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[WORLD ECONOMICS] SSSR i kapitalisticheskie strany [i.e. The USSR and Capitalist States]

Item #2728

Moscow: Izostat, 1939. 150, [1] pp.: ill. 23x29,5 cm. In original cloth with colored lettering; in modern protective case. Binding and endpapers slightly restored, light soiling of page margins, small tear of printed insert, otherwise very good.

Design by N. Kurganov.

The book was allowed for printing on September 9, 1939, but early-November publications about annexation of new territories are also included. The publication was released for propagandists and ideologically active personnel who compared “the development of the socialist system and the decay of the capitalist economy”. Statistical data present industrial output, agricultural development, production norms across various sectors, territories and populations of countries, natural resources and energy, Soviet targets of the 3rd five-year plan (up to 1942) compared to the 2nd, etc. Alongside economical numbers, the book showed that the USSR was prepared for the upcoming war, though it presented this information without specific figures.
For instance, the overall numerical strength of the Red Army approximately doubled between 1934 and 1939. Tank forces increased nearly fourfold, light artillery grew by 34 percent, and so on. In addition to statistics, the book relied on striking imagery – photos of imposing military formations and accounts of Soviet pilots' records – to convey a sense of overwhelming strength. In August 1939, the USSR and Germany concluded a treaty that included secret protocols on dividing spheres of influence in Europe. This directly influenced the official, positive portrayal of Nazi Germany in Soviet materials published in the fall of 1939. The editorial reads: “The final section illustrates two themes: first, the sharp intensification of imperialist rivalries that led Britain and France to attack Germany in the second half of 1939 in order to preserve their global dominance, and second, the wise policy of peace pursued by the Soviet Union”. In this context, the editorial referred to the Phony War (or "Sitzkrieg") that began on September 3, 1939, and the annexation of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine by the Red Army, which commenced on September 17. The book publishes the commonly known text of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Below it, an addition states that "in September–October 1939, mutual assistance pacts were concluded between the USSR and the Baltic states, and on December 5, a treaty of mutual assistance and friendship was signed between the USSR and Finland". This narrative served as the official explanation given about the Red Army's incursions into these countries.

The book was published by the IZOSTAT Institute (1931– 1940). It was highly influenced by the Vienna Circle and their Isotype method.

Worldcat shows copies located in LoC, Universities of California Los Angeles, Colorado Boulder, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Syracuse, Washington, Wisconsin-Madison, and NYPL.

Price: $9,500.00