It is apparent from the data given in the above table that the total output for the first six months of 1919 was almost 41 per cent of the total output for the corresponding period of 1916, and 64.5 per cent of the total product for the first half year of 1918, and 124.2 per cent of the last six months of 1918. The figures expressing the ratio of the total output of metal for the same periods are respectively—91.4 per cent, 120.6 per cent and 153.2 per cent.
Taking into consideration the extremely difficult conditions of production, the results may be considered satisfactory.
If we turn to the production of another of our trusts—“Central Copper Works” (Centromed), we note that during the period of October to December, 1916, the main Tula factory has produced 73.4 per cent of its capacity, during January to June of 1919—89.9 per cent, and finally during July and August of this year (1919)—about 87 per cent. The Kolchugin works have produced the various articles of their manufacture during the same periods in quantities which amounted to from16 to 48 per cent, 30 per cent to 77 per cent and 20 per cent to 36 per cent of the quantities it was scheduled to produce, while the samovar factories have produced 44 per cent of the scheduled output.
The mills entering the association of the Central Aviation Works have produced 36 per cent to 180 per cent of the quantity they planned to turn out, while during July, August and September of 1918 this percentage ranged in the various mills and branches of production from 26 per cent to 120 per cent.
A comparatively considerable increase of production has been noted on the works combined in the automobile trust
It would be absolutely impossible, within the limits of a newspaper article, to amplify the illustration of the above statements by means of statistical data, especially in view of the fact that the data pertaining to the latest period has not been arranged systematically. However, the figures cited above, we trust, give some idea of the process and results of the concentration of industry and permit the deduction that the productivity of labor in our large works, insofar as it did not completely depend upon conditions which under the present circumstances are insuperable,—has increased as compared with that for the preceding year, and in some exceptional cases, it has even arisen to the pre-war level.
Nevertheless, our large industry has been getting into even greater difficulties. A number of crises weighing on it are breaking down its last forces. Of these the most acute and serious are the fuel and food crises, the latter demoralizing labor. This enforced comparative idleness has been thoroughly utilized during the revolutionary period, for the purpose of preparing for the time when the external conditions would permit our large industries to run at full speed.
In addition to the work of adapting our industry to modern conditions of production (altering the mills tosuit them to the usage of wood fuel, by changing the construction of the furnaces and cupolas) the Technical Council of the Metals Department of the Supreme Council of National Economy is conducting the enormous work of standardizing the industry and specializing the mills by means of a detailed study of the individual branches of industry. It is also engaged in the restoration of the old, and in the organization of new, industries on the basis of specialized labor and production on a large scale. This latter task has been carried out by a number of commissions organized by the Metal Department of the Supreme Council of National Economy.
The Technical Council of the Metals Department conducted its work chiefly on the plane of standardizing production within the metal industry, reducing to a minimum the types of construction of the same article. Under capitalist conditions of production the law of competition frequently led individual manufacturers to deliberately flood the market with a multitude of various constructions of the same machines in order to compel the consumer purchasing a machine or implement at a given mill, to buy all the parts and often have his machine repaired in the same shop. It is needless to point out to what extent this increased the cost of production and, what is still more important, the cost of exploitation. The Technical Council has tackled the question not from an abstractly scientific viewpoint, but from a practical standpoint, working in close cooperation with our metal works. Every master part, every detail is being worked out on the basis of data collected at the mills by subcommittees consisting of specialists. Then the project is submitted to the mills where the necessary changes and coordination are suggested. The comments given by the mills are compiled and revised, before this or the other table or drawing is introduced; the same applies to the technical specifications and assortments.
Master parts of three categories are being worked out: (1) for the production of metal ware on a large scale, (2) for general machine construction, (3) for the construction of Diesel engines, which is now developing into a general division of thermo-technics.
In addition to this, a project is being completed for a lathe designed for the needs of home industries, and for repair work. A project is being worked out for a series of lathes of all sizes, required for machine construction shops.
Besides work on the standardization of industry, efforts are also being made to lay down the technical conditions.
