Socialist Reproduction Research Articles

Disciplining gender and (homo)sexuality in state-socialist Hungary in the 1970s

This article discusses how gender and (homo)sexual relations were disciplined in Hungary during the 1970s, part of the Kádár era, named after János Kádár, the top political leader of the People's Republic of Hungary between 1956 and 1988. The first part of the article examines the widespread effects of the New Economic Mechanism of 1968 (which could not be rounded off by political reform) on critical thoughts on family formation, as well as some largely absent aspects of gender equality. The second part of the article presents pieces of empirical evidence on the social existence of sexuality in the context of a system of ‘tolerant repression’ celebrating asexual socialist reproduction. The article concludes that most Hungarians seemed to be able to negotiate their lives between the constraints of state socialism and their longing for enjoyable human relationships even in the ‘uniformly pallid’ 1970s.

Factors and Trends in the Intensification of Socialist Reproduction

A CPSU Central Committee conference on the acceleration of scientific-technical progress, which was held on June 11-12, 1985, posed the task of accelerating the nation's social and economic development. This does not merely mean raising the national economy's growth rates. As M. S. Gorbachev noted, the points at issue are: the new quality of our development; rapid progress in strategically important directions; the restructuring of production; the transition to intensive, effective forms of management; and the more complete resolution of social problems. The economy must be maximally receptive to scientific-technical progress and all links of the national economy must be vitally interested in such progress.

Accumulation and Technical Progress in the USSR Economy

Accumulation is an important factor in expanded socialist reproduction. The effectiveness of accumulation is a synoptic indicator that in large measure determines the structure and rates of development of the entire economic system.

Political-Economic Problems in the Interaction Between Society and Nature

The ecological problem today is receiving insufficient attention merely as a resource problem. It must also be approached from the standpoint of affirming and developing the nature-conservation form of socialist reproduction. The present article analyzes the structure of interaction between society and nature, its general and specific patterns, and the problem of controlling the interaction between society and nature.

Improving the Methodology of the National Economic Accounting of Services

The development of accounting indicators and methods that unify material production and the nonproductive sphere of the economy is a pressing problem in the analysis and planning of socialist reproduction. This means the more complete inclusion of service branches in the system of macroeconomic indicators that in general form characterizes the dynamics of development of the national economy and the volume of resources drawn into the economy and the effectiveness of their utilization.

Once Again on the Effectiveness of Capital Investments

The theoretical elaboration and practical introduction of methods for determining the economic effectiveness of capital investments are among the accomplishments of Soviet economic science. This task became particularly urgent in the postwar years when, with the culmination of the restoration process, it was necessary to make large capital investments and, naturally, to find the most expedient directions of these investments and to realize the maximum return on them. Practicality necessitated the elaboration of the theory of effectiveness of capital investments which became a component part of the theory of socialist reproduction.

Socialist Reproduction and the Comparison of Labor Inputs

The measurement and comparison of inputs in production play a growing role in the planned formation of the objectively necessary proportions of reproduction. The tasks of the party's economic policy to secure the more economical expenditure of live and embodied labor for the purpose of improving the well-being and securing the comprehensive development of all members of socialist society make it especially important to improve the comparison of these inputs. The Twenty-sixth Congress of the CPSU emphasized the need to secure a strict economy and thrift regime in all areas of the national economy, to take the time factor more completely into account, and to perform these tasks in a short space of time.

The Effectiveness of Trade

The dynamic development of the Soviet economy has led to considerable progress and qualitative change in so large and important a branch as trade. There has been considerable growth in the scale of trade, the productive forces of that branch, the role of trade in the process of socialist reproduction, and securing higher and better living conditions for the Soviet people.

Intensification of the Investment Process (Goals, Avenues, Indicators)

As we know, expanded socialist reproduction is achieved in the process of combining means of labor and labor and material resources in the material production sphere. Determining the proportions between them is one of the principal tasks of national economic planning and scientific research.

Higher Education as a Branch of the Nonproduction Sphere in Our System of Socialist Reproduction

Higher Education as a Branch of the Nonproduction Sphere in Our System of Socialist Reproduction

Chapter 1: Higher Education as a Branch of the Nonproduction Sphere in Our System of Socialist Reproduction

Advanced socialist society, first constructed in the USSR and now being successfully built in a number of other countries, is characterized by a qualitatively new scale and advanced structure of material production, a rapidly growing efficiency in production, and a high level of development in the nonproduction sphere, particularly in such an important branch as higher education.

The Balance of the National Economy as a Scientific System and Method of Analysis of Socialist Reproduction (On the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publication of the First Balance of the National Economy)

The planned, purposeful, and dynamic development of the socialist economy presupposes maintaining a constant balance of the structural interrelationships in the national economy. In the words of K. Marx, the reflection of economic phenomena and processes in their reciprocal relationships and by themselves in consolidated numerical indicators produces a "mental generalization" of the production process. Such a total picture of the specific reproduction process in a given year is called the balance of the national economy.

