USSR and the Warsaw Pact switch to market economy

[Otto Kretschmer]

In 1956 the USSR and the Warsaw Pact just decide to switch to a market Economy via an ASB intervention.

How well do they do economically compared to to OTL?

And since promoting communism is no longer a priority, what happens with the Cold War?

IMO they do much better than OTL economically and the large scale resistance movements of 1980d are largely avoided. The Cold War still carries on except it's no longer ideological in nature.

What are your thoughts?

[575]

I don't see them doing much better unless they are allowed into the Marshall Plan/European Recovery Programme that the USSR barred them from. As the starting year is 1956 they didn't so they'll be behind already.
Though if the Eastern bloc shift to market Economy where's the raison d'etre for it? Its gone. The German Democratic Republic population wanted to see their family in the Western Occupation Zones and with an open market that would be a possible but also the going down the drain for USSR command economy. And look what happened post-Gorby in Russia.
The industry in the East didn't see the recovery that happened in the West and I certainly don't see a East German Wirtschaftwunder as in the Western Germany.
The peoples of the East wanted western goods and a higher standard of living - market economy will provide that though as in the west the beginnings will be hard - as it were.
If the USSR tries to close the borders with the west the market economy in the east goes down the drain as it did.
There will be no Cold War but there may be room for some hot ones like Hungary - Romania and such.
If free why should the Eastern European nations want a strong Germany - East or United - that was already building by that time - they wouldn't at least not unless occupation were continued.
As the US would like to get out again there would be more pressure on the Europeans themselves to keep occupying Germany - the Germans would surely not like that! The Western European Allies weren't likely to assume that on themselves - it would have to be a joint operation.
In the end we might see a resurrection of Germany and have to go through it all once more.

Had the starting point been 1948 it could well have been pulled off but still with Germany being occupied and really nobody wanting to assume that mantel.