Of the above mentioned committees, the following deserve special mention:
(1) The committee on steam turbine construction is distributing orders for the construction of turbines of various types. The Petrograd metal works and the Putiloff wharf have already completed part of their orders. In addition to this, the committee has investigated the construction of steam turbines in Russia.
(2) The committee on tractor construction has redistributed and again alloted orders among the Obukhov factory, the Mamin mill and the Kolomenksky mill for 75, 16 and 30 horse-power tractors. The drawings for the latter type of tractor have been worked out by the committee. Out of the number of tractors ordered at the Obukhov works, the first three Russian-made tractors are already completed. The others will be turned out in January and in June of 1920. It is proposed to organize the production of tractors on a large scale at the new Vyxunsk mill, the building of which is being completed.
(3) The committee on the construction of gas generating installations which has determined the basic type of gas generating engine most suitable for the conditions of Russian machine construction, has standardizedthe normal power of the engines; it has also outlined the preliminary measures for the adaptation of certain mills to large scale production of gas-generating engines.
(4) The committee for the development and improvement of steam boiler construction in Russia, has prepared the material and worked out detailed conditions for a contest of stationary water-tube boilers, the cheapest as to cost of production and the most economical in operation to be adopted by the committee. The committee also prepares the conditions for a contest on the production of a mechanical stoker, having investigated possible productivity and modern methods of production of steam boilers in Russia.
(5) The committee on the construction of refrigerating machinery ascertained the requirements for 1919–1920 in the line of refrigerating machinery; it is laying down and determining the types of refrigerating machines and apparatus that would be most desirable; it is working out the construction of the same, etc. Finally, it has drawn up plans for the construction of refrigerator-barges to sail regularly on the Volga between Astrakhan and Rybinsk.
In addition to the above-mentioned commissions, the Metal Department has a number of committees now functioning, such as the committee in charge of supplying the country with high grades of steel, having a technical convention of its own the committee on the organization of the Ural industries, the committee on locomotive construction, etc.
As we have mentioned before, simultaneously with rendering support to large industries and taking steps for their conversion to normal conditions, particularly careful attention had to be given to the intermediate, small and home industries.
Intermediate industry comprises almost all of the agricultural machine construction, under the direction of the agricultural machinery section of the Metal Departmentof the Supreme Council of National Economy. This section operates in close contact with the local governing bodies in charge of the people’s industries: provincial, councils of national economy. According to the data of the section, covering the period of October 1st, 1918 to October 1st, 1919, the following simple as well as complicated agricultural machines and implements have been produced:
147,453 ploughs3,717 winnowing machines1,440 straw cutters11,451 harrows98,689 scythes684,420 sickles11,980 harvesting machines
147,453 ploughs3,717 winnowing machines1,440 straw cutters11,451 harrows98,689 scythes684,420 sickles11,980 harvesting machines
147,453 ploughs3,717 winnowing machines1,440 straw cutters11,451 harrows98,689 scythes684,420 sickles11,980 harvesting machines
147,453 ploughs
3,717 winnowing machines
1,440 straw cutters
11,451 harrows
98,689 scythes
684,420 sickles
11,980 harvesting machines
For the purpose of organizing the production of scythes in the most efficient manner possible the agricultural machine section created a special Scythes Bureau, which is investigating this line of production, ascertaining the possible amount of productivity if manufactured in the machine shop manner or according to the home industry method, both in the central provinces and in the Ural region. The bureau has laid down a plan for radical change in the nature of production by means of splitting it into two fundamental processes: the metallurgical—the rolling of steel of worked out profile; and the finishing process in the mills and shops. For the purpose of rolling the metal it has been proposed to utilize the Vyxunsk mill, which has been requested to include in its program the rolling of steel for the production of scythes.
In the field of home industry production on a small scale the committee on metal products and apparatus of the Metal Department is working in close cooperation with other government institutions, having organized agencies in Pavlovsk, Tula, Murom, and Vladimir, for the purpose of financing artisans and distributingraw material among them on the one condition that they turn in their product to the government stores for organized distribution. The results of this work can be judged by the following approximate data on the cost of manufactured products, the stock on hand from previous year returned to the factories and enterprises of the Murom, Pavlovsk, Tula region, as well as to the group of cast iron foundries of the provinces of Kaluga and Ryazan.
