Yeah, the industrial base in the west being gutted certainly didn’t help things. Although, I think if internal markets were allowed to operate, USSR could’ve developed a lot more rapidly. The problem with the centrally controlled approach is that decisions makers end up having to deal with a lot of noise and delays. Information takes time to reach them, and it’s not always accurate, then when the decision is made, it takes time for it to propagate, and so the whole cycle ends up being inefficient. Using markets allows allocation to happen dynamically within the system, and then the planners are able to focus on high level flows without having to micromanage things. The Artel approach would’ve been strictly superior to capitalist markets as well since it would’ve been worker owned enterprises where you’d have democratic control over the workplace.
Yeah, the industrial base in the west being gutted certainly didn’t help things. Although, I think if internal markets were allowed to operate, USSR could’ve developed a lot more rapidly. The problem with the centrally controlled approach is that decisions makers end up having to deal with a lot of noise and delays. Information takes time to reach them, and it’s not always accurate, then when the decision is made, it takes time for it to propagate, and so the whole cycle ends up being inefficient. Using markets allows allocation to happen dynamically within the system, and then the planners are able to focus on high level flows without having to micromanage things. The Artel approach would’ve been strictly superior to capitalist markets as well since it would’ve been worker owned enterprises where you’d have democratic control over the workplace.