Evening star., 1945-09-02
BUILDING LENIN'S RUSSIA.
By Simon Liberman. y(UniUer'
Sity of Chicago Press; $3.)

By Simon Ltberntdn. N(UntUer-
sity OF Chicago Press; $3.)
The subject matter of this book
Is the early years of the BolShevik
revolution, that period of extreme
hardship in which the little group
of revolutionaries who had taken
power laid the plans which later
bore such enormous fruit but, for the
time being, remained cut of from
the people, seemingly unable to put
their programs into any kind OF
practical effect. 1t was the period
between the death of an old order
and the coming into reality OF a
new one, and, while it lasted, the
wheels of civilization in Russia vir-
tually stopped turning. What is
written in this book is one mans
story of how the gap between the
two regimes was finally bridged. Tt
makes an inside" story of one
branch of the developing Soviet
economy.
Simon Liberman is Jewish tim
ber expert who was summoned by
Lenin to put the Russian timber in
dustry on its feet after the revolu-
ton. He was not a Bolshevik: he
had been d Menshevik. He be-
lieved in revolution as necessity
for his country and, when the
change came, he was eager to take
part. He responded to Lenin's sum-
mons and put such logical plans
before the new dictator that he was
made responsible for the reorganiza-
ton of the whole timber industry.
He remained at his post until 1926
when he fled his country in terror
of persecution by the OGPU.
Labor Vas Embiffered
His story is a detailed and often
technical account of the factors in
volved in pulling a standstill in
dustry into production under the
peculiar circumstances which OBJ
tanned in Russia at the time. Labor
was embittered and rebellious; it
was necessary often to recruit work
ers by force. Food and wages were
available only on the most uncer-
tain terms. Machines were old
fashioned and wasteful Misery was
the common lot of the people. This
was the situation on the timber
front.
At the center-in the Bolshevik
councils, that was-suspicion and
dislike of the nonparty man were
rife. A less promising outlook for
achievement could hardly be imag-
ined. But against all the opposi-
ton Mr.. Liberman had the support
of Lenin, and that sufficed. He got
mills running to furnish the needed
fuel for the completion of the civil
war. Then he undertook the long
range systematic development and
exploitation of Russia's tremendous
timber wealth.
Coincident with Lenin's recogni-
ton that doctrinaire communism
would not work and his recall of
capital under the New Economic
Policy, Mr.. Liberman undertook to
establish an export timber trade
which would furnish the bankrupt
communist economy with its needed
gold reserve. To do this, he recon-
mended the establishment of a
timber trust" form of economic
management which was later
adopted by the Soviets on a wide
scale.
Political opposition to such an
innovation by nonparty man was,
of course, strong. Step by step Mr.
Liberman proceeded to institute the
features of a rational economy" :"
dogged by spies and questioned by
the police on such pertinent matters
as the amount of perfume used by
his wife. BY the model which he
laid down, by his establishment of
trade relations with foreign powers