How did Soviet economic control change in the post-war years under Stalin?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The Soviet economy under Joseph Stalin focused on what was known as the command economy, in which centralized planning focused all effort by and to the state. Labor forces were directed by the state to produce quotas of agriculture, heavy metals, military equipment, etc., and all forces were marshaled to organize this production, including collectivization of agriculture. However, in the post-war years, as the Soviet Union extended its control over the eastern European satellite states, rather than have each country work under its own command economy, central economic planning from Moscow instead organized the satellite states into regional specializations, thus emphasizing growth as a collective whole, rather than allowing any one country in the eastern bloc to gain economic autonomy. Since East Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia all industrialized earlier than their counterparts in the east, emphasis in these regions was on production of manufactured goods, while in Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, the emphasis remained on raw materials and agricultural production.