The existence of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Legendary sev: how the ussr saved post-war Europe from total collapse. Brief historical background

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Representatives of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the People's Republic of Angola, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Socialist Ethiopia participate in the work of individual CMEA bodies as observers. By uniting and coordinating the efforts of the member countries, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance promotes the deepening and improvement of cooperation and the development of socialist economic integration of these countries, the planned development of their national economies, the acceleration of economic and technical progress in these countries, an increase in the level of industrialization of countries with less developed industry, and productivity growth. labor, the convergence of levels of economic development, the rise in the well-being of the peoples of the CMEA member countries.

Cooperation of the CMEA member countries is carried out in accordance with the principles of socialist internationalism, on the basis of respect for state sovereignty, independence and national interests, non-interference in the internal affairs of countries, complete equality, mutual benefit and comradely mutual assistance. The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance is based on the principles of sovereign equality: each country - member of the Council, regardless of its economic potential, population size, amount of contribution to the organization's budget, has one vote in any of the CMEA bodies, equal rights and obligations.

Any country that shares its goals and principles can be a CMEA member. Countries that are not CMEA members may take part in the work of the CMEA bodies or cooperate with it in other forms on conditions determined by the CMEA by agreement with these countries. An important stage in the development of economic, scientific and technical cooperation between the countries of the socialist community was the Economic Summit of the CMEA member countries, held on June 12-14, 1984 in Moscow. It unanimously adopted an important decision on the need for a deeper coordination by the CMEA member countries of economic policy in areas related to mutual cooperation.

Such agreement is understood as the development on a collective basis of ways to solve major economic problems of mutual interest, joint determination of ways of direct interaction in science, technology, material production and capital construction. The main instrument of coordination is the coordination of national economic plans, which focuses on solving priority tasks.

At the same time, the main ones are determined. areas of specialization of countries in the international socialist division of labor, measures to increase mutual deliveries of the most important goods, the main proportions and structure of mutual trade, objects of production cooperation (see also Socialist Economic Integration).

Second half of the 20th century was marked by the confrontation between two systems - capitalism and socialism, a bipolar world with two superpowers - the USA and the USSR. The formula "two worlds - two systems" is reflected in two types of integration - "capitalist" (EEC, etc.) and "socialist" (CMEA).

CMEA- the international organization of former socialist states (1949−1990) was a historical example of a grouping not of a market, but command and control type... Having played an important role in the development of the national economic complexes of the CMEA countries, in their industrialization, nevertheless, ultimately this union did not lead them to deep eq. integration, did not accelerate the implementation of the achievements of scientific and technological revolution and did not ensure the transition to world criteria of efficiency and int. competitiveness nat. economies. The rapid collapse of the CMEA and the collapse of "socialist" integration also meant a crisis in theory and the "world socialist economy."

Accordingly, economic science was faced with the problem of revealing the objective reasons for such a disintegration and crisis by analyzing the practice of cooperation in the CMEA.

For fundamental reforms that began in the late 80s. of the last century in most of the CMEA member countries (primarily the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation), the revolutionary nature of the transformations formed in their socio-political and ek. systems. At the same time, clearly disintegration tendencies were revealed in mutual cooperation of states that previously represented the "commonwealth"; at the same time actively emerged the trend towards the development of integration interaction between Eastern and Western Europe(8 former CMEA member countries have become members of the European Union since May 1, 2004).

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was created as an alternative to the Marshall Plan", The accession to which of the CEE countries was recognized by the leadership of the USSR as inexpedient.

The decision to create CMEA was made at the 5-8 January 1949 in Moscow a meeting of representatives of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania; USSR and Czechoslovakia, who recognized the need to carry out a wider eq. cooperation between the countries of "people's democracy" and the USSR. In April 1949, the practical activities of the CMEA began. In 1950, the GDR joined the CMEA, in 1962 - the Mongolian People's Republic (Mongolia), in 1977 - Cuba, in 1978 the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. CMEA united 10 sovereign socialist countries... CMEA was not a closed organization, it could be joined by any country that shares the goals and principles of the Council and agrees to accept the obligations contained in the CMEA Charter.

Since 1964, in the work of a number of CMEA bodies - on the basis of special. agreements - on issues of mutual interest, the SFRY (Socialist. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) participated. In the work of the department. representatives of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the People's Republic of Angola, the DPRK, Ethiopia took part as observers of the CMEA bodies.

The purpose of the CMEA.

According to the founding documents of the CMEA, it was called upon to assist:

- by combining and coordinating the efforts of the member countries deepening cooperation based on fraternal mutual assistance and socialist internationalism to contribute to the planned development of the national economy;

− acceleration eq. and scientific and technological progress in the participating countries, increasing the level of industrialization countries with less developed industries, continuous the growth of labor;

- gradual convergence and alignment of levels of eq. development countries;

- steady raising the welfare of the population countries - members of the CMEA.

