The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-07-15
PRIVATE TRADE ENCOURAGED BY
 RUSSIAN DECREE
Believed Most Significant Change in Policy of
 Russia
By EUGENE LYONS
.,,..s, p.,.. S..m f,orrexnondent,

United Press Stan COrrcSpOnOcnt1
 Moscow = After years during which it was over-taxed, perse- cuted and practically outlawed, private trade with farm products has become entirely legal and re- spectacle.
 More than that, the government is going far out of it's way to en- courage such trade. Special re- serves of manufactured goods are, being set aside for the exclusive use of peasants who bring grain, meat, vegetables and other prod ucts to the private markets.
 Municipal authorities are appro- priating millions of rubles to con- struct new, comfortable market places for the use of the peasant. traders, whether individuals or in collectives. Officials who place ob- stacles in the path of would-be traders are summarily. punished.
 Change Is Most Significant.
 This complete reversal of policy represents the most significant change in Soviet economy since Joseph Stalin's speech in July of last year announcing measures for stimulating private initiative In socialist industry. It is,, in fact. the most important practical ap- plication to Stalin's speech.
 For Communists. the concession to the peasants private property instincts Is a very bittde pill. It is thinly sugar-coated by calling the new policy Soviet trade" and showing how it differs from capit- alist trade. But the fact remains that it is a retreat from collectivist ideals and clear victory for the peasants in their stubborn though quiet resistance against collectivl- zation.
 The right to trade has been granted to private farmers and to members of collectivized farm on the same terms. In addition the colletcives as such have the right to trade on commercial basis. Private peasants will be slow to accept the new rights, for fear of becoming too prosperous and thus finding themselves in the out lawed class of kulaks, weli-to-do peasants. Collectives as a whole an dtheir members as individuals. having less to fear in this regard. are more likely to avail themselves of the new opportunities. provided they have anw surplus goods to sell. .srs
 Decrces Establish New Economy
 Tn effect the recent decrees es- tablish a new "Nep" for the col lectives. (Nep was the name giv- en to private economy after the end of military communism.) It is to be expected that there will be a rapid differentiation among the collectives. into rich, middling and poor. as some prosper on pri- vate trade while others do not. Indeed, the emergence of 'collec. tive kuiaks" is q possibility which may give the government consid- erable trouble.
 It must not he thought that the new policy Is q sudden inspiration or e stroke 0f genius. It was forced upon the government by tho worsened food situation. The peasants have simply refused tn work hard enough to feed the country, obilging the commuhist leaders to give them once moro the right to draw private returns on invested labor. More than decade ago the passive resIsianoe Of the peaBantFy forced fsenin Co announce Nep--the New Economic policy. Now tho same passive Pes sistanoe forced Gtalln Co adopt what amounts Go A new Nep wIth- In the frame of the celleeiivs