And of course things were harmed by the party politics. A Polish engineer invented a computer which is now considered to be few years ahead of its time, and was ready to enter production,but then it was shut down because of a direct order from the party,as it would conflict with the party-backed Elwro company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-202
Edit: of course Poland was never part of the Soviet Union,but the political system was heavily influenced by orders from Russia.