitude due to its low level of development. Cuban economy reconfiguration under the influence of planning mechanisms of Comecon countries favored consolidation of the new System of planning and direction of the economy approved by the decisions of the first congress of the Communist party of Cuba in 1975.

European Economic Community — Council for Mutual Economic Assistance in 1973—1975. The Issue of Mutual Recognition. According to Documents from the Archives of the French Foreign Ministry

The article, based on documents from the archives of the French Foreign Ministry, reconstructs the history of negotiations between the EEC and CMEA in 1973—1975. The emphasis is on exploring the motivations and positions of the EEC countries in responding to the 1973 Soviet initiative to establish contacts between the two organizations. Ultimately, the problem was that in the EEC, starting in 1974, the scope of trade relations with the countries of Eastern Europe was to move to the supranational level, while the community was expected to enter into agreements with individual countries of Eastern Europe. The idea of equal and institutional cooperation between the two organizations, which was actually proposed by Moscow, was rejected by the majority of EEC countries. This predetermined the specific position of the representatives of the EEC, who in 1973—1975 officially supported the idea of establishing contacts between organizations, since this was a logical manifestation of détente, but in fact they delayed the negotiation process. As a result, the first meeting between representatives of the Commission of the European Communities and the CMEA Secretariat, held on February 4—6, 1975, was unsuccessful.

1950년대 사회주의진영 국제분업론과 북한의 대응

The economic aid from the socialist camp including the Soviet Union was of huge help in North Korea"s post-war recovery and its process of socialist industrialization policies. But there were some points that both side could not agree with each other. In the economic aspect, socialist solidarity is required for the integration of each state"s economic plans based on trade. Entering the middle 1950s, the socialist theory of the international division of labor was established more clearly around the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Relatively less developed nations in the socialist camp including North Korea resisted the principle of the international division of labor and put a priority on their industrialization. In 1958, North Korea made it"s the First Five-Year Plan containing prospects for its future industrial constructions, and it was accompanied by the decision of the Soviet Union to support the plan. North Korea was able to get the content of support they wanted in some areas. Although it acted in concert with the atmosphere of the socialist camp yet, North Korea began to make its position.

Статистические ежегодники стран-членов Совета экономической взаимопомощи как источник по истории сельского хозяйства Монголии

Introduction. Statistical yearbooks of COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) member countries to have resulted from intergovernmental cooperation are still explored by researchers for various aspects of socialist Mongolia’s socioeconomic development. Goals. The article aims to characterize statistical yearbooks of COMECON member countries as a source on the history of agriculture in Mongolia. Materials and methods. The paper analyzes the mentioned statistical yearbooks published between 1970 and 1990. The main research methods employed are the historical descriptive, comparative, and analytical ones. Results. The agricultural section of yearbooks includes an impressive number of indicators grouped into various categories. The quantitative and qualitative composition of indicators remained virtually unchanged from 1970 to 1989, while the 1990 yearbook witnessed significant structural changes. Conclusions. The statistical yearbooks of COMECON member countries are consolidated statistical digests with a fairly voluminous nomenclature of indicators, extensive time coverage, and a well-defined structure. The main advantage of theirs over national statistical materials is that they grant an opportunity to conduct a comparative analysis of various indicators, including in the agricultural sector. The most important data are specific indicators and average values that can primarily attest to actual agricultural production intensification degrees in Mongolia in 1960–1989. All this characterizes statistical yearbooks of COMECON member countries as a very important and useful source on the history of agriculture in Mongolia.

Первый опыт двусторонних консультаций для Госплана Монголии в рамках Совета экономической взаимопомощи (сентябрь–октябрь 1963 г.)

Introduction. Since Mongolia joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance it became obliged to coordinate its planning activities with other member countries. And the planning coordination process proper essentially included arrangements of bilateral consultations between Mongolia’s planning agency and those of corresponding member countries. Goals. So, the study aims at examining earliest bilateral consultations held by Mongolia’s Planning Commission in September–October of 1963. Materials and methods. The article analyzes documents from the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History and the Russian State Archive of the Economy. The key research methods employed are the comparative historical and typological ones. Results. The mentioned bilateral consultations were discussing two groups of questions, namely: a list of enterprises the Mongolian party was going to construct with the aid of other CMEA member countries, and lists of goods to be exchanged between the involved countries through the balance method. Conclusions. The bilateral consultations between the MPR’s Planning Commission and planning agencies of CMEA member governments held in September–October of 1963 proved an absolutely new line of activity for Mongolian economists. The former’s key points were discussions over lists of construction and other facilities required by the Mongolian party. And the almost full absence of data pertaining to construction funding sources implies the negotiation process — at that very stage — was far from being complete. It was the Soviet Union that was still expected to invest most in Mongolia’s economy and bear the bulk of responsibility for the to be constructed enterprises. The ‘greediest’ government engaged in discussions over economic aid to Mongolia was that of Romania, other CMEA member countries to have clustered into a group of so called ‘averages’. The latter did not differ much in scales of to be rendered aid, while essentials of their sector-specific investments did vary to some extent.

Integration: Word and Concept in Discussions of Party Leaders of European Member States of Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

The article deals with the process of formation of the terminological framework of socialist rhetoric. The study is based on the materials of the Meetings of the Central Committee of the Communist and Worker’s Parties Secretaries and the heads of the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance government in the period from 1956 to 1969, the program documents of this organization. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the evolution of the categorical framework, which was used in the description of cooperation between countries. It is noted that in the mid-1950s, at the beginning of the formation of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the language for describing its activities, the term integration was stigmatized, as it was associated with economic processes in Western Europe. It is clarified that at the same time, descriptive constructions were actively used, revealing the essence of integration in the countries of the socialist camp, and there were also frequent cases of the use of the term in official speeches by party leaders. The author comes to the conclusion that since the late 1960s — early 1970s the term socialist integration began to be actively used to construct the image of a socialist economic system as an effective analogue of the European Economic Community, while this concept had an important symbolic meaning and was an element of ritual socialist discourse.

