Soviet Primary Accumulation Processes : Some Unresolved Problems

The ides of 'primary' (sometimes called 'primitive') socialist accumulation was first developed by Preobrazhensky, the Bolshevik economist and spokesman for the Trotskyist opposition in the USSR in the 1920's. The idea was based on an analogy with Mark's writing on primary capitalist accumulation. Primary capitalist accumulation meant the initial phase of growth in which the capitalist elements of the economy developed at the expense of the pre-capitalist sector. With 'capitalist' changed to 'socialist' Preobrazhensky had the idea of primary socialist accumulation, clearly relevant to the USSE in the 1920's.