The Institutional Base of the Stockholm School: The Political Economy Club (1917–1951)

1989 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf G.H. Henriksson
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Education ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
List Type ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
Student Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Subject

On October 1, 1936 the Stockholm economists hosted a very distinguished guest, John Maynard Keynes. Homeward bound from a visit to the Soviet Union, Keynes appeared at the Political Economy Club. The minutes, as recorded by Ingvar Svennilson, relate:1.At the invitation of the club, Mr. J.M. Keynes lectured at the Institute of Social Science on the subject “My grounds for departure from orthodox economic traditions.” The lecture was arranged with support from J.H. Palme's fund for economic education and economic research. Some 100 persons attended the lecture.2.Following the lecture, the club arranged a dinner at the student union building. In addition to Mr. and Mrs. Keynes, the dinner was attended by: the chairman Professor Ohlin, Miss Kock, Messrs. Björ, Böök, Cederwall, Dahlgren, Hammarskjöld, Helger, Johansson, Lagercrantz (guest), Lundberg, Myrdal, Rothlieb, Rooth, Suoviranta (Finland, guest) and Wigforss, as well as the undersigned. After dinner there was a discussion that continued until midnight.

Unfolding Differences, Enduring Similarities

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neville Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Political ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Positive Impression ◽  
Scientific Socialism

Notwithstanding continuing similarities, Mann’s and Ross’s socialism was increasing characterised by differences. These similarities and, especially so, differences constitute the subject matter of chapter four. Mann and Ross continued to share commitments to the Social Revolution, labour movement unity and ethical and scientific socialism. Yet against these were Mann’s developing syndicalism, his downgrading of the political, especially parliamentary, means to socialism, and his synthesis of syndicalism and Bolshevism, as manifested in his membership of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He also had a positive impression of the Soviet Union right up to his death. In contrast, Ross increasingly attached equal importance to political and economic means, and in the 1920s worked actively in the Australian Labor Party. He opposed the application of the Soviet Bolshevik revolutionary model to Australia and fought against Australian communists. Ross’s growing attachment to Rationalism also signified that he was becoming more outspoken than Mann in his opposition to most kinds of religion. Yet, remarkably, the two men remained good friends and comrades. In conclusion, their case sheds new light upon the origins and character of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century socialism.

scholarly journals Gorbachev versus Deng: A Review of Chris Miller’s The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Guriev
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
State Capacity ◽  
Soviet Economy ◽  
Industrial Enterprise ◽  
The Political ◽  
Weak State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
Enterprise Reforms

Chris Miller’s book is a historian’s account of Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts to save the Soviet economy. Miller focuses on the question of why Gorbachev did not follow Deng Xiaoping and did not manage to reform the economy. Miller argues that it was not for the lack of understanding (Gorbachev did invest in learning China’s approach to reform and did understand it well), nor for the lack of trying. In fact, Gorbachev did try to implement Deng’s agricultural and industrial enterprise reforms. However, Gorbachev’s reforms were blocked by powerful vested interests. An inability to tackle the agricultural and industrial lobbies eventually resulted in the bankruptcy and collapse of the Soviet Union. While I generally agree with the political economy argument, I discuss a number of alternative explanations. I also discuss sources of Gorbachev’s weak state capacity and offer an evaluation of Gorbachev’s and post-Gorbachev reform efforts and mistakes based on the political economy research carried out in the last twenty-five years. ( JEL D72, O57, P21, P23, P24, P26)

Handlungsspielräume in der Befehlswirtschaft – Die Hüttenwerke in der Ukraine unter deutscher Besatzung

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-532
Author(s):  
Harald Wixforth
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Private Enterprise ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Heavy Industry ◽  
German Empire ◽  
Iron And Steel ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Iron And Steel Works

Abstract With the occupation of the western parts of the Soviet Union and the political und administrative reorganization of ministries in Berlin, a keen debate started on how to expropriate the new part of the “German Empire”. Especially the reconstruction and the exploitation of heavy industry in the Ukraine and its iron and steel works became subject to intensive dispute between several ministries in Berlin, local authorities in the Ukraine and the Reichswerke Hermann Göring, the most important of state-commanded heavy industries. However, in time the Reichwerke – and its decisive director Paul Pleiger – had to admit that the business figures required by the Berlin ministries could not be achieved. This opened up the opportunity for private enterprise to expand und invest in the Ukraine too. The different measures chosen to build up business in the Ukraine und the results of this expansion are the subject of the following article.

The Political Economy of Postsocialism

Slavic Review ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 756-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Bunce
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
The Political ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World

There were two good reasons to expect that developments after socialism, whether in the former Soviet Union or in east central Europe, would follow a roughly similar course. The first was the homogenizing effects of the socialist experience. In contrast to other regions of the world, such as Latin America and southern Europe, where dictatorships had also given way to more liberalized orders, the socialist regimes of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were remarkably alike in their form and functioning.

scholarly journals Central Asia – the Political Economy of Events in 1995

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Ahmed Rashid
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Break Up ◽  
Central Asian Republics

No greater disappointment for Pakistan’s foreign policy since the break up of the Soviet Union has been the inability to benefit from increased trade and traffic with five Central Asian Republics (CARs). The continuing civil war in Afghanistan has blocked land routes while neighbouring countries such as Iran and Turkey have surged ahead with strengthening economic links with Central Asia.

Jenö Varga, The Hungarian Soviet Republic and the Development of Psychoanalysis in the Soviet Union

2001 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christfried Tögel
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet Republic ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Ambivalent Attitude ◽  
Soviet Russia

The paper explores – on the basis of archival sources, memoirs and interviews – the strange career of the economist Jenö Varga (1879–1964), an early Hungarian sympathizer of psychoanalysis. Varga became a member of the Hungarian Psychoanalytic Association in 1918 and, in 1919, was appointed People's Commissar for Finances during the Hungarian Councils' Republic, the first Communist regime in the country. After the failure of the Commune, he emigrated to Soviet Russia. In the 1920s, he worked at the Soviet commercial mission in Berlin, and maintained contact with Freud until the late 1920s. Later, he became one of the leading economists of the Soviet Union, an expert on the political economy of capitalism. Though he never publicly opposed Stalinism, an ambivalent attitude toward the totalitarian regime can be reconstructed from his memoirs as well as from interviews with family members and friends.

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