Works in Progress

This title investigates the gap between the plans and the reality of the Soviet Union's mid-twentieth-century project to industrialise and modernise its agricultural system. Historians agree that the project failed badly: agriculture was inefficient, unpredictable, and environmentally devastating for the entire Soviet period. Yet assigning the blame exclusively to Soviet planners would be off the mark. The real story is much more complicated and interesting, Jenny Leigh Smith reveals in this deeply researched book.