Economic Criteria of the International Specialization of Production in Socialist Countries

One of the most important ways of implementing the international division of labour among socialist countries is the specialization of production, both inter-branch and intra-branch. The erroneous view, however, still seems to persist that the inter-branch specialization of production between nations is a function of the differential natural endowment (including climate) and its suitability for specific industries (e.g. agriculture). Such conditions either totally inhibit the output of certain products, or render their production grossly inefficient by comparison with other countries. Obviously this cannot be the basis for the economic relations either of socialist or non-socialist countries with a complementary production structure. Applied to countries of disparate structure, it conduces to widening the gap between the industrial and the undeveloped partner. Moreover, although it has some significance in relation to raw materials extraction, agriculture, and certain sectors depending on natural conditions (e.g. ship-building), it cannot guide international cooperation in the case of partners in the process of industrialization — particularly intense among the socialist countries.