The Murom district, manufacturing cutlery and to some extent also instruments, has turned out, during the period following the organization of the government agency, 15 million roubles’ worth of goods, while the total worth of it, including remnants returned, amounts to 25 million roubles; the Pavlovsk district engaged in the manufacture of cutlery, locks and instruments,—among others, surgical instruments—has produced since October 1st, 1918, 70 million roubles’ worth of merchandise; including the remnants, this would aggregate to 100 million roubles. The Tula district (hardware, locks, stove accessories, samovars, hunters’ rifles), has produced since May 1919, 30 million roubles’ worth of goods, which, including the remnants, amount to 60 million roubles. The cast-iron foundries of the Kaluga and Ryazan districts (manufacturing cast-iron utensils, stove accessories and various other castings) have produced since October 1st, 1918, 50 million roubles’ worth of merchandise, including the remnants.
Thus, the total amount of goods produced amounts to 165 million roubles,—or to 235 million roubles, if the value of the remnants is added,—taking 40 as the co-efficient of its value according to peace-time prices.
The central administration could not take upon itself the direct organization of home industries to the full extent. Its best assistants in this matter are the local institutions of national economy—the provincial and district metal committees, which have been broughtin close contact with the central administration by the conventions of the representatives of the district and provincial metal committees. These conventions were being called at regular intervals for the purpose of working out and ratifying their programs concerning production and distribution of metals, and financial questions.
We must also mention the fact that all the measures in the domain of the metal industry are being carried out with the close and immediate cooperation of the workers’ producing association—the union of metal workers.
Thus, as has been proven from practical experience, the methods and forms of organization of the metal industry have turned out to be correct. Their application is therefore to be continued and widened, strengthening the ties binding these organizations with the local administrative bodies, such as the provincial and district metal committees and with the central management of the amalgamated enterprises.
The great obstacle in the path of future development in our metal industry is the food question, which carries with it the dissolution of labor power. Considering the fact that circumstances have compelled our industry in general, and particularly the metal industry, to supply chiefly the needs of national defence, to which it is necessary to give right of way over all other interests, the authorities and the labor organizations must do everything in their power to avert the food crisis threatening the metal workers, even if this be to the detriment of the population.
It is necessary not only to cease all further mobilization of laborers and responsible workers, but also to select a considerable portion of those already mobilized for the purpose of transferring them from the army into industry.
The course of work of the metal industry during the past two years gives us reason to hope that these measures,if introduced systematically, might make it possible to cope with the difficult external conditions and furnish a mighty stimulus for preparing the metal industry for the needs of peaceful construction.
M. VINDELBOT.
The Supreme Council of National Economy has put into practice the idea of nationalization of all our industries: at present there is not one mill or factory of any considerable size that is not the property of the people.
During the second year of its existence, the Supreme Council of National Economy has made some headway in the work of nationalization of land. As a particular instance we might cite the fact that it was upon the initiative and due to the energetic efforts of the Supreme Council of National Economy that the land fund for the sugar industry has been nationalized. The total area of land nationalized for the sugar industry amounts to 600,000 dessiatins.
The sugar-beet industry has furnished the initial step in the development of the rural industries, since this particular industry has been better preserved during the transitional period of the Revolution. The alcohol industry occupies the next place. Its development has been begun by the Supreme Council of National Economy during the last few days.
These two large branches of rural industry are followed by a number of lesser significance, such as theproduction of starch, molasses, butter, milk, tobacco, medicinal herbs, the group of fibre plants, etc. The Supreme Council of National Economy is now laying a solid foundation for the development of all these industries.
What then is the program of action of the Supreme Council of National Economy for the development of the rural industries? In the first place, to supply definite land areas for the cultivation of certain plants, the introduction of definite forms of agricultural labor, and of uniform management for the manufacturing and agricultural industries, the establishment of close connections between the industrial proletariat and the citizens engaged in the rural industries.
