TO THE QUESTION ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF THE SOVIET MODERNIZATIONS

In the context of the theory of modernization created at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s by American scientists, which explained the essence of the historical transition from traditional to industrial society using the example of Western democracies, the nature of Soviet modernization as a separate phenomenon is considered. Classical modernization of the western type was called normative. The views of Soviet historians on the economic development of the Soviet Union and the main provisions of the theory of modernization are compared. While Soviet historiography, considered the beginning of the modernization of Stalin’s industrialization, was officially proud of the latter, the proponents of the theory of modernization, on the contrary, justified its shortcomings and the general negative impact on the further development of the USSR as a whole. It is explained how, during the further development of the theory, the category of non-normative modernization was singled out, to which, according to all the main indicators, economic transformations in the USSR were assigned. Such indicators include lack of democracy, free market, restriction of private property, planned economy, presence of numerous state monopolies, authoritarian model of government. The concept of «non-normative modernization», in the opinion of the author of the article, first, better and more objectively explains the essence of economic processes in the Soviet Union, and secondly, can serve as a marker in the analysis of the economic prospects of those modern states that actually inherited the Soviet model of the economy. The author concludes on the more objective nature of the theory of modernization in comparison with the concept of catching up with modern Russian historians.