Evening star., 1946-09-04

! LtDlHg StQHOuTOS ana AgTt-
culture" in the report, "Comn,u-
niSm in Action" prepared By the
Legislative Reference Service OF
the Library OF Congress at the
instance of Representative Dirk
sen, Republican, OF Illinois,
Despite gradual but steady rist
in Soviet living conditions, wide
variations exist in such standards
of individual Russian workers ano
groups, the report declared. Great
differences also are found between
the general living standards of the
U. S. S. R. and those of many other
countries.
The war lowered living standards
to a bare subsistence level for great
numbers of Russian people. Another
factor cited by the report as hinder
ing uniform development and i'm
provement is "the deliberate govern
ment policy of concentrating first
on rapid industrialization in the in
terest of building a modern economy
and later in preparation for ex-
pected war"
While most of its material rests
on prewar accounts, the report
stressed current ''inequalities" in
wage scales and special privileges
and in agricultural as we'll as in
dustrial worker earnings.
Offset in Part.
,riou
point, are offset in some measure
by many free or loW-coSt services
provided by the state and by in
creased security due to lack of un-
employment and Psychological sat-
isfactionS due to the cultural rise"
the report asserts.
The report quoted Henry A.
Freund as follows:
When dividing into ideal and ma
terial values the component elements
constituting the standard of living,
the improvement of the former in
comparison with pre-revolutionary
standards is enormous The educa-
ton of the great majority of the
population to literacy and to an
active participation in the cultural,
political and social life of the ma
ton has elevated the Russians to a
level hardly dreamed of under the
reactionary regime of the Tsars."
Although unable to obtain official
price indices and family budget
figures since discontinuance of such
publication in 1880, the report pro-
vided more detailed data on indus
trial wage rates and public services
than on agricultural production.
Land Hungry Despite Size.
1t pictured the U. S. S. R., not
withstanding its size, as land
hungry" 1t conceded that some
phases of the collective marketing
procedure represent an unusual
degree of free enterprise in the
Soviet Union and they have done
much to increase the income of the
collectives and their members"
But inequalities are substantial
in peasant incomes, according to
the report. There are differences
not only between individual farmers
earnings but between the prosperous
and the poor collectives. Other in
equalities arise from classification
of positions, piecework and bonus
systems. and variations in returns
from household plots, the report
stated
Control of agriculture in Russia
is not only a matter of state owner
ship of all land and strict govern
mental direction and planning of
the. scope and nature of work for
each collective. 1t also is subject
"to a considerable measure of con-
troll, partly official and partly un-
official, by the Communist party"
the report declared.
p Comparison of government con-
troll of agriculture in the Soviet
Union and in the United States in
dicates how inadequate the word
planning is" the report continued.
I'VE have seen in this country an
increasing amount of planned agri-
cultural production and prices since
the great agricultural depression of
the 1920s. We have had a great
variety of price-supporting meas
ures and crop control schemes as
we'll as the more traditional types
of Government technical and finan-
cial assistance.
Imposed From Top.
The decision whether or not to
adopt plans propose, however, has
remained largely with the farmers
themselves. In the Soviet Union,
on the other hand, the governments
control figures constitute the master
plan to which the collective's oper-
ations must be geared."
The report found no reliable esti-
mates of the monetary value of
peasant farmers income. Many of
the inequalities" it explained, re-
suit from the "workday credit" sys-
tenn, which is to the advantage of
Mechanisms engineer. college