The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 1, 1925, Page 11

Union Delegation toterpaabiet Pal lishers Co. picked for their practical experience, and it controls a whole rin the body of sub-commissions, each dealing with some specific de- tion partment. This body of experts plays no public part in Politics. Their work, like that of a civil service, lies entirely behind the . P. Nineteen Scenes.. Their opinions are framed on the statistical and. tech- re Miners’ Fe- iners’ Federa- nical data that: they collect daily. New plans and schemes for re-equipment and reconstruction are formulated by them in con- ce 1921. Vice- sonance with their general plan and in co-operation with the d on several competent Departments and then carried out in consultation esident, Inter with the Commissariat of Finance in conformity with the possi- tee. «Member “Hilities’ of the Budget. : iditig (Yorks)wiio) i Seer Tena ; c ? pablic bodies +: By means of the Gosplan it is possible to keep not only the 17, parliament-. Policy of the Union but of the autonomous Republics subordi- nion-congress, nated to certain fundamental principles, such as balancing the uncil, 1923-24, Budget, and subject to the proper priority of investments of Member, cen- the national credit. In this. way it is also possible to provide " welfare and for new and necessary, national. schemes such as the electrifica- ing examining tion ofall power and the standardization where possible of all machinery, the centralization of power and overhead charges, and the intensive development of agriculture—all matters which without the special attention of an expert authority would be overlooked in the competition for support of existing industrial and commercial interests. In working out these schemes, the Gosplan is able to pre- vent one State enterprise from profiting to the prejudice of another and can direct the very complete control still retained by the Government over production and consumption, in the interest of the people as a whole. that the Government were able to handle successfully the “scis- cors” crisis, described later under agriculture, and so restore the economic exchanges between town and country to a healthy and natural operation. On the other hand it deals no less with such technical details as discovering the most suitable tractor for Russia or the application of American speeding-up systems. The success of Gosplan depends largely, of course, on the Intelligence Service by which it keeps contact between the peas- autry and the proletarian ruling class. So important is this that a wireless installation will shortly be set up with a special wave-length for this purpose alone. In fact, Gosplan is not only a novel department which has borrowed many of the most up- to-date features of the most up-to-date departments of the Western World, like the American Department of Agriculture, but is the official embodiment of a new governmental element— a new Estate of the Realm. If the new Government of the Soviet System has its legislative and executive elements still somewhat indefinite and, in some respects, under-developed, its new expert element can serve as an example to the still chaotic conduct and control of the national economy in Western States, Financing, of industry. ! +9 eral. secretary -1839. Founder \c #. originated nd General. i in 1887, ion movement several parlia- sted for North eral secretary Transport and 1. Now secret- ernational De- mated Union. . congress gen- 2, Member of ittee, trades ‘sociated with since 1884. In- ind leaders of 4 as William wd other pio- ed with prince ntil his return ioneer of shop vunder of Shop ficial of this retirement as * twelve years 124. Elected to miion congress, : sress' each: year: Thus it was due to Gosplan ° Copyright in the United States by the International f ae ia Co, ‘. All Rights Reserved. a ae i Copyright by the Trades Union Congress General Council in Great Britain. © The following are the percentages of present production compared to that of pre-war in certain leading industries:— Heavy Industries. Per cent... Light Industries Per cent. WPI Rainesncsen ibis ivsabiciptesissoccenscocase 52.0 MUNEUIIE soxicscsicanslssensanoticans 59 OF hice » 63.6 Cotton textile 31 Minerals .. . 8.0 WOR» | Rida caret 38 COME BP OR isos s seaiiineiéspeceals 16.6 DNON,ciscies 119.5 Metal (manufactured) ........ 25 PRIOR: iccciocpiaiticicsedenntenien 64.8 BAD MTOE yccsccad séasesess 54.5 e Coal The damage, amounting in some cases to destruction, by war of the Don Basin Collieries was one of the causes of the} bes | economic emergency in Russia. Of the 1,200 pits in operation Joaqqo | in 1918, only 687 could still work in 1921. [Enormous expendi- ture was necessary to re-equip these fields, with the following results:—- COAL PRODUCTION (GROSS), (In millions of poods.) Total. Per cent. Don Basin. Per cent. » iy 3 OES 100 1,544 100 709 41.5 541 35 vt Tape tie 27.1 338 21 |, Bea 27.5 286 18 eens 36.3 439 28 ee 40.7 494 $2 888.8 ..resees 52.0 aera 43 The net production gives even better results. In 1922-23, it was 503,461 thousand poods; in 1923-24, it was 723,187, At the same time the coal used or-wasted in the mines, which was in 1922-23 as much as 23 per cent., was in 1923-24 no more than 15 per cent., showing proportional improvement in meth- ods and management. Finally, the coal dispatched rose from 461 million poods in 1922-23 to 612 million poods in 1923-24. In the years 1919 and 1920 the Don Basin was continually under White occupation. The first year of return to normal conditions was 1922-23. Up to then colliers to a large extent went away in supmer to the villages owing to insufficient pay. The present production is sufficient to-meet the present require- ments of Russia. The undeveloped resources of the Russian fields are enormous and there is a large accumulation of sup- plies in excess of demand. Oil Production Oil production has been even more exposed to disturbance by civil war than coal. During 1918-19 Baku was in occupation of forces hostile to the Revolution. Since 1921 production has gincreased until the home demand is fully met. OIL PRODUCTION (In millions of poods.) ata rau Sieve dee ake ~ortaada aoAlx ni hadi HW S08U SJevriG tu bib sptessher, 1986; By 1922-23 industry was beginning to finance itself, and LOH 2a woges gain Baku, IBIAS | ORNS es in that year State Subsidies reached 123 million gold roubles. Production. Percent. Production. Per cent, Production. Per cent, “fi A Pioneer By 1923-24 this fell to 93 million gold roubles, and the estimate +d eee 100 467 100+ 73.7 100 ey ‘ap. 10F 1924-25 is 71.9. In 1922-23 textiles were heavily subsidized, 192°. 