Expanded Reproduction Under the Conditions of Developed Socialism

The Tenth Five-Year Plan, the basic directions of which were articulated by the Twenty-fifth Congress of the CPSU, reflects two fundamental aspects of the Party's economic policy: in the first place, its stability and continuity from one five-year period to another; and in the second place, its dynamism and concreteness, which take new processes and phenomena into account. The fundamental features of expanded socialist reproduction are preserved in all stages of development of the Soviet economy. It is specifically these features that form the objective basis of the continuity and stability of the economic policy of the CPSU. They include, first and foremost, the rapid and stable growth of the scale of production based on the development of heavy industry; the utilization of the attainments of scientific and technical progress; the continuous improvement of the people's well-being; the maintenance of proportionality in the development of the national economy; the continuous expansion of national wealth; and the increased effectiveness of the economy.

Methodological Foundations of Planning Groups "A" and "B" in Industry

The Marxist-Leninist theory of expanded socialist reproduction is the methodological basis for planning the production of the means of production and consumer goods, for exchange between these departments, and for the final use of their products. Of exceptionally great, fundamental importance for planning the growth rates and proportions in the production of the means of production and consumer goods under socialism are V. I. Lenin's remarks on R. Luxemburg's book The Accumulation of Capital, which were published in the thirty-eighth Lenin collection in 1975 together with tables characterizing the acceleration of the growth of production and consumption under socialism compared with capitalism. The calculations cited by Lenin indicate, first, the great acceleration of the rate of economic development under socialism, second, the preferential growth of means of production, and third, the increased share of the workers (working people) in the utilization of the net product. This increase is the result of the allocation of a considerable part of the accumulation to the consumption funds. The economic calculations made by Lenin more than sixty years ago brilliantly anticipate radical changes in the proportions of reproduction that have actually taken place in our country in the socialist era. Lenin's prevision lights our path of development during the entire socialist period and is a guide to practical action.

The Leninist Methodology of Studying the Proportions of Reproduction

The recently published Thirty-Eighth Leninist Collection (1) contains hitherto unknown materials by V. I. Lenin on problems pertaining to reproduction. Dating back to 1913, they are the drafts of a plan and materials for a work on E. Luxemburg's book The Accumulation of Capital. Even though the plan to write a new work on accumulation was not carried out, the preparatory materials are of great scholarly interest, introduce us to Lenin's creative laboratory, and hold great importance for the study of expanded reproduction. Lenin's documents - especially the four tables cited - characterize different aspects of reproduction in precapitalist formations under capitalism and socialism. Scrutinized in particular are the two departments of social production, national income, accumulation, consumption, the gross social product, and constant and variable capital. Other new features include the very detailed characterization of socialist reproduction, the quantitative expression of levels of socialist production an...

Methodological and Organizational Problems of the Territorial Aspect of National Economic Plans

The raising of the effectiveness of social production is to a considerable degree associated with improving the location of the productive forces, with the formation of scientifically substantiated territorial proportions in the national economy, and with the comprehensive and coordinated development of branches and individual industries throughout various regions of the country. Such an approach to the territorial organization of the national economy influences all aspects of socialist reproduction and the realization of important social and economic problems. For this reason the improvement of the concrete forms and methods of territorial organization of the national economy and of the planned regulation of the development of the nation's regions with the aim of ultimately increasing the effectiveness of social production is one of the important problems in the face of the continuously mounting scale of social production, the enormous territory, and the increasing complexity of inter-branch and interreg...

The Sphere of Social and Economic Services and The Reproduction of Aggregate Labor Power

The socialist reproduction of aggregate labor power constitutes the organic unity of its production, distribution, and consumption. Above all, it encompasses aspects on which the reproduction of individual labor power is based. Labor power functions on the basis of the reproduction of the material conditions of the worker's existence. The law of compensation for the expenditure of labor power is in operation. It reflects the objective fact that it must be physically restored or else the renewal of the production process is unthinkable.

Forecasting the Level of Education

One of the most important elements in the scientific forecasting of the development of socialist society is the forecasting of the level of general and special education of the population, which depends on the development of a nation's economy to a decisive degree. At the same time, it is essential to consider the interrelationship between the economic development of modern society and the state of education, culture, and science, since the training of skilled personnel is one of the aspects of expanded socialist reproduction.

Problems of the Theory of Socialist Reproduction

The relationship between the production of the means of production and the production of consumer goods is one of the basic proportions in socialist reproduction. The problem of the growth rates in both departments of social production has always been the center of attention of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government and of its planning organs. The Twenty-Fourth Congress of the CPSU emphasized anew the paramount importance of the further accelerated development of heavy industry, and especially of its most progressive branches, in the interest of building the material-technical base of communism, resolving basic tasks in increasing the well-being of the people, and maintaining the nation's defensive capability at the requisite level.

The Interaction Between Production And Social Needs In Planned Economic Development

In its varied aspects and the mediate forms in which it is manifested, the relationship between socialist production and social needs constitutes the content of objective economic laws of socialism—in particular, the basic economic law which, as we know, predetermines the most complete satisfaction of the constantly growing material and nonmaterial needs of society through the steady growth and improvement of production. To gain a proper understanding of the role of social needs in socialist reproduction, one must at least schematically define the content of this category and the patterns that determine the volume and structure of social needs.