Evening star., 1934-11-18

tables and fruits. Some take In Sum-
mer boarderS and make enough profit
to build an addition to their houses,
which will enable them to accommodate
more boarders the following Summer.
THE general store, operated by the col
lective, sells both necessaries and
luxurieS. The former are sold at
low prices, but such things as perfume,
vodka and strong wine command the
same prices which are current in the
private stores of Odessa.
There is a steady tendency toward
individualism in the life of the collective.
1t is the ambition of practically every
one of the younger members living in
the barracks to marry and secure
private home. The married man likes
to spend his day of rest working in his
own garden or improving his little house.
In the Odessa area there is constant
competition between farm and factory
for young workers. Yet in every case
where a collective farm is well run and
making profit it has many more ap-
plications for membership than it can
accommodate The food is definitely
better than it is in town; the housing
just as good, and many young people
are glad to go back to the farm after
a brief experience with factory work.
Factory directors are learning that they
can hold some of their best workers
only by permitting them to go back to
their native villages to work on farm
during the Summer.
To a large extent these collective
farms are self-governing. At the be-
ginning of the season the government
preScribes how the land is to be appor-
toned to the different crops and just
how much the state expects to receive
from each hectare, but there is prac-
tically no interference with the op-
Grafton of any collective that delivers
its quota of meat and produce at the
time specified.
There has been similar decentraliza-
ton of authority in factory operation.
The experience of the first five-year
plan taught the government not only
what it could expect from each plant,
but the need for flexible provisions. On
the basis of that experience quotas have
been fixed and adjustments provided
for. The director of any plant which
meets it's quota is not subjected to much
interference. There is Workers Com
mittee and Communist Party Commit
tee in each plant which occasionally meet
with the director and discuss matters
of common interest, but in all questions
of managerial authority the director has
the last word. If there is a difference
of opinion which cannot be settled To-
cally, the workers or the party commit
tee may carry the issue to Moscow.
Not long ago most heads of the more
important plants were political experts
rather than technical experts. Today
this is no longer true. One still finds
political directors in some of the more
important plants, but they usually have
an associate director with practical ex-
perience.
DECENTRALIZATION has also been
used to assure greater stability in
food supply. Each industrial plant
now has its own farm to supply the
factory kitchens and restaurants. A
special committee of factory workers is
charged with the supervision of this
farm. In many plants throughout the
Soviet Union this Summer there were
appeals to the workers to contribute
their sixth day-the day of rest-to work
on the factory farm. Those who did
so received honorable mention on the
organ.