Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) was a global socialist organization founded in 1949 to develop multilateral economic and commercial relations between socialist states. After the death of Joseph Stalin, COMECON took on a social-imperialist character in service of the revisionist Soviet Union.
History
Background and Establishment
COMECON was created as a Soviet anti-imperialist organization in 1949, but after the murder of Stalin, Soviet revisionists took power and headed the capitalist restoration of the Soviet Union. They successfully turned the Soviet Union into a social-imperialist state, and around the world, socialists in power of socialist states were replaced by revisionists. COMECON was converted into a major social-imperialist tool of the Soviet bourgeoisie, which helped the USSR run their social-imperialist bloc. Among the countries that remained in COMECON after its revisionist turn were Albania and China.[a]
Specialization
An example of the social-imperialist nature of the Soviet revisionists was Khrushchev's "specialization" policy, or the "international socialist division of labor", which weaponized COMECON. The central idea of this policy was to regulate the industrial output of COMECON members, having different countries specialize in specific products, most of which were sent to the Soviet Union. This, of course, is an example of the export of capital, which at the same time also functioned as a way to increase the dependence of COMECON countries on the Soviet Union.
An example of this in practice is Cuba serving as a Soviet sugar colony.
Fall of the Soviet Union and COMECON
In 1991, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved. With it, COMECON was to, highlighting how much control the social-imperialist USSR exercised over it. After the fall of the USSR, a new social-imperialist bloc led by the People's Republic of China emerged.
See Also
References
Notes
- ↑ As an observer member.