Thirty Years After

As Russian workers last week continued to rejoice over what they could buy with their new rubles, the New York Times's careful Will Lissner cut through the mishmash of economic terms, got down to a bedrock comparison. He drew up a comparative table showing what the Soviet and U.S. worker must give in working time in order to get the same quantities of food and other items. Samples:

U.S.S.R. U.S.

Minutes Minutes

Rye bread, Ib 31 7

Wheat bread, Ib 70 7 1/2

Veal, Ib 315 34 1/2

Butter, Ib. 642 48 1/2

Beer, bottle 171 6 1/4

Cotton dress . 1,911 142

Woolen suit (man's) 34,815 1,684

Comparisons such as Lissner's would not prove that capitalism was a better system than Soviet socialism. They did prove, however, that 30 years after the Revolution, Russia was still giving its workers less than 10% of what an "exploited" worker under capitalism got for his labor. If the Russian worker got ten times as much instead of a tenth as much, he might--just possibly--consider that living in a police state was worth the price.

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