Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-08
Russia Feels the Pinch.


weeks ago categorical hints were given
that the fomenters Of the Russian Sow
let economic system, founded on the
Communistic theory of domestic all
suficiency, were at last beginning to
discover that in this interlocking uni
verse no nation can 60 1t quite alone.
German authorities, who are in close
touch with business developments in
Russia, had heard that the Soviet was
considering the ignoninious recourse Of
having to ask hated capitalism"
abroad for an extension Of some Of its
heavy obligations.
Due to the suspension of the gold
standard in Great Britain, where Rus
STA has its most favorable trade bal
ance, and to the general shrinkage in
commodity prices all over the world,
the Red cars at Moscow are faced with
the iron realization that their Utopian
scheme of finance is all right as far
as 1t reaches, but that 1t does not reach
quite far enough when it comes in con-
tact with disorganized and abnormal
economic conditions abroad.
Now comes graphic confirmation Of
the indications that the Communist ex-
pertinent IS slowly approaching .
financial crisis. American business con-
Germs that have ventured dealings with
the Soviet government are being warned
by the Department of Commerce, in
effect, to require cash or equivalent In
goods as collateral for sales to Russia.
The deduction drawn from this signifi-
cant adnacnition is that the Communists
may presently be required to modify
the basis on which they planned to pile
up a trade balance convertible into
gold exchange for purchase Of raw ma
terials and machinery required to COM
plete the Five-Year Plan.
AS Russia Is buying vastly more in
this country than she is selling to us
her $l0,500,o00 purchases in September
ct this year having been more than
double her purchases in September,
1880, against only $780, 900 of exports
to the United States in September,
1s3l-her most unfavorable trade bal
ance Is here. To alter such balances
as far Is possible in Russia's favor the
Soviet has pursued q wholesale policy
Of dumping goods, regardless Of pro-
duction costs. The result has been the
unsettling Of many world markets, in
GLIDING notably American wheat ex-
changes. The iron factors in the inter-
national situation now compel the CON-
munistS to consider the abandonment
Of the dumping system and the bringing
Of Soviet practice more into consonance
with those economic methods which
Stain and his comrades profess to hold
in such whitening contempt.
So despite Bolshevist economic
theories and gloatings, Soviet Russia Is
feeling the pinch of depression which
has struck the despised capitalistic uni
verse. Events are showing, to the
Communists undoubted chagrin, that
the Five-Year Plan is to = wholly UNI
expected degree dependent on the OUT
side and Communist world. Mos
COW is reluctantly awakening to the
fact that capitalst-made trade laws are
not so inherently unsound as Bolshe-
visim breaches.
This is what Leon Trotsky always in
sisted would be the case when he OPP
posed Stain on this issue. TrotSky
said: You can't build Sovietism in one
country alone. You can plan all you
please within Russia. but it will lead
to nothing If you have to plan in a
hostile capitalistic environment. You
must have at least one other highly in
dustrialized country within the Soviet
| system II you are going to build
Sovietism on lasting economic basis j"
1t was from this premise that Trotsky
came out for his doctrine Of "perma-
nent revolution" carried from one
country to another, as essential to any
enduring program of building Bolshe-
vism and the accomplishment of world
| revolution"