Among the problems enumerated above, foremost is that of uniting the industrial proletariat with the rural workers. The Supreme Council of National Economy has already begun to work on this task. Thus the industrial proletariat is now officially in possession of 90,000 dessiatins of land, on which communes have been organized. The crops from these estates go to satisfy the needs of the associations in whose name the estates are registered. At the same time, the industrial proletariat, through participation in agricultural labor, is introducing new ideas into the rural industries.
The Supreme Council of National Economy is mining the coal from the depths of the earth and exploiting the peat deposits. In order to utilize the resources completely, it is paying particular attention to the conversion of swampy areas and exhausted turf deposits into areable land, transforming the bottom of the exploited turf areas into vegetable gardens, the sections bordering upon the swamps into artificial meadows, and the uplands into fields. During last summer similar work was accomplished on a considerable scale on the lands of the central electric station, in the Government of Moscow, the Ilatur electric station, in the Government ofRyazan, Gus-Hrustalny, in the Government of Vladimir, and the Gomza estates in the Government of Nizhni-Novgorod. Thus, during last summer, the work was organized in four central provinces, abounding in large areas of land, which cannot be conveniently used for agricultural purposes.
Simultaneously the improvement of dwellings, and the building of garden-cities is being given careful and immediate consideration. This work is being carried on by the Supreme Council of National Economy at the electric station of Kashirsk, the Shatur station and the Central Electric station.
In order to unify rural industries the Supreme Council of National Economy has formed the central administration of agricultural estates and industrial enterprises, assigning to it the task of uniting and developing as far as possible, the work of the rural mills.
The Central Administration of Agriculture considers it one of its immediate problems to propagate widely the idea of nationalization of land for all rural industries and the opening of new districts for those industries.
In apportioning the land, especially valuable districts should be set apart, such as the meadows, flooded with water from the Don river, fully suitable for the cultivation of tobacco, fibre plants, and olives, on a large scale.
These lands, if distributed among the peasants will never yield such wealth as they could do were they nationalized for rational exploitation.
Next on the program of the Central Administration of Agriculture is the building up of new branches of rural industry, such as the working of sugar beets into molasses and into beet flour, in the northern districts, the production of ammonium sulphate out of the lower grades of peat, the preparation of fodder out of animal refuse, the production of turf litter material, the preparationof new sources of nitrate fertilizer out of peat, etc.
Electric power must be utilized for the cultivation of land. The practical realization of this problem has been started on the fields of the electric power transmission department. This Fall we succeeded in tilling the ground by means of a power-driven plow.
In order to build up the rural industries, practical work must be carried on, simultaneously with that which is being done on the particularly important lands, also on such lands as will not be the bone of contention between the proletariat and the peasantry.
What lands are these? The swampy areas, the forest-covered lands, those districts where the people are starving, the dry lands, the scarcely populated districts, etc.
These are the brief outlines of the program. The foundations of absolutely all of the development of rural industry mentioned have been laid down. The practical steps for the materialization of the plans have to some extent already been, or are being, undertaken.
All of this work the Supreme Council of National Economy had to carry out under extremely difficult conditions. Prior to that, a considerable part of the sources of raw material for the rural industries has been completely torn away from the Soviet Republic. Another serious hindrance was the insufficient number of already existing organizations, which would be capable of fulfilling the tasks outlined by the Council. A considerable amount of harm has been done to this work by interdepartmental friction.
But difficult as the present conditions may be, and no matter how strong is the desire of the former ruling classes to turn back the tide of life, this is impossible and can never take place.
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION OF AGRICULTURE.
The nationalization of agriculture is one of the most complicated problems of the Socialist Revolution, and perhaps in no other country is this problem as complex as in Soviet Russia.
At the time when the decree on Socialist land management was made public, the fundamental elements of nationalization had hardly begun to take shape: the territory affected by nationalization was by no means defined; there was not the personnel necessary for the creation and enforcement of any plan concerning production; the large masses of laborers hardly understood the idea of nationalization and in some instances were hostile to the measures by means of which the Soviet power was carrying out the program of nationalization.
In order to summarize the results of the work, which began on a nation-wide scale in March, 1919, and to estimate these results, one must first realize the conditions which formed the starting-point for the work of the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture at the time when it commenced to carry out the nationalization of agriculture.