A new international organization was created above all for political reasons. And if Western functionalist scientists argued that ek. integration creates a political dynamic that pushes integration forward, then in the case of socialist eco-integration, on the contrary, it is politics and ideology were at the origins of the economic unification of countries that had previously been little economically connected with each other... For the countries of Eastern Europe, which were among the founders of the CMEA, mutual ties were not previously the leading area of ​​foreign economic activity. Up to 90% of their trade came from countries outside the emerging new “economic space”". Before World War II, the trade of these countries with the Soviet Union had a very modest scale (on average, it accounted for just over 1% of their total foreign trade turnover). Thus, it can be recognized that practically missing one of the most important prerequisites for the development of eq. integration - traditional long-term deep households. relations of partner countries, division of labor between them... With another prerequisite for integration, the situation was the same: households mechanisms were not comparable... The third premise was also absent: CMEA united countries with different histories. traditions and mentality. but the situation of the "cold war" deprived partners of alternative choices and literally "pushed them into each other's arms."

The foundation of cooperation in the CMEA was laid in the years when the members of this organization copied not only political, but also ec. structures that were formed in the USSR when they created the national economy, closed from the broad influence of the world economy. complexes. They copied rigid centralization, planned and directive management of the external economy. connections based on the introduction of state. monopoly of foreign trade.

There was also no free movement of capital, labor, services, and in a more general form, the natural processes of trade were hampered by lack of a genuine market incompatible with a centralized economy.

In fact, the entire concept of dividing the post-war world into two types of MEOs - socialist and capitalist, from the very beginning was oriented towards creating a regime of collective autarchy the CMEA countries (a system of closed reproduction of a community, with a minimum dependence on exchange with the external environment).

As a result, however, foreign trade in the "system of the international socialist division of labor" is essentially reduced to natural exchange, which developed in the regime of balancing counter deliveries of goods on a bilateral basis. The proportions of this exchange were determined by the coordination of plans, often ignoring the criteria of production costs. Thus, the true state of affairs was often hushed up, ek. processes were replaced by political decisions.

The main stages of activity and the reasons for the collapse of the CMEA.

The forms and methods of CMEA activity are constantly being improved in accordance with the tasks put forward by the communist and workers' parties at every stage of socialist and communist construction. The following stages can be traced in the history of the CMEA.

First stage (1949-58)- This is the period of formation of multilateral economic, scientific and technical cooperation of the CMEA member countries. The main attention was paid to the development of foreign trade and the organization of scientific and technical cooperation, the Session of the CMEA (2nd meeting of the Session, August 1949) adopted recommendations to conduct trade between the participants on the basis of long-term agreements, which made it possible to strengthen the economies of the CMEA countries and guarantee the stable receipt of the necessary materials and equipment and marketing of their products. Of great importance for the countries' implementation of industrialization plans were also the decisions on scientific and technical cooperation adopted by the CMEA Session (2nd meeting), which provided for the mutual transfer of technical documentation free of charge. At the same time, CMEA also solves questions of production cooperation, mutual coordination of national economic plans, specialization and cooperation of production.

Second stage (1959-62) cooperation began with the Meeting of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties of the CMEA Member Countries (May 1958). The foundations for international specialization and production cooperation were laid; coordination of plans for 1961-65 was carried out. As a result, the problems of meeting the requirements of the CMEA member countries for fuel, raw materials, machinery and equipment for the planned period were basically solved. By decision of the CMEA Session (10th session of the Session, December 1958), the countries jointly built the world's largest oil pipeline Druzhba (over 4,500 km) to transport Soviet oil to Hungary, the GDR, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. The construction of the oil pipeline and the growing supplies of Soviet oil helped to meet the needs of the fraternal countries for fuel and to create large-scale petrochemicals. By decision of the CMEA Session (11th session of the Session, May 1959), parallel operation of the Mir united power systems was organized. In 1962, the Central Dispatch Office of the United Energy Systems (Prague) was formed.

Third stage (1962-69) began with the Meeting of the First Secretaries of the Central Committee of Communist and Workers' Parties and Heads of Government of the CMEA member countries (June 1962), which outlined further ways of economic, scientific and technical cooperation. This stage was characterized by the deepening of cooperation between countries in coordinating their national economic plans - the main method of CMEA activity and the main means of forming the international socialist division of labor. To organize cooperation in specific areas of the economy, the international economic organizations Intermetall (1964), the General fleet of freight cars (1964), and the Organization for Cooperation of the Bearing Industry (1964) were created. In order to promote the development of foreign trade of the CMEA member countries, as well as to expand their cooperation with other countries, an Agreement on multilateral settlements in transferable rubles and the organization of the International Bank for Economic Cooperation was signed in October 1963.

