241 
promote individual goals. The multilayered structure of state and 
political power in the Soviet Union participates in different stages 
of policy formulation. 
THE STATE PLANNING COMMITTEE, U.S.S.R. GOSPLAN 
U.S.S.R. Gosplan is the central body under the Council of Ministers 
for planning and coordination. Regional Gosplan units exist in the 
Union Republics with local responsibility. Gosplan has been repeatedly 
reorganized and its responsibilities changed and it now reflects the 
general economic structure.!"! 
Gosplan has both functional and industrial divisions. In ocean re- 
lated issues there are the Departments of Fisheries (headed by A. 
Verevkin); Geology and Mineral Resources (G. A. Mirlin); Foreign 
Trade (M. M. Gusev); Introduction of New Technology; National 
Economic Planning; and a Bureau of Prices. Departmental chiefs are 
apparently considered experts in their fields and occasionally write 
articles, participate in conferences, and head delegations. Gosplan is 
directed by a chairman and a collegium of about 3 dozen members. 
The present chairman, N. K. Baibakov was appointed in 1965 and 
has an extensive background in administration and economic manage- 
ment. 
Planning is an integral component of the socialist economy. The 
Five Year Plan is designed to permit party and state control of major 
economic processes. The system of planned targets is presented by 
a Soviet writer as ““an economic expression of the Communist Party’s 
political line.’’!!* From the description of the Communist Party and 
the state apparatus, and from Soviet discussions of individual cases, 
it appears that there is much greater institutional interaction and 
crisscrossing lines of authority in planning and administration than 
generally assumed. The CPSU undoubtedly sets general targets or 
specific goals in priority areas. Key decisions can be made in the 
Politburo or the Council of Ministers because of the formal centraliza- 
"™'Gosplan went through a number of reorganizations in the postwar period. In 1948-49 Gosplan 
was headed by the powerful Nikolai Voznesenski, the economic czar during the war. He ran into 
trouble that was never explained, was arrested and executed. Gosplan was reorganized and its name 
changed from State Planning Commission to State Planning Committee. It lost its material allocation 
department, Gossnab, its technical department, Gostekhnika, and the Central Statistical Office, which 
became separate committees under the Council of Ministers. 
After Stalin’s death the status quo ante 1948 was temporarily restored, except that the Central 
Statistical Office remained separate. A major change occurred in 1955, when Gosplan was split into 
the State Planning Commission, (Gosplan) with responsibility for only long-term planning, and the 
State Economic Commission, (Gosekonomkommissiia) charged with current planning. Gostekhnika 
was revived as a separate body responsible for devising and introducing new techniques into the 
economy. 
In 1956, with the Sixth Five Year Plan revision, a general reshuffle took place in planning and 
Gosekonomkommissiia was given authority over virtually all of the economic ministries. 
In the spring of 1957, Khrushchev’s reform abolished Gosekonomkommissiia and the majority of 
economic ministries. Gosplan received effective economic control at the All Union level and it ab- 
sorbed the ministries’ planning functions and a large number of material allocation departments. 
An April 1960 Decree split Gosplan and transferred the long-term (over 5 years) planning func- 
tions to the State Economic-Science Council, Gosekonomsovet. Gosplan maintained current planning 
functions. A March 1963 decision changed this system. Gosekonomsovet was abolished and the new 
system was to be based on the difference between planning and implementation. Gosplan retained 
the planning activities, with emphasis on long-term planning. The U.S.S.R. Sovnarkhoz had responsi- 
bility for implementation. A new supreme organ was formed, the Supreme Council of the National 
Economy, to coordinate the coordinators. The 1965 reforms reestablished the ministerial system, the 
Supreme Council of the National Economy abolished, and Gosplan received sole planning authority. 
The chronic complaints over shortcomings in planning continue. 
12 Sysoev, p. 53. 
