The Soviet economic system was the first practical attempt to implement socialist economy under Marxist theories, a system of state-owned enterprises forming their production output according to the orders set by a central-planning procedure and aiming at satisfying peoples’ needs rather than producing profit. This system collapsed in early 1990s, when a transition to capitalism was required. The transition was not too sudden, it was rather expected by some politicians. Although socialism was supposed to focus on people’s needs, it did not manage to satisfy them for a number of reasons. The central planning did not necessarily respond to what consumers asked for but to what politicians considered necessary. But the transition to a market system, which would take into account also consumers’ demand did not come without difficulties, since a society never used to free pricing of products and unemployment had to cope with characteristic hardships of capitalism. Moreover, there was a lack of expertise in privatization. So, when it had to be implemented, several mistakes were made. There are various opinions regarding the effectiveness of the financial measures that were applied, their suitability to the Russian economy and whether their rapid implementation deteriorated an already aggravated economy. It seems, however, that there was not a different choice in transition method and that a smoother implementation would not necessarily facilitate the transition to a market economy for common people.