Glavkizm

(from glavk, central administration), the system of administration of Soviet industry in the period of the Civil War and foreign military intervention of 1918-20.

Glavkizm was characterized by the complete centralization of the administration of enterprises and other elements of the economy. The enterprises received raw materials, fuel, and the like free of charge and delivered finished products to the central agencies on the same basis. In 1920 there were 50 glavki, including Glavneft’ (for oil), Glavtsement (cement), Glavodezhda (clothing), and Glavmuka (flour). Under the conditions of War Communism this was the only possible problem-solving system for routing foreign intervention and counterrevolution. With extremely limited resources on hand and with the country cut off by the enemy from the regions providing the essential fuels, raw materials, and products, glavkizm was able to keep those industries running that supplied the needs of the front and to achieve the most rational distribution of finished products. The negative side of glavkizm was its excessive admintrative centralizing, which led to bureaucratic growth and the curbing of economic independence of the enterprises. After the conclusion of the Civil War and the changeover to the New Economic Policy, glavkism was abolished. The administration of industry began to be based on the principles of democratic centralism.