Montana labor news., 1937-11-04
Let PROFITS BE USED FOR employment
4 Defense OF
SOVIET RUSSIA

II was somewhat of a revelation
to hear what was intended to be the
good points of the U. S. S. Rim
other words, ''the other side" By
constant reminders in the dailies, W
hear how badly things are progress
ing over there, one f~ive-year pl'
after another breaking down VIII
people are starving to death, but
don't hear how goodly things are
over there.
For instance, we don't hear how
the first five-year plan finished in
less than four years in most indus
tries, even after some of the quotas
had been raised at the workers own
request. We don't hear how a coun-
try with a population almost at as
low a standard as that of the people
of India, with a literacy of 3 or A
per cent in 1917, started from scratch
in that year and overthrow a tyran-
mic government, went through sever
years of internal strife intensified
by foreign intervention, with the
Volga famine to top it all, until 1924
found the country like an unkempt
graveyard, crops neglected, factories
abandoned, roads impossible, with
railroads and bridges destroyed by
armies marching and counter-march-
ing, c~onfiscating when they adj
vanced; destroying, when they re-
treated.
Such was the picture of Russia in
1924, when at its lowest ebb, an
agricultural country which required
80 out of every 100 inhabitants to
produce a scanty food supply for
all. At present 20 per cent of the
population, with mechanical equip
ment, can now produce enough food
for all; 80 per cent of the popula-
ton then being released for factory
and industrial pursuits, placing U. S.
S. R. second only to U. S. A. in
industrial production. Who in 1924,
seeing the d~eplorable state of af-
fairs then, would ever have had
imagination enough to expect U. S..
S. r. to lead the world in forestry,
health, book-printing, civic planning,
production of manganese ore, ashes
tos, platinum, and agricultural ma
chinery, and even bidding for lead
ership in the field of aviation, child
welfare and the care of mothers.
They have finished the first sec
ton in Moscow of what promises to
be the finest subway in the world.
They have finished the first section
of the Baltic White Sea canal, the
most gigantic piece of work ever
undertaken by mankind. The Volga
Ten-Year Project, a canal connecting
the Caspian with the Black Sea, run
ming by Moscow through the whole
continent, joining the Baltic and the
White Sea. The Baltic section, re-
Gently finished, comprises Is large
dams and IL locks. When this prof.
ect is finished it will be possible to
go by boat through Russia from the
Baltic to the White Sea besides add
ing millions of kilowatt hours to
Russia's electric supply and millions
of irrigated acres to fill Russia's food
basket, banishing drouth and famines
forever.
When starting a new city, or re-
modelling an old one, a planning
committee draws up or passes on the
plans. When Harvesting a turbulent
river, a three-point objective is in
view: electricity at cost, irrigation
and navigation. When a forest is
exploited for its timber, one-half
mile strips must be left intact bor-
dering rivers and navigable bodies
of water and strips must be left for
r~eseeding purposes and protection of
new timber. Seeding rice and for
ests is sometimes done by airplane,
as well as busting orchards and
fields against insect pests.
To be second to Great Britain in
national self-sufficiency and second
in world production of gold, oil and
iron is not a bad showing for a TWEEN
ty-year period. The U. S. S. r. in
the last ID years, since 1924, has
made more material progress than
any other nation in the last hundred
years. That is the other side of the
story, the side we seldom see.
"A. E. ANDERSON.