Left production
Within the economy of the Soviet Union, "Left" production (Russian: "левая" продукция) referred to goods manufactured by state enterprises, but not accounted for in the official bottom line reported to planning organs and was sold "to the left" ("налево") i.e., "on the side", on the black market. It constituted a significant and part of the second economy of the Soviet Union.[1] The term is still in use in post-Soviet states, also in reference to the production distributed off books, e.g., for tax or regulations evasion.
A special case of "left" production was the use of the facilities of an enterprise by workers for manufacturing various goods which were not a specialty of the enterprise.[2]
The state attempted to crack down of the "left" production, and the 1960s-1970s witnessed a number of high-profile trials of major cases.[1] An example would be the case of Soviet fur mafia, which involved several underground furrier factories in Kazakhstan.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Евгения Эвельсон, "Судебные процессы по экономическим делам в СССР: (шестидесятые годы)", Overseas Publications Interchange, University of Michigan, 1986, ISBN 0903868881 English title: Evgenia Evelson, '"Second Economy" of the USSR (Trials of the 1960s), *Quote: "Сосуществование двух экономик, государственной плановой и внеплановой, левой, есть непрерывный процесс, имманентный тому типу ведения народного хозяйства, который принят в Советском Союзе"
- ^ M. Alexeev, "The Russian Underground Economy in Transition", THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARCH, TITLE VIII PROGRAM, November 20, 1995