Scientific and Technical Cooperation of the Eastern Bloc Countries in the Context of the COMECON Reform (1969—1971)

This article based on the materials of the Russian State Archive of Economics contains the analysis of scientific and technical cooperation within the framework of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON, CMEA) in the second half of the 1960s — early 1970s. For the first time a comprehensive picture is given on the member states’ positions on the issues of cooperation in science and technology before the COMECON reform in 1969—1971. In this study the influence is also shown on the elaboration of the science and technology section of the Comprehensive Program of Socialist Economic Integration created in 1971. In addition, the new archival data presented in the article sheds light on the unique process of project work on the section. The author concludes that there was a consensus in the COMECON on deepening scientific and technical cooperation, however in the program documents the industrialized and agrarian countries of the commonwealth explained their motivation in different ways. The contradiction was clearly manifested in the issue of the “Sofia Principle” on the free transfer of technology in the COMECON: the first group of countries insisted on the transition to the transfer of know-how for a fee, while the other one sought to maintain the status quo favorable for them. It is clarified in the article that a compromise position on this issue was adopted by the USSR, which formally and informally controlled the agenda of the Fourth Working Group for scientific and technical cooperation, headed by Soviet functionaries. In addition, new formats and methods of cooperation in science and technology, which were developed by the Fourth Working Group reviewed in the article. The author concludes that the positive experience of its work at the level of heads of the parties' specialized bodies served as a decisive argument in favor of further upgrading the status of the COMECON Standing Commission for the Coordination of Scientific and Technological Research to the Special Council with broad intersectoral powers.

Keywords

COMECON, science, technology, scientific and technological revolution, economics, planning, world system of socialism, Comprehensive Program of 1971

Received

12.05.2023

Publication date

31.07.2023

Number of characters

96125

Cite

GOST	Kuzjmichev I. Scientific and Technical Cooperation of the Eastern Bloc Countries in the Context of the COMECON Reform (1969—1971) // ISTORIYA – 2023. – V. 14. – Issue 5 (127) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840027054-8-1 (circulation date: 15.05.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840027054-8
MLA	Kuzjmichev, Ilya "Scientific and Technical Cooperation of the Eastern Bloc Countries in the Context of the COMECON Reform (1969—1971)." ISTORIYA 14.5 (127) (2023) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840027054-8
APA	Kuzjmichev I. (2023). Scientific and Technical Cooperation of the Eastern Bloc Countries in the Context of the COMECON Reform (1969—1971). ISTORIYA 14(5 (127)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840027054-8

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