>be soviet union

>be 2nd fastest growing economy of the 20th century

The source for this claim is this graph, which shows that the Soviet economy was the 2nd fastest growing, beaten only by Japan, from 1928 to 1970 in terms of GDP per capita. As you can see, this data is pulled from the Madison Project.

GDP Growth 1928–1970

The USSR, notably, lasted from 1922 until 1991. Extending the graph begins to show a different story.

Below I have extended the graph to 1988. I have chosen that date as in that year the Soviet Union underwent major economic reform, allowing the creation of worker owned cooperatives that would operate independently from the state — the first major reform under perestroika. Extending to 1991, makes the USSR perform only worse

Small and recently disrupted economies generally grow faster than developed countries as they ‘catch up’. For example, following a major war countries may experience rapid growth as soldiers return home and restart their previously productive jobs. Looking at the period of the Soviet not marred by cycles of war, crisis and famine shows rather unremarkable growth.

Soviet Union marked in Red

Part of this early rapid growth is spurred by being able to take advantage of developed economies’ technology and capital. For example, in 1924 there were 1,000 tractors in the Soviet Union, but by 1934 there were over 200,000.

Transitioning from peasant and subsistence farming to mechanised farming produced remarkable growth, but was the growth sustainable long term?

This is a remarkable success for the USSR, but they did not do it alone:

This technology, however, did not spring from the Russian soil; it came almost entirely from the United States. Through the mid-thirties, most of the tractors in the Soviet Union were of American manufacture or copied from American designs. When copied, they were manufactured in plants designed, built, and operated under American guidance. And, in some cases, Americans guided the Russians in the use of tractors. The United States, in short, played a most significant role in bringing the tractor to the Soviet Union.

Once these ‘easy’ gains in growth were made, the Soviets would find themselves incapable of matching the economic growth of the United States and Western powers, as they entered into a period known as the Era of Stagnation.