Evening star., 1932-05-01
Sailing the Red Machine

cold bar in the fire. There will be
none" He waited. The process worked
out as the engineer had predicted.
We entered the cupola room. Three
conveyors emerged from it. One con-
veyor, $50 feet long, loaded with from
100 to 200 molds, had broken down
from burned-out bearings The other
two of the three were temporarily out
OF repair. Every time one Of these con-
veyors stops 1t means $50 men are out
of material. After half an hour one of
the conveyors moved. The other two
remained out Of commission all day.
THE same lack of precision marks
the clerical staff and administration" !"
said the American For example,
wages here are scheduled to be paid
every two weeks. 1t is now one month
past pay dayl None of the laborers has
received his money. This is due to
faulty bookkeeping and errors in
financing The books are nine weeks
behind schedule"
Failures in ordinary routine things
cause inconvenience" he explained
Last Winter the heating plant, perfect
in its installation and operation, was
tended negligently or ignorantly by an
inexperienced crew. AS a result it froze
and we were several days without
heat"
To poor administration is accredited
the chief trouble at the factory The
average director Of a factory Of this
scope in the United States would be a
man whose life had been spent in the
business. Here the administrators are
very often young men equipped with
theoretical training but possessing only
limited experience.
Why" I asked, do you foreign en-
gineers not direct the control?"
Here the engineer became eloquent
There are many great handicapS in
our way. Methods are not applied to
the identical use we make of them in
America. Most processes require some
adjustment to physical conditions pre-
vailing locally, and all processes must
be made compatible with Soviet ideal
ogy. The Soviets wish to make this
adaptation themselves.
Then there is the constant suspicion
with which foreign technicians are re-
garded. In the heart of each true
Communist director there fingers always
the notion that perhaps the foreign
technician is an active enemy of the
Communist program.
II will give you an Illustration of that
notion" he said Come into the club
house" We entered long room where
the workers rested and read. On the
wall was warning placard. 1t pictured
Communist director seated at table.
Before him was spread blue print. His
chin rested in his cupped hands and he
stared into space On each side of him
stood a foreign Cechnician--one a Ger
man, the other an American-explain-
ing the draft. Inscribed beneath the
pictures were the words: Listen to all
the foreigner has to say. Do not believe
everything. Judge it by rule Of whether
or not it will be good for the workers
of the world"
1T is clear from this" my friend re-
marked, that the final estimation of
value Is based not upon the foreign
technician's knowledge, but upon the
Judgment of the admittedly unframed
men,"
Fear Stands in Way.
Other obstacles in the way of the
Soviet factory directors best efforts
are fear and lack of wide authority.
His decisions are subject to the ap-
proval of the factory Communist party
group and the factory committee of
workers.
And to the Workers Committee the
manager must show the result which
the workers, through a buoyant propa-
SdIlud, IldNC lCu W DClIGhC az
tainable They also may call director
to account for real or imagined griev-
anceS and advise him in the general
management of the whole organization.
This system also Is often used by the
director aS a way out Of accepting re-
sponSibility AS not only loss of posi-
| ton, but criminal prosecution and pun
ishment may follow a poor decision, a
director may try to escape meeting the
issue. Red courts have recognized this
condition and recently have shown a
tendency to be more moderate in con-
| demning erring officials, despite the
botage a crime.
A third troublesome habit of the
central government is due to the short
age of trained men A director who
has been successful in a modest project
Is quickly moved to a larger one. "AS
soon as a director learns which door
to enter, he is removed" an engineer
said
These factors-it Is reasonable to be-
ieve-were all accentuated at N1zhn1-
| Novgorod. Eighteen months ago the
| Stalingrad tractor factory suffered a
breakdown almost as severe due to in
competent management. A reorganiza-
ton of the plant, however, put it on its
| feet Piece work was declared an eS-
sential method of responsible produc-
ton. And in recent weeks the wage
limitation for executives has been lifted
and a new top price set at $3.50 a
month.
So by the harsh route of trial and
error do the Soviet find their way
through the strange maze of Com
munism. Adjusting mans age-old ap-
petite for power to the uses Of the
group Is no easy task. The strange
| specter of rule by the few that haunts
our modern democracy rises in Russia
to challenge the masses economic con-
| troll.