Criminal liability for crimes in the sphere of economic activities in the Soviet state

The article examines the development trends of the institution of criminal liability in the sphere of economic activity in the Soviet state (1917-1991). It analyzes the provisions of criminal laws that defined the elements of crimes that infringe on economic relations, and above all, three Criminal Codes of the RSFSR that were in force within the considered chronological framework (1922, 1926, 1960), as well as scientific publications that touch upon this topic. It is noted that in the Soviet state, with the transition to a planned centralized economy after the October Revolution of 1917, criminal liability was established primarily for violations of managerial and economic activity (falsifications in the reporting of state enterprises, private entrepreneurship, commercial mediation, speculation, etc. were considered criminal). This was the case for almost the entire period of the existence of the Soviet state, but in the final period of the USSR ("perestroika" in 1986-1991) cardinal changes occurred: the socialist economy was basically transformed into a capitalist one, and accordingly many acts that hindered the liberal economy were decriminalized.