Evening star., 1951-04-01

production itself is very far from
being what it should be.
i Stain has already told the world
/ what Russia wants in order to fee
strong enough to cope with the
'Icapitalist world on its own terms
ian annual production of 60 million
Itons of steel, so million tons OF
lpig-iron, 60 million tons of oil ano
j 500 million tons of coal. In 1945
he estimated that it would take al
Ileast Is years to reach that level
of production. He is now a little
more than halfway to it. though
lpig-iron still lags.
| We have to bear this sort OF
fact in mind when considering the
Soviet Unions vast population and
resources. Stain himself bears it
constantly in mind. AS far back
as 1899 he castigated the Russians
for complacency, pointing out that
although the Soviet Union was
producing vast quantities of iron
and steel and electricity. Its pro-
duction per head of population
still Jagged far behind that of the
advanced industrial countries. "In
what respects are we tagging be-
hind?" he asks at the 18th Party
Congress. 1--WE are tagging behind
economically as regards the vol
ume Of our industrial output per
head of population. In 1888 we
produced about is million tons of
lpig-iron; Great Britain produced
IL million tons. It might seem
from this that we are better off
than Great Britain. But if we di-
vide the number of tons by the
total populations, we shall find
that the output Of pig-iron per
head Of population in 1888 was
154 Kilograms in Great Britain
and only 81 Kilograms In the U. S.
S. r. Thus, in order to outstrip
Britain economically in the pro-
duction Of pig -iron-we must in
crease our annual output of pig
iron to Is million TONS"
Stain Knows All This
And so on. through the cata-
logue. Whatever the Soviet prop
agandists like to say, Stain him
self knows the facts very well.
In 1850. in spite of the war, the
Soviet Union had increased its
Ipig-iron output to 1875 million
tons-but Great Britain had also
increased hers to 10 million tons.
$50 the ratio was still more un-
favorable to Russia in 1850 than
in 1889. But the most spectacular
comparisons are not with Great
Britain but with America. Stain
has never dared make these fig
ures public; their effect on the
Russians would be too depressing
to bear. Let us take two examples.
In 1850 the Soviet Union pro-
duced some Is million tons of
|Stel, or two and half cwts. per
head Of population; but in that
same year the United States pro-
duced some 80 million tons, or
more than IL cwts. per head of the
population. AS for oil, in 1850 the
Soviet Union produced some 81
million tons,, or less than three
Icwts. per head of population; but
in that same year the United
States produced $50 million tons,
or more than one and half tons
per head of population.
These towering discrepancies
speak for themselves. They are
typical Of the whole range of in
ldustrial and agricultural produc-
ton. And while it should never
be forgotten that the Soviet Union
has achieved miracles in the de-
Ivelopment Of her resources, in her
great constitutional enterprises
and in the application of modern
industrial techniques, this devel-
opment has been highly selective
and perilously uneven. It has also
been made directly at the expense
OF agriculture-at the cost, that is
to say, of continuous undernour-
ishment of the millions. Uninter-
ruptedly, since the start of the
f1ve-year plan in 1928. all the
best talent in the country has been
attracted or directed into indus
try. And industry itself, in spite
OF all the official boasting about
the high state Of mechanization in
Soviet agriculture, has been al
lowed to contribute very little to
the land that sustains it. It has
provided the peasants with trac-
tors and combine-harvesters; but
the infinity of mechanical devices
which make for the efficiency of
farming in Western Europe and
the United States is almost en-
tirely lacking.
Thus a picture that emerges is
of a nation struggling upward
from an immemorial peasant
economy, being forced to make
continuous and tremendous sac
rif1ces to industrialize itself, con-
centrating everything on steel and
the construction of heavy in
dustry, at the expense not only of
food and consumer goods. but also
LOT all the mechanical aids, from
trucks to hayrakes and portable
saw-benches. which alone can
make full use of a modern ma
tion's manpower. It is a nation
which is spending its substance
on jet-f1ghters, tanks and rockets
while the peasants on whom their
makers depend still do much OF
their cultivation with primitive
implements.
All this reflects like a mirror
the chronic manpower shortage
Even in peacetirne there are moi
enough Russians, skilled and un.
skilled, to carry through their in
Idustrial revolution on an even ane
broad front. while at the same
time growing food and buildine
houses for themselves. The dislo-
ino %f<v, nn,,~.-5 t.xx -s..x--,