Within the
economy of the Soviet Union, "Left" production (russian: "левая" продукция) referred to goods manufactured by
state enterprises
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
, but not accounted for in the official
bottom line
In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest, a ...
reported to
planning organs and was sold "to the left" ("
налево") i.e., "on the side", on the
black market
A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
. It constituted a significant and part of the
second economy of the Soviet Union
The second economy in the Soviet Union was black market or the informal sector in the economy of the Soviet Union. The term was suggested by Gregory Grossman in his seminal article, "The Second Economy of the USSR" (1977). .
[Евгения Эвельсон, "Судебные процессы по экономическим делам в СССР: (шестидесятые годы)", Overseas Publications Interchange, University of Michigan, 1986, English title: Evgenia Evelson, '"Second Economy" of the USSR (Trials of the 1960s), *Quote: "Сосуществование двух экономик, государственной плановой и внеплановой, левой, есть непрерывный процесс, имманентный тому типу ведения народного хозяйства, который принят в Советском Союзе"] The term is still in use in
post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
, also in reference to the production distributed off books, e.g., for tax or regulations evasion.
A special case of "left" production was the use of the facilities of an enterprise by workers for manufacturing various goods which were not a specialty of the enterprise.
[M. Alexeev]
"The Russian Underground Economy in Transition"
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARCH, TITLE VIII PROGRAM, November 20, 1995
The state attempted to crack down of the "left" production, and the 1960s-1970s witnessed a number of high-profile trials of major cases.
[ An example would be the case of ]Soviet fur mafia The Soviet fur mafia was a major organized crime uncovered in the Soviet Union in 1970s as a result of Operation 'Cartel' by KGB. It was operating around several "underground" furrier factories in Kazakh SSR. The case ended in prosecution of some ...
, which involved several underground furrier factories in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
.
References
{{reflist
Second economy of the Soviet Union