Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of December 30, 1967 as a Milestone in the History of Computer Technology Development in the USSR

The relevance of the topic chosen for research is determined by the extreme importance of drawing lessons from domestic experience, including the implementation of the USSR's state policy in the field of computer technology production. The purpose of this publication is to examine a number of significant issues related to the development and production of computer technology in the USSR. Since the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated December 30, 1967, is often cited by researchers as one of the factors contributing to the lag and subsequent decline in domestic product production, the authors have taken the opportunity to thoroughly examine this document. The study was based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, and reliability.
The theory of modernization was used as the foundation. The study examined declassified documents from the Russian State Archive of Modern History (RGANI), the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), as well as the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE). The study identified the reasons for the adoption of this Resolution. These include the incompatibility of various Soviet computers at the hardware and software level, as well as information sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union about the growing gap between the USSR's production and capacity and those of leading capitalist countries. The study also demonstrates that various options for overcoming the slowdown in this area were proposed by leading scientists and officials before the government decision was made. An analysis of the document demonstrated that the resolution was actually adopted to significantly increase domestic development, reconstruct and build large-scale new factories and organizations producing computers, create a network of computing centers, and purchase licenses for the best foreign models. At the same time, the study of archival documents from later years allowed us to conclude that the large-scale plans adopted in 1967 were not implemented.

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