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Abstract
This article contributes to the study of governmentalities of the late twentieth century with regard to the proliferation of computers and information technology. Based on archival materials and oral history interviews, this study reconstructs and analyses the story of Franco–Soviet cooperation in the field of economics from the late 1950s to the 1980s, which was initially motivated by a common interest in promoting planning methods, but was later recast as a dialogue dominated by technical issues of information processing and communication and ultimately became part of a commercial strategy to support the French and Eastern European computer industries.
Acknowledgement
The article was prepared within the framework of the HSE University Basic Research Program and funded by the Russian Academic Excellence Project ‘5-100’. It has also been supported by the European Center for Humanities and Social Sciences (MESHS-Lille, France) and by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Isabelle Gouarné’s interviews with Dmitrii B. Kuvalin, economist at the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 20 February 2017, and with Jean-Pierre Pagé, economist at INSEE in the 1960s–1970s and then at the Commissariat au Plan, Paris, 1 June 2016.
2 Report on the May 1958 mission to the USSR, Direction du Trésor Papers, CAEF (French Economic and Financial Archives), B 594.
3 ‘Spravka o prieme v NIEI Gosplana SSSR frantsuzskoi ekonomicheskoi delegatsii’, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv ekonomiki (hereafter RGAE), f. 99, op. 1, d. 698.
4 Postanovlenie Soveta ministrov SSSR № 729 ‘O sovershenstvovanii planirovaniya i usilenii ekonomicheskogo stimulirovaniya promyshlennogo proizvodstva’, Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii, f. R-5446, op. 1, d. 791.
5 ‘Note au sujet du protocole d'échanges scientifiques franco–soviétiques’, [without date, probably written in 1963], Direction générale de la recherche scientifique et technique (DGRST) Papers, French National Archives (AN), 19770321/409; J. Basdevant, ‘Note. Échanges scientifiques avec l'URSS’, October 1965, DGRST Papers/AN, 19770606/24.
6 Isabelle Gouarné’s interview with Jean-Saint Geours, Paris, 19 November 2012.
7 ‘Compte rendu de la IXe Session du Groupe de travail mixte franco–soviétique’, 7 June 1973, INSEE Papers, CAEF, B. 57701.
8 ‘Procès verbal. Pourparlers des experts français et soviétiques sur les problèmes de traitement automatique de l’information et l’application des méthodes mathématiques de calcul dans les recherches économiques, dans la planification et la gestion’, DGRST Papers/AN, 19770321/94.
9 ‘Procès verbal. Pourparlers des experts français et soviétiques sur les problèmes de traitement automatique de l’information et l’application des méthodes mathématiques de calcul dans les recherches économiques, dans la planification et la gestion’, DGRST Papers/AN, 19770321/94.
10 The story of operations research in France still waits to be written. For a tentative account, see Cohen (Citation1995).
11 On the French engineering tradition in economics, see Desrosières (Citation2008) and Fourcade (Citation2009).
12 Including the national railway company SNCF, the public establishment in charge of the exploitation of urban transport in and around Paris RATP, the national electricity company Électricité de France, the nationalised car manufacturer Renault, oil companies and banks.
13 Slava Gerovitch (Citation2013), for instance, analyses the social infrastructure of the Soviet mathematics to explain its strong development in the postwar Soviet Union.
14 See for instance: ‘Otchet o poezdke sovetskikh spetsialistov Modina i Intyakova vo Frantsiyu 10-20/1/1968’, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 209.
15 It was founded by Jacques Lesourne, a graduate of the prestigious École Polytechnique. For the history of SEMA, see Lesourne (Citation2000).
16 ‘Otchet o nauchnoi komandirovke vo Frantsiyu i.o. zav. Laboratoriei ekonomiko-matematicheskogo analiza finansovykh potokov TsEMI AN SSSR tov. B. L. Isayeva’, March 1964, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 63.
17 ‘In Memoriam: Oleg I. Larichev (20.09.1934–19.01.2003)’, International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making, 2, 2, 2003.
18 Such as Cave (Citation1980) and Beissinger (Citation1988).
19 ‘Otchet ob effektivnosti poezdki sotrudnikov TsEMI AN SSSR k.e.n. Suvorova i Makhrova vo Frantsiyu’, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 287.
20 ‘Rapport de mission de la délégation française à Moscou, 20–30 septembre 1967’, INSEE Papers, CAEF, B. 57701.
21 ‘Otchet o komandirovke vo Frantsiyu sotrudnikov TsEMI AN SSSR d.e.n. Petrakova N. Ya., d.e.n. Pugacheva V. F., d.e.n. Isayeva B. L., i uchenogo Sekretarya Otdeleniya ekonomiki AN SSSR Semenova A. I. s 1 po 15 iyunya 1977 g.’, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 664.
22 ‘Otchet o nauchnoi komandirovke vo Frantsiyu zam. direktora TsEMI AN SSSR d.e.n. S. S. Shatalina, direktora Tikhookeanskogo ekonomicheskogo instituta AN SSSR chlena-korrespondenta AN SSSR Bunicha, zaveduyushchego laboratoriei TsEMI AN SSSR d.e.n. Dadayana’, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 333.
23 ‘Otchet o nauchnoi komandirovke vo Frantsiyu Direktora Instituta ekonomiki i organizatsii promyshlennogo proizvodstva SO AN SSSR Aganbegyana. A. G. v period s 16 po 27 noyabrya 1973 g.’, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 433.
