THE STATE PLANNING COMMITTEE OF THE USSR AS AN INSTITUTION REGULATING
THE SOVIET FOREST ECONOMY (THE SECOND HALF OF THE 1940s–1980s) Cover Image

ГОСПЛАН СССР КАК ИНСТИТУТ РЕГУЛИРОВАНИЯ СОВЕТСКОЙ ЛЕСНОЙ ЭКОНОМИКИ (ВТОРАЯ ПОЛОВИНА 1940-х – 1980-е ГОДЫ)
THE STATE PLANNING COMMITTEE OF THE USSR AS AN INSTITUTION REGULATING THE SOVIET FOREST ECONOMY (THE SECOND HALF OF THE 1940s–1980s)

Author(s): Oleg Igorevich Kulagin
Subject(s): History, Economy
Published by: Петрозаводский государственный университет
Keywords: state planning agencies; the Soviet timber industry; the focal point

Summary/Abstract: Modern national timber economy is experiencing difficulties, and; therefore, the relevance of this study is related to both the analysis of its positive experience, which was acquired in the period under review, and the crisis, which consequently developed in the sphere of industrial production. The Timber Complex was not an exception. During the time period in focus, it accumulated a lot of serious problems: the irrational use of forest resources, the accelerated outflow of production capacity, the time lag in the development of social infrastructure from industrial development. Scientific novelty of the researched problem is connected with the insufficient study of the real role of the State Planning Commission in the development of the national timber industry during this period. Throughout reported period, the State Planning Committee of the USSR retained all regulatory functions of the Soviet forest economy. Using new archival materials, the author concludes that the USSR State Planning Committee transformed from the agency, which tightly controlled execution of planned targets, into the institute of coordination of various departmental and regional interests. At the same time, defending the state’s interests, the state planning agencies under conditions of economic slowdown contributed to the conservation of timber industry backlog when compared with other manufacturing industries.