Development through dispossession: coffee as mutual aid between Vietnam and East Germany

ABSTRACT Following the end of anticolonial warfare in Vietnam, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) joined efforts by the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) to rebuild the devastated country through construction of new industry and infrastructure. Modernisation projects carried out by the GDR left an enduring imprint on the Vietnamese landscape, serving as evidence of its goodwill practices and solidarity with liberation struggles in the Global South. Underlying such development imperatives, however, were civilizing logics that exacerbated social inequalities and unsettled claims to flattened hierarchies. This article uses the example of a ‘mutually beneficial’ coffee project between Vietnam and East Germany in the 1980s to ask: whose interests did mutual aid serve? It argues that CMEA objectives to modernise Vietnam and assist with its post-war recovery paid insufficient attention to the interests of its indigenous population, resulting in unintended harms, also to biodiversity.

Results of studying promising breeding potato hybrids under irrigated conditions in the Orenburg region

The main focus of the work on breeding hybrids is the evaluation and selection of breeding material for the desired traits under the conditions of the specific cultivation zone. Obtaining new promising potato varieties is an important task that breeders face. Currently, import substitution is the main tool in solving the problem of food security in the country. Agricultural scientists understand import substitution as increasing the output of domestic products while reducing the import of imported goods, especially in times of economic crisis. Import substitution aims to increase national goods’ competitiveness and export potential in the world food market. The purpose of this study is to study and select the most promising and adapted to the conditions of the Orenburg region potato hybrids from the breeding material of FSBSI (Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution) “South Ural Research Institute (Research Institute) of Horticulture and Potato Production”. The research was conducted by the Methodology of Potato Crop Research (1967), International Classifier of CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) (1984), Methodological Recommendations on the Methodology of Breeding Processes for Potato Crop (1980). The authors studied the potential of yield formation and infestation by the main common pathogens in potato breeding hybrids were carried out on the irrigated plot of K(F)X (peasant farm) “Khomutsky V.I.”. Perevolotsk district of Orenburg region in the period from 2019 to 2021. For the experimental plot, the soil cover was southern medium-humus medium-poddy chernozem. Of the 19 hybrids studied, only 21 % produced yields higher than those of the standard variety in the 3-year trials. The remaining hybrids, 79 %, show much lower yields. During the same period, 26 % of the hybrids studied were affected by common pathogens. The maximum damage of potato tubers by table rot was found in breeding hybrids 13.20.101 (5.1 %), 13.10.11 (4.5 %) and M 14.16.25 (3.3 %), common scab - 13.32.1 (26.5 %), M 14.18.99 (18.3 %) and 13.20.9 (17 %). As a result, the authors identified promising potato breeding material for further work. This hybrid is Olninsk13.30.2 (38.1 t/ha), 10.76.1 (60.9 t/ha), M 14.07.08 (38.1 t/ha), M 14.07.6 (51.1 t/ha). It combines low pathogen infestation and higher yields compared to other hybrids.

The End of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

This paper analyzes the negotiations within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance during the final years of its existence, focusing on the Soviet reform proposals and M. S. Gorbachev’s vision of the “Common European Home” as well as on Eastern European reaction to them. In the second half of the 1980s, Gorbachev tried to found a “unified market” for the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance by introducing a market-oriented reform of the organization. However, this attempt did not materialize because of the East German and Romanian objections. After the collapse of Eastern European socialist regimes in 1989, the Soviet leadership urged the member-states to accelerate the reform of this international organization, hoping to achieve the pan-European economic integration through close cooperation between the totally reformed Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the European Community. Although the Central European countries, namely Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, aspired to join the EC individually, they agreed to participate in a successor organization of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance because the EC was not ready to accept them. Accordingly, by the beginning of 1991, all the member-states agreed to establish a consultative organization, which would be named the Organization for International Economic Cooperation). However, as the Soviet Union failed to sustain trade with the Central European countries, the three countries lost interest in the project. As a result, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was disbanded without any successor organization. In other words, it did not collapse automatically after 1989 but came to an end as a result of various factors, such as rapidly declining trade between the member-states, Western disinterest in the cooperation with it, and the Central European policy changes.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ ВАЛЮТНОГО КЛИРИНГА В МЕЖДУНАРОДНОЙ ТОРГОВЛЕ В 1930–1980-Х ГГ.

The implementation of clearing arrangements in international settlements of the Russian Federation is one of the systemic solutions that allow developing external trade under toughened anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the Western states. This article analyzes the international experience of the 1930 s – 1980 s when clearing trade was used particularly intensively. We consider features of bilateral clearing in Western and Southern Europe as well as in USSR in the 1930 s, the proposition of J. M. Keynes in 1941–1944 to create the International Clearing Union and the proliferation of bilateral clearing agreements after World War II during the period of the 1940 s – 1960 s including those concluded between market and centrally planned economies. Particular attention is paid to the functioning of the European Payments Union (EPU) in the 1950 s, to the development of bilateral, trilateral and multilateral clearing within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in the 1940 s – 1980 s, including the use of transferable ruble through the International Bank for Economic Co-operation (IBEC) as well as to the 40-year long Soviet-Finnish bilateral clearing trade experience.