"Industrialisierung der Landwirtschaft" und "Agra-Industrie" in kommunistischem Verständnis
"Industrialization of Agriculture" and "Agro-Industry" in Communist Conceptualization

Summary/Abstract: The "industrialization of agriculture" has been one of the tenets of Marxism ever since the Communist Manifesto. But in practice Communist agricultural policy was designed at the technical aspects of large-scale farming and mechanization only. In the meantime, the American "agribusiness" and the West European peasant cooperatives together with processing industries and trade have brought about, in economic and organizational terms, more vertical integration of agriculture than the big socialized farms and the centralized planning and administrative system. Recently, the Communist leaders have come to realize this defect in the application of their concept, and "agro-industrial complexes" have become the order of the day throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The article outlines the notion and implications of vertical integration of agriculture and the differences and similarities- of its application in the East as compared to Western industrialized countries. Special emphasis is placed on the change of mind of Communist economists and on the reasons why, in spite of seemingly superior preconditions, the Soviet-type planned economies were slow to take advantage not only of horizontal concentration already achieved (huge production units), but also of vertical integration (combination of agricultural and non-agricultural activities).

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