/sci/ - Science & Math

>>12797512
Yeah... not quite though, Tsarist Russia was the #1 wheat exporter in the world, but the USSR was a net wheat importer for its entire existence, only with the collapse of communism was Russia (and Ukraine) able to emerge as major wheat exporters again taking advantage of some of the most fertile farmland in the world which the Soviet system could not take proper advantage of.

In terms of industry the Soviet results were better, mostly during the early phase since building few low tech industries with small supply chains (ie. pig iron smelters, electricity, tanks, AKs and so on) is eadier than managing thousands of consumer goods factories with long supply chains.

By the 1970s the innefficiency, corruption and inherent complexity of the economy was too much for the central managers to cope with and the rot of economic stagnation set in. Another problem was the technological gap with the West which was becoming too big, particularly in electronics and computers.