233 #6 150 32 75.8 102 st prior to ap- 1921-2 - 284 51 184 39 87.7 119 seretary of As- Dut in 1923-24 subsidies went for metal, coal, and for electrifi- 1922-3 g09 58 218 <a ot aa omotive Engin. Cation. Receipts from industry on the other hand have in-j9934 ~~ 363 63 127 ' 54 43.78 120 4, Elected or- creased from 4.4 million gold roubles in 1922-23 to an estimated *Half-year only, he union, 1910. _ iliation boards. ty of the union, of labor party 1921. “Elected 1 congress gen- Member of la- " Three w, elected with la- sanda for many: 45.7 and realized 31.2 in 1923-24 and to an estimated 61.4 in 1924-25. Expenditure and revenue therefore in 1923-24 leave a deficit.of about 62 millions and an estimated deficit of 10 mil- lions in 1924-25. This seems to represent, the facts, though other estimates reduce the deficit in 1923-24 to about 24 million gold roubles and show a surplus next year of 21 million gold roubles. j ‘But a more important point than the actual financial bal- linos spent on Don coal: went to reducing fuel prices. ‘The 1.7 million spent on oil went to building pipe lines. The large sum given to the metal industry is to keep it going only. And, in \Y, member of. general, the subsidies might with advantage probably be in- 7 oe ‘creased. ; secretary and Industry is perpetually clamoring for credits, and the Su- apr cnt, Preme Economic Council with the help of Gosplan does its best wi cg to give support when required. Thus the heavy metal indus- ngineering and tries desiring to increase. production, without having profits Federation for. €nough to pay wages regularly, have been slowed down and ntly appointed -have had to be, helped., But in the interests of finance the pro- occupying this: gram of general output in 1924-25 has been reduced from ides union con- 303 million poods to 273 million poods, which reduces the sub- 1921, re-elected ‘sidy from 47 million gold roubles to 36 million gold roubles and or term ending additional credits from 90 million to 75 million gold roubles. .., ' As the general State subsidy anuually decreases bank cred-, airman of dele. tS more than take its place. In 1922-23, when the subsidy was nis! Trades - r) "bocial-de- TOubles. In 1924-25, when it was 92 million gold roubles, the Dy )‘Mem-» bank credits for the first nine months of 1924 were 351 million Gc aneilitér<aix® gold roubles. wetary;) subse- yoo in oie hes attained ease’ of Industrial Production 7 : pomp Sal- 9 The result of the New Economic Policy fn restoring pro- Coventry, 1923- duction is best expressed in the following table, and is all the. _ cessful arbitra- more remarkable when it is remembered that this was accom- other disputes. plished in spite of one famine year and with practically no help council, trades foreign finance:— re-elected each <— 8 : . union interna- « ANNUAL PRODUCTION. Per cent of onna, 1924, as (In thousand rubles.) pre-war, at 1924 trades BORG 25 Cl sosnnesistbetiannassls, MURMRUOUIN: micbdscelsaoaschosencbibisssGiDdese Gh MM Chairman, -gen- . 1920 |. oiled ON” RRNA NR 14% ed delegate to: 1921 ... pie GRNIOANE lease cscakcsacss ie ition; 1925. Ac- * 1921-22: 753,683 see. 81% on to Russia in 1922-23 , ooo A8T,882 <0... « 321-3 MMH: Bins wsseone 1,400,400» seseerne 42 ance.is the manner in which the money is spent.. The 10 mil-» 123 million gold roubles, debts to banks were 140 million gold | The industry this year has made no call on in contrast. with last year when 23 million gold roubles were spent on re-equipment, -The demands of transport and industry Ee aaa and large supplies await export. (see report on u). the Treasury; } * . MINES Production of Minerals Iron Ore.—This is still an insignificant percentage of pre- war production. At present only 23 mines are working out of 122, and of late years.industry has been. supplied from. pre-war accumulations. These are now nearly exhausted and a revival of production is in hand.. ; *. PRODUCTION OF IRON (In millions of poods.) MOIR iiss eke BIRO. 5 100 per cent TORO: cred Kviedinndas LS) eer erae ph eer er 1921-22. ..... ecbccn - 10,895 ....00% | Ree 1922-23 ..... S00ee ES he Gea 55,-° 1923-24 (half-year). 20,950 ....., 2 ed Cast Iron.—In 1913 there were 140 furnaces at work, in 1921 there were 14, and in 1924 there were 28:— PRODUCTION OF CAST IRON (In millions of poods_) IAS wiecvscsessecs, 266,800 ...... 100 percent 19DE G cdeveswivesd TMB isccice 87% IOROA. | avineeieiecs: 10188 wicece) 939° USES: weswvmmicese 1AM sccconcs $4 6” Ju5 ; 1928-4 serveveseeee 42,645 ceeeee 166 Mo Before the war, the southern region supplied 73 per ents | and the Ural 21 per cent. Now in consequence of civil war, the | °°! South only supplies 37 per cent., and the Urals 46 per cent. The Centre produces 25 per cent. of its pre-war production, the Urals 15 per cent., and the South only 314 per cent. “ Machinery The production of metal manufactures generally is at pres?'| ent (1923-24) estimated as about 25 per cent. of pre-war. As it was found that factories were working at 15 to’ 20 per cent. of their capacity, the Trusts agreed to shut down nine of the 67 works, thereby raising the percentage of: ful! capacity. to about 40 per cent. in some, © (To be continued in next issue)