Vladimir Groman

Vladimir Gustavovich Groman (Russian: Влади́мир Густа́вович Гро́ман; 21 February, 1874, Khalturino – 11 March, 1940) was a Menshevik economist and statistician active in Gosplan, the Soviet Union's central economic planning agency and the Central Statistical Directorate.

Early life

Groman was the son of a German father and Russian mother. He joined the Menshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1905. He was exiled to Tver Oblast where he developed his statistical methods.

First World War

Groman was concerned with rising food prices which started following the outbreak of the First World War. He was involved in the 'Committee to Study the Current High Prices' set up by the Chuprov Society. In 1915 the Tsarist authorities were concerned about the disorganisation of the economy and set up the Special Council on Food Supply, to which Gorman was appointed as representative of the Union of Cities.[1] In 1916 he worked with the Kadet, Mitrofan Voronkov to lobby for a lower fixed price for grain: originally over-ruled by Minister of Agriculture, Aleksei Bobrinsky, a spokesperson for landed interest, they would not let the matter drop and when the Minister of War, Dmitry Shuvayev became involved, Bobrinsky's policy was overthrown and Voronkov became a much quoted spokesperson on the topic.[2]

Russian Revolution

Following the February Revolution he started work on developing a national economic plan. Groman was responsible for proposing the foundation of the All-Russian Food-Supply Council, also known as the Council of Ten which provided a politically neutral institution to manage food supply.[3] Following the Bolshevik seizure of power, the Council of Ten tried to maintain their authority over food supply but were arrested on 27 November, being quickly released once they had accepted the authority of the Council of People's Commissars.[4]: 30 

As an economist in the Soviet Union

In 1922 he joined Gosplan, where he collaborated closely with Vladimir Bazarov.[5] Groman was arrested in 1930 and was put on trial in 1931 as part of the 1931 Menshevik Trial.[5] After deliberating for twenty-five hours, the court sentenced him to ten years' imprisonment.[6]

References
  1. Jasny, Naum (2008). Soviet Economists of the Twenties: Names to be Remembered. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. Holquist, Peter (2002). Making war, forging revolution : Russia's continuum of crisis, 1914-1921. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674009073.
  3. "Who's Who of Russian History and Current Events". Perspectives on World History and Current Events. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  4. Barnett, Vincent (2016). Kondratiev and the Dynamics of Economic Development: Long Cycles and Industrial Growth in Historical Context. Springer. ISBN 9781349263271. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  5. McCauley, Martin (1997). Who's Who in Russia Since 1900. Routledge.
  6. "MOSCOW TRIAL ENDS". Aberdeen Journal. British Newspaper Archive. 10 March 1931. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
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