THIS is the first volume, time period 1917-1930, of an empirical study of the relationship between Western technology, entrepreneurship and the economic growth of the Soviet Union. By far the most significant factor in the development of the Soviet economy has been its absorption of Western technology and skills. The continuing transfer of skills and technology to the Soviet Union through the medium of foreign firms and engineers in the period 1917 to 1930 can only be characterized as extraordinary.