It’s pretty basic that production drives an economy. Without production, there is nothing to consume to begin with, and nothing to trade to others to get things to consume either.
And as a side note: energy (cheap energy) drives production which drives the economy. Important to note these days when Democrats are talking about a carbon tax to curb global warming.
That's what the Soviets thought. It didn't matter if there was an actual demand for the goods, they would set Five-Year Plans that dictated that x number of good y would be produced.