First published in 1964, Was Stalin Really Necessary? is a thought-provoking work which deals with many aspects of the Soviet political economy, planning problems and statistics. It discusses the possible political consequences of the search for greater economic efficiency.

Introduction I: Political Economy 1. Was Stalin really necessary? 2. The uses and abuses of Kremlinology 3. The politics of economic rationality II: Industrial Growth and Planning 4. The prospects of Soviet economic growth 5. The problem of 'success indicators' in Soviet industry 6. Soviet planning: Reforms in prospect 7. Principal problems of Soviet planning III: Agriculture 8. The peasants in Soviet literature since Stalin 9. Soviet agriculture marks time 10. Rural taxation in the USSR 11. Incentives for peasants and administrators IV: Labour, Welfare 12. A study of Soviet wages 13. Social welfare in the USSR V: Statistics 14. The purchasing power of the Soviet rouble 15. Occupational patterns in the USSR and Great Britain 16. Economic irrationality and irrational statistics VI: Ideology 17. Communism