Gosplanning

With Adolf Hitler boasting at Nurnberg of what he has done in four years, officials of the Soviet planning commission (Gosplan) in Moscow last week had their say to the visiting editor of the New York Journal of Commerce, Dr. Jules I. Bogen. At the Gosplan he was told officially: "By the close of the Third Five-Year-Plan (1938-43) the standard of living of the Russian population will closely approach that of employed workers in advanced countries of Western Europe, and by the end of the Fourth Five-Year-Plan (1943-48) it will begin to approach that of the United States."

The original or First Five-Year-Plan involved stupendous imports of foreign machinery to establish a Soviet Economic Base. Foreign money needed to pay for this was got by selling every kind of Russian product abroad at prices exactly low enough to make the sales quick--i. e., "dumping prices." Proudly last week the Gosplan pointed out to Dr. Bogen that repayment of the short-term debts incurred to finance the First Five-Year-Plan has now almost been completed; Bolshevik credit has been sufficiently established to finance additional imports of machinery from Britain, Germany and Czechoslovakia at longterm; and, since there is now less need for the Soviet Union to dump and sell frantically abroad, its exports are steadily dropping, have declined 60% since 1930. As a means of spreading Communist influence in Turkey, Persia, western China, Mongolia and certain other Far East areas, Moscow is now forcing Soviet industrial exports at cheap prices to these countries. Having scant industries of their own, they set up no squeals about "DUMPING!", are glad to buy cheap. Russia's present or Second Five-Year-Plan was to use the Economic Base established by the First Five-Year-Plan to make what Russians personally want and Joseph Stalin has plastered the country with slogans reading: "Life is getting better! Life is getting merrier!" Last week the Soviet official chiefly responsible for fulfilling the current plan, Commissar of Light Industry I. E. Lubimov, got sore.

"Conditions at numerous plants are so bad I cannot wait for improvement!" be.lowed Comrade Lubimov at a Moscow congress of Soviet factory managers. "I find many factories letting all the workers go on vacation at once--thus halting production--and in many cases where vacations were not granted when, the workers wanted them they have simply gone off and played truant. Inadequate managers will be immediately discharged!"

As a result of workers' truancy this quarter's planned production of Soviet textiles is 49,000,000 metres behind the Plan, according to irate Commissar Lubimov; flax textiles are 27,000,000 metres behind; and Russia is without 800,000 planned pairs of socks & stockings.

Also irate last week was Commissar for Internal Trade L. Y. Veitzer whose job is to sell from the State's stores the goods made by the State factories under Commissar Lubimov. Comrade Veitzer warned: "From this day forward by my order all goods inferior to standard quality will be removed from our stores and warehouses and sent back to the factories!" Rather than send back to a Moscow bentwood chair factory all its weak and wobbly products, however, the factory was closed down entirely last week for a complete reorganization. Its arrogant Communist manager had been accustomed to reply to complaints from the State stores: "If you don't like our chairs, don't order them!"

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