Evening star., 1932-04-09
Another Adjustment" in Russia

Wnen JDe history Oh TIE HuSSlhfI eA-
pertinent in Communism comes finally
to be written, as in time 1t will be pos
sible to write it in full perspective, 1t
will be a record Of repeated adjust
ments, changes, shifts and reversals.
There have been numerous departures
from the original theories already in
the course Of the fourteen and a half
years since Lenins party seized the
power OF government and instituted a
peoples state" n-capitalistic and
proletarian Lenin himself found that
his economic policies would not work
and modified them, An autocracy of
Soviet rule succeeded the autocrGcy Of
the czarist rule, as tyrannical in its
command of the energies Of the people
as was that of the Romanoffs. Indi-
vidualism, proclaimed as the foundation
of the state, became closely concen-
trated "collectivism," with hundreds of
millions of the people ruled by small
group.
The industrial development. at pres
ent proceeding under the title of the
"five-year plan" which is simply q
schedule Of production on an intensive
scale to enable Russia to supply her
self with all necessities and also to
dominate the world markets, has been
marked by repeated shifts of policy and
practice as it has been found that the
project would not work out to the pre-
scribed ends. The latest evidence of
the failure of the system is afforded by
the announcement that the huge rev
motor car plant at Nizhni Novgorod,
which was started January with
prescribed scale Of production that
would send Russia, now thirty second
among the nations in motor car pro-
duction, to eighth place, has been
temporarily closed to permit changes In
administration.
This giant motor plant was designed
to put every Russian behind a steer
ing wheel" In other words, to place
motor car in the hands of every
citizen. But after three months Of opera
ton it has BEEN found that the usual
Russian practice of shop management
by workers committees has all but
wrecked the organization. Two of
Stains closest associates have been
sent to the works to find the cause of
the confusion and delay. The organ of
the heavy industry commissariat" dis
closes that they have found the plant
in state Of utter confusion owing to
the seizure OF authority by the unions
Lenin himself foresaw this difficulty
and condemned the interference of
democratic meetingism,' the DISPOSE
ton of the Soviet workers to assemble
whenever they felt that they were
oppressed and to effect the dismissal of
their bosses and to dictate the promo
ton Of others whom they favored The
trouble at the Nizhni Novgorod motor
works is typical of the conditions pre-
vailing at others of the great plants
that have been established in execution
of the fve-year plan. 1t is therefore
likely that sweeping reforms will be
instituted at other works, where pro-
duction has fallen far short OF pro-
gram.
Only by the application of drastic
authority from Moscow can a change
be effected in the system Of "co-opera-
tive" industry. The important question
is whether so great a change can be
wrought without retarding reaction.
For more than a dozen years the Rus
sian peasants and workers have been
participating in their own administra-
ton, with 80 little experience in man
agement that they have caused a seri-
Gus loss In materials and time and prod
ucts. The disposition TO meet and adopt
rules for their own activities is racial.
Dsputation and oratory are the Rus
slams dominant characteristics. Stain,
! the man of STEEL" may effectively COM
bat these tendencies, but the effect
probably will be TO substitute the dis
cipline Of the autocracy OF small group
for the collective spirit that is in theory
the fundamental principle of Russian
Communism.