In October of 1917, the world saw Lenin and the Bolsheviks take power in Russia, Lenin did not however have exact economic plans for Russia since Marx never provided a "blueprint" for a communist state and its economy. Marx saw society progress naturally through various stages of development (i.e. primitive society, slavery, feudalism, capitalism, socialism and eventually communism). "Marx essentially provided a critique of capitalism, but socialism was only vaguely defined." According to Marx there was to be "the 'conscious social regulation of production' (opposed to the 'anarchy' of a free market), the 'common' ownership of the means of production, distribution according to work (as opposed to need under communism)."

Soon after Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power, they proceeded to take over banks, foreign trade, and industries like iron and steel that were essential to industrialize the state. All land became state owned and the market system was substituted with a centrally planned economy (CPE) or a command economy. The Soviet Union planned on catching up and surpassing capitalist states, since it was the only socialist country in an area

8. Kauppi, Mark V., and Paul R. Viotti. International Relations and World Politics:

Systems. New Jersey: Columbia University Press, 1990.

Banking was a monopoly in the Soviet Union. Gosbank, the state bank, unlike banks in capitalist states, had no separation clear separation between the central bank and private commercial banks. Gosbank was responsible for the following functions: it issued cash, had a monopoly of gold and foreign exchange reserves as opposed to capitalist states where a separate bank would deal with foreign payments. It acted as a fiscal agent that collected revenue and distributed current expenditures and had a monopoly of short-term credits that was were used to pay working capital vital to the states plans. It also acted as a monitoring agency over plants and their quotas. Individual citizens used the Savings Bank, where the bank would simply act as a medium where citizens could obtain cash for buying goods, which would then help to fulfill the current state plan.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Soviet Union, White Army, Labor Characteristics, Union Gosbank, CP Politburo, Heel Russian, Russia Marx, Lenin Bolsheviks, Rationing Russian, Command Planning, soviet union, centrally planned, free market, centrally planned economy, planned economy, resentment collectivization, period rationing, iron steel, collectivization peasants, capitalism socialism, according marx, resentment collectivization peasants,
Approximate Word count = 1908
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)