The extent of the capitalist heritage, which our organized Soviet estates now have at their disposal, amounts to 615,503 dessiatins or areable land, situated in the Soviet provinces and formerly in the hands of private owners. Eighty-five per cent of the areable land, which formerly belonged to the landed aristocracy was taken over for the purpose of both organized and non-organized distribution—chiefly the latter.
The equipment of the various estates was diminished and destroyed to no lesser extent. Instead of the 386,672 privately owned horses, registered in the Soviet provinces, according to the census of 1916, the Sovietestates in the hands of the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture received 23,149 horses—a number hardly sufficient for the cultivation of one-third of the area under cultivation now belonging to the Soviet estates. Of the 290,969 cows—only 43,361 came into the possession of the Soviet estates. The entire number of horses and cows will yield sufficient fertilizer for only 13,000 dessiatins of fallow land, i.e., about 10 per cent of the area intended to be converted into areable land.
The supply of agricultural machinery and implements was in the same condition.
The Soviet estates had almost no stocks of provisions. The workmen were compelled either to steal or to desert for places where bread was more abundant.
The winter corn was sowed in the fall of 1918 on very limited areas (not over 25 per cent of the fallow land), very often without fertilizer, with a very small quantity of seeds to each dessiatin. In 13 out of 36 Soviet provinces (governments) no winter corn has been sowed at all.
A considerable portion of the estates taken over by the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture could not be utilized due to the lack of various accessories, such as harness, horseshoes, rope, small instruments, etc.
The workers were fluctuating, entirely unorganized, politically inert—due to the shortage of provisioning and of organization. The technical forces could not get used to the village; besides, we did not have sufficient numbers of agricultural experts familiar with the practical organization of large estates. The regulations governing the social management of land charged the representatives of the industrial proletariat with a leading part in the work of the Soviet estates. But torn between meeting the various requirements of the Republic of prime importance, the proletariat could not with sufficient speed furnish the number of organizers necessary for agricultural management.
The idea of centralized management on the Soviet estates has not been properly understood by the local authorities, and the work of organization from the very beginning had to progress amidst bitter fighting between the provincial Soviet estates and the provincial offices of the Department of Agriculture. This struggle has not yet ceased.
Thus, the work of nationalizing the country’s agriculture began in the spring, i.e., a half year later than it should have, and without any definite territory (every inch of it had to be taken after a long and strenuous siege on the part of the surrounding population), with insufficient and semi-ruined equipment, without provisions, without an apparatus for organization and without the necessary experience for such work, with the agricultural workers engaged in the Soviet estates having no organization at all.
According to our preliminary calculations, we are to gather in the Fall of this year a crop of produce totaling in the 2,524 Soviet estates as follows:
Of the Winter corn we received only a little over what was required for seed (in a number of provinces the crops are insufficient for the consumption of the workers of the Soviet estates).
The Soviet estates are almost everywhere sufficiently supplied with seeds for the spring crops.
The number of horses used on the Soviet estates has been increased through the additional purchase of 12,000 to 15,000.
The number of cattle has also been somewhat increased.
The Soviet estates are almost completely supplied with agricultural implements and accessories, both by having procured new outfits from the People’s Commissariat for Provisioning and by means of energetic repair work on the old ones.
The foundation has been laid (in one-half of the provinces sufficiently stable foundations) for the formation of an organizational machinery for the administration of the Soviet estates.
Within the limits of the Soviet estates the labor union of the agricultural proletariat has developed into a large organization.
In a number of provinces the leading part in the work of the Soviet estates has been practically assumed by the industrial proletariat, which has furnished a number of organizers, whose reputation had been sufficiently established.
Estimating the results of the work accomplished, we must admit that we have not as yet any fully nationalized rural economy. But during the eight months of work in this direction, all the elements for its organization have been accumulated.
We have strengthened our position in regard to supplies, having been enabled not only to equip more efficiently the Soviet estates (2,524) already included in our system of organization, but also to nationalize during the season of 1920 additional 1,012 Soviet estates, with an area of 972,674 dessiatins. The combined area of the nationalized enterprises will probably amount in 1920 to about 2,000,000 dessiatins within the present Soviet territory.
