Evening star., 1961-01-29
Unreasonable Production Goals
Back Of Soviet Farm Failures

men could surmount any OBJ
stacle-even the weather.
After hearing poor weather
used as an excuse by some Of
ficials. he said, I'VE must set q
goal for ourselves to create q sit
uation which will make the agri-
cultural economy not dependent
on the caprices Of nature"
Another villain Is the lack Of
mechanical tools to help in the
sowing and harvesting Of crops,
as well as the lack Of enough ir-
rigation systems and other prof.
ects which science has developed
to aid in the cultivation Of crops.
Implementing Of them Of course
is an economic question. and al
though Khrushchev has made
significant advances in feeding
capital into agriculture, he has yet
to go the extra few steps that ex-
perts here feel are necessary.
InouStrIoI Increase
There Is something wrong. they
say, when an industrial sector
increases % per cent in a year.
and agriculture remains stagnant
as they did this year.
Since any decision about
furthering capital investment is
up to Khrushchev, there was little
discussion Of it at the meeting,
except for a few promises to see if
somehow science could be brought
closer to the soil.
The chief villains who appeared
at the meeting were party officials
who had failed to meet their
goals. In this case. Khrushchev
acted as a self-appointed spokes-
man for the people in chastising
these scapegoats. Some, he pointed
out. were lazy, some have no ad-
ministrative ability, and others
were even crooked.
The picture that developed Of
the leaders was that Of a group
Of harrassed people. striving to
fulfill goals that Westerners con-
slider unrealistic. but striving
nonetheleSs, and then saving to act
as scapegoats when they try to
explain why they weren't met.
To show his displeasure with
the production results, Khrushchev
fired the well known v. v. Matske-
vich who was Minister Of Agri-
culture. and threatened the
whole Ukrainian and Byelorus-
sian party cadres with purges If
production levels were not i'm
proved.
The picture produced Of Soviet
farm bureaucrats. on the lower
levels was quite revealing. showing
them struggling to succeed In a
difficult situation. faced with a
rigid plan that had to be fulfilled.
The picture was also bit comical.
Solving the Butter Problem
There was, for instance, the
leader in Kirghiz who fell behind
in butter production. His solution?
He went to state store. purchased
the amount he needed, and then
included 1t in his shipment to
the state.
There was the story Of 8. K.
Boiko who was considered a hero
in 1859 for his work on a collec-
tive farm. He was awarded the
Hero Of Socialist Labor" citation
until it was taken away from him
this year 1t turned out that he had
deliberately doubled the amount
the farm had produced in his re-
port. ...,
Then there is what Khrushchev
calls "the category Of party lead
ers who direct a great part
Of their energy" to deceiving the
people who draw up the plans. So
that they won't have to struggle
to reach a very high goal, they
complain. cajole. even lie, in an
effort to prove their areas cannot
produce anywhere the level the
planning agency has set.
Khrushchev believes every Com
munist has set for himself the
highest possible goals. II not. he
has said, he would resign from the
party.
He, himself, has always set the
highest goals for the Soviet Union.
The difference is, he doesn't have
to face a raging boss when the
goals are not met.
Agriculture experts here have
the greatest sympathy with their
Soviet colleagues.
Most of them I've met seem
to know their work pretty we'll" a"
one expert said. But they're in
an impossible situation. High, un-
reasonable goals are set. They
either meet them or they're out
Of a job. AS a result, some OF
them are nervous wrecks. That's
why they have to resort to sta
tistical juggling. They feel it's
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