Under the Soviet Union, Abalkin Leonid Ivanovich was a well-known economist. He often spoke on television, campaigning for the restructuring of the economy of the USSR, so his face was familiar even to ordinary people. Even then, it could be said that Leonid Abalkin is a liberal economist. He supported the Kosygin reform and the planned market economy along the Chinese model. This was the reason for the accusations against him by the Marxist Orthodox after the Prague Spring. Today Abalkin Leonid was undeservedly forgotten. But he remains one of the outstanding scientists of the past era, and his economic views are still interesting.
Origin
The future famous scientist was born in 1930 in Moscow. By profession, his parents were accountants. The family of the father came from Samara. Ivan Abalkin had two brothers and seven sisters. He was an inspector of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army and served in the Chapaev Division. In the twenties, he moved to Moscow, where he met his future wife. The brother of Ivan Abalkin, Nikolai, became quite famous. He gradually became a well-known journalist and corresponded with many cultural figures. In the newspaper Pravda, he started as an editor and reached a member of the editorial board and the head of the literary department. The elder brother of Leonid Ivanovich was also a famous person and made a significant contribution to the development of the field of education. During the Great Patriotic War, he served in air defense, then graduated from the Moscow Regional Institute of Culture. Subsequently, in it he defended his thesis.
Abalkin Leonid Ivanovich: biography
When the war began, the family of the future economist lived in Moscow. Leonid Ivanovich's father immediately went to the font as a volunteer when he learned about the creation of the militia. Then he joined the regular army. Since he was an accountant in civilian life, he was put in charge of the finance department in the Separate Artillery Anti-aircraft Division in the war.
Abalkin Leonid Ivanovich with his mother was evacuated to Sverdlovsk. Here they lived for two years, having experienced all the hardships of a migrant's life. They had no electricity, no heat, and sometimes no food in their house. Leonid continues to study in Sverdlovsk, devoting all his free time to reading classical Russian literature.
In 1943, the father of the future economist was given a room in a barracks in Ulyanovsk, and the family moved to him. Then he was transferred to the city of Zhlobin. Here the family had to live in a simple dugout. And Leonid always carried a chair with him to school, because the furniture in it did not survive. The city was badly damaged by shelling.
After the war, Leonid Ivanovich Abalkin, whose family returned to Moscow, went to tenth grade. Already in the capital, Leonid graduated from high school. Here the family lived in a tiny communal apartment, and for several months completely behind the curtain. Until his retirement, Ivan Abalkin continued to work at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Study
Abalkin graduated from the Moscow Institute of National Economy in 1952. A few years later he became deputy director of the college. Abalkin actively participated in the public life of the city and looked for himself. In 1958, he still decided to enter graduate school at the Moscow State Economic Institute. Three years later, he completed his dissertation. During his studies, he met such outstanding scientists as Birman and Kamenitser. Abalkin remained a teacher at his institute, which by then had been merged with Moscow University of National Economy. In 1966, he became head of the department of political economy. Then he defended his doctoral dissertation on the regulation of socialist economy. In the years 1976-1985. was the head of the department of political economics at the Academy of Social Sciences. In 1984, he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The period of perestroika was the peak of the scientific and professional career of a scientist. He became known far beyond the academic fields.
A family
It was at the institute that Abalkin met his future wife, Anna Saturova. Since Leonid Ivanovich’s brother was demobilized just this year from the army, there was nowhere to live young. Therefore, he began to teach at the technical school of the city of Gusev in the Kaliningrad region, where the family was allocated a one-room apartment. However, Abalkin continued to dream of continuing his studies and scientific activities. In 1953, the couple had their first son.
As a politician
Abalkin Leonid in 1986 headed the Institute of Economics of the USSR, in 1987 became a member of the Academy of Sciences. At a CPSU conference in 1988, he criticized the concept of acceleration, but for structural restructuring of the economy. A year later, he became a deputy. However, after a few months Abalkin resigned, as he was appointed to the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers. In the government, he led the commission on economic reform. He was an adviser to Gorbachev. During perestroika, Abalkin criticized ongoing reforms in the country. In the last years of his life, he was a supervisor at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and head of the department of socio-economic problems at Moscow University.
Awards and prizes
Abalkin Leonid was a member of many associations and academies. He created the Kondratyev International Fund and headed it. Abalkin was a member of the International Union of Economists. During his life he received many awards, including the Order of Friendship of Peoples. Also among them:
- Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III and IV degrees and Honor.
- Medals "Veteran of Labor", "For the contribution to the development of entrepreneurship", "2000 outstanding people of the XX century."
- Kondratiev Prize.
- Certificate of honor of the Presidium of the RSFSR.
- Laureate of the 2005 Russian Year Award.
Abalkin Leonid Ivanovich: economic views
Ever since his Ph.D. thesis, he was sure that the key to overcoming the crisis is a radical renewal of economic relations. Freedom of management, in his opinion, is a source of social wealth and is transformed into additional financial resources. He did not believe in accelerating growth under Gorbachev and spoke about the irreversibility of the imminent resignation of the government. And this forecast is striking in its amazing accuracy. The USSR really soon ceased to exist, as the government failed to take measures to stabilize the economy.
Abalkin has been preparing the concept of restructuring the entire system of public relations since the early 1980s. He considered it necessary to maintain and modify centralized management with the broad development of democratic principles in all spheres of life. In order to organize the course of the reforms, Abalkin oversaw the formation of the State Commission. It included outstanding scientists of his time. The features of the new system of economy, methods of solving emerging problems were identified. For a year and a half in the government, Abalkin managed to develop a reform framework for creating a mixed economy. During this period, the first joint-stock companies, enterprises of various forms of ownership and farming emerged.
However, there was a shift in public consciousness, and people advocated a radical renewal of all structures. And Abalkin had to leave the political scene.
Scientific works
The outstanding economist Leonid Ivanovich Abalkin, whose bibliography includes more than 400 works, devoted his whole life to research. He independently wrote 15 monographs. His main interest was the development of transformation mechanisms, first in the USSR and then in Russia. He was a well-known specialist in the field of methodology of science, problems of economic policy and economic mechanisms. Among his most famous works are the following:
- "In the grip of a crisis."
- "Notes on Russian Entrepreneurship."
- Zigzags of Fate: Disappointment and Hope.
- "Delayed Change, or the Lost Year."
- "The course of the transition economy."
- "The choice is Russia."
Leonid Abalkin is also the author of many articles. Since 1992 he was the editor-in-chief of the well-known journal “Economics.