A preliminary familiarity with individual estates and with agricultural regions makes it possible to begin the preparation of a national plan for production on the Soviet estates and for a systematic attempt to meet the manifold demands made on the nationalized estates by the agricultural industries: sugar, distilling, chemical,as well as by the country’s need for stock breeding, seeds, planting and other raw materials.
The greatest difficulties arise in the creation of the machinery of organization. The shortage of agricultural experts is being replenished with great difficulty, for the position of the technical personnel of the Soviet estates, due to their weak political organization, is extremely unstable. The mobilization of the proletarian forces for work in the Soviet estates gives us ground to believe that in this respect the spring of 1920 will find us sufficiently prepared.
The ranks of proletarian workers in the Soviet estates are drawing together. True, the level of their enlightenment is by no means high, but “in union there is strength” and this force, if properly utilized, will yield rapidly positive results.
In order to complete the picture of the agricultural work for the past year we are citing the following figures: the total expenditures incurred on the Soviet estates and on account of their administration up to January 1st, 1920, is estimated to amount to 924,347,500 roubles. The income, if the products of the Soviet estates are considered at firm prices, amounts to 843,372,343 roubles.
Thus, the first, the most difficult year, has ended without a deficit, if one excludes a part of the liabilities which are to be met during a number of years, i.e., horses and implements.
Of course, it is not the particular experience which the workers possess that has caused the favorable balance of the Soviet estates, this being mainly due to the fact that the productive work in the realm of agriculture under modern conditions is a business not liable to lose.
And this is natural: industry in all its forms depends upon the supply of fuel, raw material, and food. Nationalized rural economy has an inexhaustible supply ofsolar energy—a fuel supply independent of transportation of the blockade.
The fundamental element of production—land—does not demand any “colonial” means of restoration of its productivity. And as for provisions, these we get from the earth under the sun!
After eight months of work on the nationalization of our rural economy, as a result of two years of titanic struggle on the part of the proletariat for the right to organize the Socialist industries with its own hands,—is it not high time to admit that the most expedient, most far-sighted, and correct method to stabilize the Soviet power would be to use the greatest number of organized proletarian forces for the work of nationalizing our agriculture?
N. BOGDANOV.
Transcriber’s NoteThe page reference in the list of Illustrations to p. 54 (LENIN AT HIS DESK IN KREMLIN, 1919) is incorrect. The photograph appears facing p. 50. The entry has been corrected.On p. 149, a train station town is variously spelled ‘Kreisberg’ and ‘Kreizberg’. Both are retained.In the Appendix, the organizational names of various Unions are variously called ‘Trades’ or ‘Trade’. No attempt was made to make them consistent.On p. 257, the quoted passage beginning "The consolidation of the mills..." has no closing quote, and it is unclear where it might have been intended.The following table provides information on the relatively few typographical errors, and their resolution.p. 25Rej[z]istzaRemoved.p. 46sold[i]ersAdded.p. 98[o/O]ne priceless paintingCorrected.p. 192I[t/f] at the FirstCorrected.p. 207[(]five groups and 15 categories)Added.p. 222follow[low]ingLine break repetition.p. 227con[s]tructionAdded.p. 228Vo[ac/ca]tionalTransposed.p. 232Commit[mit]teesLine break repetition.p. 256econo[o]micLine break repetition.p. 274territor[it]yRemoved.
Transcriber’s Note
The page reference in the list of Illustrations to p. 54 (LENIN AT HIS DESK IN KREMLIN, 1919) is incorrect. The photograph appears facing p. 50. The entry has been corrected.
On p. 149, a train station town is variously spelled ‘Kreisberg’ and ‘Kreizberg’. Both are retained.
In the Appendix, the organizational names of various Unions are variously called ‘Trades’ or ‘Trade’. No attempt was made to make them consistent.
On p. 257, the quoted passage beginning "The consolidation of the mills..." has no closing quote, and it is unclear where it might have been intended.
The following table provides information on the relatively few typographical errors, and their resolution.