The beginning of a new stage of cooperation between countries- CMEA members were appointed at the 23rd (special) meeting of the Council Session (April 1969). The first (general) secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist and Workers' Parties and the heads of government of the CMEA member countries took part in its work. Noting the tremendous achievements in the development of the productive forces of the countries of the socialist community, the Session decided to develop a Comprehensive Program for the further deepening and improvement of cooperation and the development of socialist economic integration of the CMEA member countries. Developed by the collective efforts of all the CMEA member states, this program, designed for 15-20 years, was unanimously adopted in July 1971 at the 25th meeting of the CMEA Session. Its implementation is the main content of economic and scientific-technical cooperation, it is the main path of improving the international socialist division of labor, a powerful means of intensifying social production in each CMEA member country and the entire community of countries, for the accelerated development of scientific and technological progress.

At the same time, in the late 1970s - early 1980s. economic and political difficulties began to grow in the CMEA countries and these states began to make attempts to reform their economies on the principles of a free market.

The reforms of the political system of the USSR with a simultaneous deterioration of the prospects for economic growth, the severe economic crisis experienced by Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the political crisis in Romania predetermined the fact that in 1989 the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance as a coordinating and regulating mechanism of the world socialist system ceased to exist ... There were no attempts to modernize the CMEA. The termination of the CMEA activity meant at the same time the termination of the existence of the world socialist system itself.

Preconditions for the consolidation of the post-Soviet space and factors hindering the development of integration.

Integration trends in the post-Soviet space are generated by the following major factors:

 division of labor that could not be completely changed in a short period of time. In many cases, this was also impractical, since the existing division of labor in the meaning. degree corresponded to climatic and history. development conditions;

 long-term cohabitation within one state of many nations. It created a dense “fabric of relations” in various fields and forms (due to a mixed population, mixed marriages, elements of a common cultural space, lack of a language barrier, interest in the free movement of people, etc.). Conflictness interethnic. and interfaith relations (between the two main religions: Orthodoxy and Islam) was generally low... Hence the desire of the broad masses of the population in the CIS member countries to maintain fairly close mutual ties;

 technological interdependence, uniform technical standards;

* unity of communication networks;

* common for all the former Soviet republics, the difficulties of entering Western markets, problems of interaction with a number of int. eq. organizations.

However, the integration processes ran into opposite tendencies determined primarily the desire of the ruling circles in the former Soviet republics to consolidate the newly acquired sovereignty, strengthen their statehood. They viewed this as an unconditional priority, and considerations of economic expediency receded into the background, if integration measures were perceived as a limitation of sovereignty. But any integration, even the most moderate, presupposes the transfer of some rights to the unified bodies of the association, i.e. voluntary limitation of sovereignty in def. areas. West, with disapproval of any int. processes in the post-Soviet space, first hidden, and then openly began actively oppose integration in all its forms. Given the growing financial and polit. dependence of the CIS member states on the West, this could not but hinder the integration processes.

Unwillingness to take due account of the interests of partners, inflexibility of positions, which was so often encountered in the politics of new states, also did not contribute to the achievement of agreements and their practical implementation.

The Commonwealth states significantly differ in the structure of the economy and the degree of its maturity... But in a significant part of their exports, they act in relation to each other. in foreign markets as competitors, as evidenced, for example, by difficult negotiations on the purchase or transportation of oil from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan through Russia, and natural gas from Turkmenistan.

The readiness of the former Soviet republics for integration was different, which was determined not so much by the eq. as by political and even ethnic factors. From the very beginning the Baltic countries were against participation in any structures CIS. For them, the desire to distance themselves from Russia and from their past as far as possible in order to consolidate their sovereignty and "enter Europe" was dominant. A restrained attitude towards integration within the CIS was noted by Ukraine, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Therefore, many of them viewed the CIS primarily as a mechanism of "civilized divorce", striving to implement it and strengthen their own statehood in such a way that the inevitable losses from breaking existing ties were minimal. The task of real rapprochement of the CIS member states was relegated to the background. Hence the constant will not satisfy. implementation of the decisions taken. A number of countries tried to use the integration mechanism to achieve their political objectives... In particular, Georgia, in order to combat Abkhaz separatism, sought to establish an eq. and watered. blockade of Abkhazia.

The Commonwealth of Independent States was created on the basis of the Agreement signed in Minsk by the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine on December 8, 1991. In the future, all former Soviet republics, except for the Baltic, joined the CIS. On December 21, 1991, in accordance with the Protocol to the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS, eight more countries joined the Commonwealth: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In December 1993, Georgia joined the Commonwealth. The charter defines the goals of the Commonwealth: to promote the rapprochement of the CIS members in the ec, polit. and humanitarian areas, maintain and develop contacts and cooperation between people, state institutions and enterprises of the Commonwealth countries. CIS is an open organization for accession. other countries