ABSTRACT
The Soviet Union was in essence a huge communist modernization project in which one of the key aims was to transform this vast country from an agrarian into a modern industrial society within as short a space of time as possible. The whole economic system was geared to this overriding objective, which was to be achieved by expanding industrial production according to the guidelines laid down by the Communist Party. The basic collective actor in the process was the industrial enterprise, which was at once the basic atom of social life and social organizations.
