Communism was destroyed not from without, but from within--by a
persistent failure to make its economic theories work in practice.
But what exactly did go wrong with its central planning? Until the
last moment, top western economists claimed that Communism was
superior to western models. Even now, centralised Marxist planning
retains its admirers, especially among the young. With the benefit
of new archival research, we can finally grasp how falsified and
manipulated statistics blindfolded Communist governments and
confused western leaders, leading to staggering errors of
judgement. Both sides believed that East Germany had a stronger
economy than West Germany; that North Korea would overtake South
Korea; that Mao's China was a paradise for its starving peasants.
Those who warned that a dearth of reliable economic data would
condemn central planning to irrational misallocation of investment
and labour were ignored or belittled. But, ultimately, they were
vindicated. Jasper Becker answers the big question: what accounts
for the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union, China and everywhere
else? And why don't present debates acknowledge that failure? This
unconventional history of Communism and the Cold War explains why
the same old clash of theories is continuing to shape the world
today.
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