The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-01-03
The Problems Facing the Soviet Union
apary the Soviet
tion in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.)
BY Fred Ellis

Wet Union.)
Zinoviev went so far as to get rid
of sterilization by the simple process
of denying the existence of stabiliza-
ton altogether, by declaring in pro-
posed theses that the period of stab
ilization was at an end Capitalism
was again in complete collapse and
the only thing preventing the rapid
spread and victory of the world revo-
luton was the opportunistic policies
of the Comintern, that prevented the
revolution from beginning.
q
Progress Raises New Problems.
THE very progress that has taken
place inside the Soviet Union dur
ing the last few years has only added
to the pessimism of the opposition.
And this is not an accident, for the
progress in the rebuilding of indus
try has brought new problems to the
fore and made them stand out more
clearly.
The basic problem of the Soviet
Union is the building of socialism.
During the first few years after the
revolution and the civil war, this was
primarily problem of rebuilding old
industries. Now it is chiefly matter
of building new industries.
Reconstruction" Period Ended.
The period which is loosely charac-
terized as the period of reconstruc-
ton is at an end The broken down
factories have been repaired, old ma
chinery replaced, closed factories re-
opened, abandoned mines reoccupied,
the pre-war level of production reach
ed and passed.
While even in this period some ac-
complishments and important ones,
are to be recorded in the building up
of new industries and in the putting
of old industries on a new technical
and economic-political basis, still the
period remains predominantly a Pc
Rod of rebuilding and restoration.
The Problem of Socialist Construction
NOW, however, there are no aban-
~ doned factories and mines and rail-
roads to be restored. 1t is no longer
question of repairing ruined indus
try and getting it going again.
Now the center of attention shifts
to the construction of new industry.
The pre-war level has been reached
on somewhat new and higher basis,
but the Soviet Union remains FREEDOM
inantly agrarian. 1t must be indus
trialized. 1t must produce not only
consumption goods but machinery it.
self. 1t must develop heavy industry
into dominant industry. 1t must make
itself economically independent, if
need be, of the capitalist world.
Paths of Industrialization.
pUT how does a country Industrial
y ize itself?
England industrialized itself by
ruthless exploitation of colonies for
hundreds of years. The Soviet Union
cannot exploit colonies. 1t is the
enemy of colonial exploitation.
Germany industrialized itself by a
war of conquest in which it seized the
iron and coal regions Of Alsace Lor-
raine and exacted billions of francs
in "war reparations." But the way
of aggressive war and pillage of the
defeated country is impossible to the
workers and peasants of the Soviet
| Union.
Old czarist Russia made such little
progress as it did in disqualification
by inviting imperialist finance capital
to take over its resources through con-
cessions) and to exploit the Russian
masses mercilessly. This also is
against the principles on which the
Soviet Union is founded.
The Problem of Socialist
Accumulation.
60 the problem is, where will the
Soviet Union get the funds (the
"capital'D to build new industries, to
industrialize the nation, to build So
cialism? 1t is around this question,
of how to accumulate the funds for
| the building of socialist industry, that