Hakim is somewhat misinformed on soviet economic history, there was absolutely mass wage labor, and absolutely there was a wage labor market, however because wages were set by the state there was additional competition over amenities provided by the employer. For example access to special stores, apartments, summer camps, bonuses for meeting quotas set by GOSPLAN etc. Lots of workers were on piece (or tonnage) wages till the 50s and 60s too, which is really one of the crappiest forms of doing wage labor. There was actually imo still anarchy of production, but it was an anarchy caused by national goals of GOSPLAN not having really any democratic input on production and distribution. What actually got produced was anarchic as state owned firms traded resources with each other to try and hit certain quotas, and what goods were actually available were not well managed.
The class system in the soviet union also imo had a bourgeoisie that related to production differently than the base, however it was quite different from capitalist ownership.
Hakim's understanding of what State Capitalism means (or rather his lack of understanding the breadth of what it means at different times by different people) also seems off to me.
Hakim is somewhat misinformed on soviet economic history, there was absolutely mass wage labor, and absolutely there was a wage labor market, however because wages were set by the state there was additional competition over amenities provided by the employer. For example access to special stores, apartments, summer camps, bonuses for meeting quotas set by GOSPLAN etc. Lots of workers were on piece (or tonnage) wages till the 50s and 60s too, which is really one of the crappiest forms of doing wage labor. There was actually imo still anarchy of production, but it was an anarchy caused by national goals of GOSPLAN not having really any democratic input on production and distribution. What actually got produced was anarchic as state owned firms traded resources with each other to try and hit certain quotas, and what goods were actually available were not well managed.
The class system in the soviet union also imo had a bourgeoisie that related to production differently than the base, however it was quite different from capitalist ownership.
Hakim's understanding of what State Capitalism means (or rather his lack of understanding the breadth of what it means at different times by different people) also seems off to me.
can you recommend any books on the Soviet economy or the history of the Soviet economy?
The big overview book I think everyone still uses is the most recent edition of An Economic History of the USSR by Alec Nove.