Cybermarxism and Innovation (1961–1971)

Abstract

The Soviet Union entered the 1960s with confidence after its victory in World War II, coupled with promising economic and political prospects. The Soviet bloc was having unprecedented productivity driven by the Information Technology Revolution, along with advances in finance, transportation, and agriculture. The Soviet bloc economy also received a boost following Joseph Stalin's death in 1953 and Nikita Khrushchev's reforms. The Soviets, with East Germany's Walter Ulbricht in the vanguard, were intent on harnessing the IT Revolution and cybernetics to overtake the West. Ulbricht's reform program of the 1960s, the New Economic System, was founded on cybernetics, cybermarxism, and innovation. Erich Apel, head of the State Planning Commission, designed the cybernetics program anchored on three basic reforms: decentralization, price and interest rate reform, and improved accounting and control systems. A focus of decentralization was forest management.