Science And Social Policy: Underpinning of Soviet Industrial Paradigms

Soviet policy-makers, in order to aid and abet industrialisation, seem to have chosen science as an agent for development. Soviet science, mainly through the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, was driving the Soviet industrial development and a key element of the preparation of human capital through social programmes and politechnisation of the society. This provided a broad set of the skills, including management and governance, multidisciplinary synthesis, and analytical ability which were required to ensure sustainable technical and industrial development. This process of human capital development in the USSR could not take place without a particular Soviet social policy which was designed by the Party and Government and included the development of science, education, healthcare in synchronisation. The success was achieved due to the implementation of the large programme for human capital development in whose preparation both basic research and education played the critical role. Science was regarded in the USSR as an indispensable tool for modernising the country, and, for the first time in world history, was recognised as a natural resource beyond the doctrine of Marxism which helped cope with the challenges, including industrialisation, WWII and the import substitution programme. The investments in the development of fundamental science eventually paid off both nationally and later - at the global level. Many of the Soviet scientific discoveries started to appear as products in global households only decades after the Soviet collapse. Without many Soviet discoveries and developments, the current digital and industrial development would be hardly possible as they are integral parts of the global technology chains which constitute the modern hi-tech industry, economy, and most various markets