Economic History of the Soviet Union

There was not much diversity of implementation across (within) the Soviet Union - the whole of it was governed by the party and the plan - but of course there have been other experiments with Marxism in other countries. You are absolutely right that the issues raised in this video can be explored, if not answered,by looking at the differences between these countries and the experiences in each of them.Were there priorities different? Did this affect their policies? Did it affect the outcome - the level of freedom?

I am not aware of a specific prediction by Marx or Lenin on productivity gains expected although Marxists were confident there would be great gains for several reasons. They expected a reduction in wastes caused by competition (advertising, etc) and other capitalist features such as recessions, downturns, and crises, and they expected the workers' state to efficiently organize, produce, supply, and distribute - instead of a few privately hoarding profit, revenues would be reinvested - keeping cost and price low - or shared as common wealth. Another great productivity gain would come as workers choose to work harder because they are no longer working for an exploitative boss but for a society which values them - work becomes "life's prime want" - it becomes a joy.

If anyone can find an estimate of the expected productivity gains, please share it!