24 ‘Otchet o nauchnoi i nauchno-organizatsionnoi deyatel'nosti, mezhdunarodnykh nauchnykh svyazei i material'noi baze instituta za 1977 g.’, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 609.
25 Isabelle Gouarné’s interview with Sergei А. Ayvazyan, Moscow, 18 April 2017.
26 ‘Otchet o nauchnoi i nauchno-organizatsionnoi deyatel'nosti, mezhdunarodnykh nauchnykh svyazei i material'noi baze instituta za 1978 g.’, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 674.
27 The framing document ‘Osnovnye polozheniya razrabotki dolgosrochnoi tselevoi programmy sozdaniya OGAS’ was adopted by the Soviet government in 1981.
28 A deep dissatisfaction with the actual form taken by the project is forcefully expressed in Glushkov’s testimony recorded by his daughter shortly before his death in 1982 (published in Malinovskii Citation1993).
29 Without constituting a well-institutionalised group, the engineer-economists, educated in leading engineering schools, played a central role after World War II in public administration and public enterprises, where they worked on operational problems. The rise of their position is directly connected to the expansion of French state capacities in economic regulation. See Fourcade (Citation2009, pp. 199–212).
30 ‘Compte rendu de la mission en URSS’, Direction du Trésor Papers, CAEF, B. 0070014.
31 ‘Compte rendu de la mission en URSS’, Direction du Trésor Papers, CAEF, B. 0070014.
32 See also Gaïti (Citation2002).
33 ‘Otchet o nauchnom sotrudnichestve TsEMI AN SSSR v 1981 g.’, TsEMI Papers/ARAN, f. 1959, op. 1, d. 908.
34 Electronic Data Processing Industry Report, 27 July 1973, (Bull Papers/French National Archives of the World of Work), 2012 007 4044.
35 Note, n.d., ‘Les pays de l’Est et l’informatique’, Bull Papers, 2012 007 4048.
36 See, for instance, the letter from the director of Bull-GE (Jean-Pierre Brulé) to the Délégué adjoint à l’informatique (Maurice Allègre), 19 March 1968, Audouin Papers/Centre d’histoire de Sciences Po Archives, AUD 13.
37 Ministère des affaires étrangères, ‘Coopération franco–soviétique dans le domaine de l’informatique’, 25 August 1970, Ministère des finances Papers/CAEF, B. 44153.
38 S. Bogenhardt, ‘Compte rendu de voyages en Bulgarie et en URSS’, 12 November 1970, Bull Papers, 2012 007 1601.
39 ‘Politique vis-à-vis des pays de l'Est’, 17 February 1969, Audoin Papers, AUD 19.
40 International Computers Limited (ICL), the British equivalent of the French CII and Plan Calcul, succeeded to become the first foreign computer supplier in the USSR and in Eastern European socialist countries in the late 1960s. See, ‘Politique vis-à-vis des pays de l'Est’, 17 February 1969, Audoin Papers, AUD 19. See also B. O. Szuprowicz, ‘Socialisme et informatique’, Usine nouvelle, June 1972, Bull Papers, 2012 007 1601.
41 See, for example, the problem due to press leaks on CII commercial actions in Hungary in 1973, Bull Papers, 2012 007 1601.
42 Note, 22 July 1971, Bull Papers, 2012 007 1601.
43 See, for instance, ‘Correspondance intérieure Honeywell Bull’, 13 November 1974, Bull Papers, 2012 007 4048.
44 See, for instance, the document ‘USSR Soviet Management Organizational Structures and Licenses Practices Regarding Exchanges with Foreign Countries’, 11 March 1974, Bull Papers, 2012 007 4044.
45 S. Bogenhardt, ‘Compte rendu de voyages en Bulgarie et en URSS’, 12 November 1970, Bull Papers, 2012 007 1601.
46 ‘Protocole. Résultats des entretiens entre les représentants du Ministère de l'électrotechnique et ceux de la CII’, 1972, Bull Papers, 2012 007 1601.
47 ‘Propositions JO Moscou 1980’, 1976, Bull Archives, 2012 007 4097; ‘Rapport mensuel, juillet et août 1974’, 4 September 1974, Bull Papers, 2012 007 4044.
48 Cf., for example, H. Mouren, Note, ‘Bull en URSS’, 1 July 1985, Bull Papers, 2012 007 2263; ‘Les ventes aux pays de l’Est … ’, [without date, probably from 1972], Bull Papers, 2012 007 4048; ‘Propositions JO Moscou 1980’, 1976, Bull Papers, 2012 007 4097.
49 However, it is not clear if this proposal was accepted. See files on this project in Bull Papers, 2012 007 4097.
50 Note, ‘Affaires en cours en URSS’, 5 July 1989, Bull Papers, 2012 007 2227.
51 See also, files on Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania in Bull Papers, 2012 007 1601.
52 Note, 22 July 1971, Bull Papers, 2012 007 1601.
53 Note, ‘L’indépendance technologique de l’Europe’, Audoin Papers, AUD 19.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Isabelle Gouarné
Isabelle Gouarné, CURAPP-ESS, CNRS/Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Paris, France. Email: [email protected]
Olessia Kirtchik
Olessia Kirtchik, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]