Based on extensive original research, including in unpublished archival material, this book examines the reforms, discussing the motivations for them, which included Khrushchev's attempt to strengthen his own power base, exploring how the process of reform was implemented, especially its impact on the republics, and analysing why the reforms, which were reversed in 1959, failed. Overall, the book reveals a great deal about the workings, and the shortcomings, of the Soviet economic system at its height.