Do the achievements of the Soviet state, 1945-65, demonstrate the effectiveness of a centrally planned economy?

The progress made by the USSR in the twenty years between 1945 and 1965 has been seen by some as proof that a state based on a centrally planned economy can be effective. However there is another side to the argument, which claims that the Soviet Union during this period shows the superiority of the market based economy favoured by western European countries and the USA. To answer the above question it is necessary to first define …

…was in fact mainly due to the large increase in workers coming to the city from the countryside . Of all the failings of the Soviet Union, the largest and most famous is its humanitarian record. No amount of advancement can justify the millions who died either having not committed the crime they were convicted of or having committed a crime that did not deserve the death sentence, and prison camps were effectively slave labour camps