DOMESTIC DIFFICULTIES

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• Collection: General CIA Records
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• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
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• Publication Date: November 21, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

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CPW Report No. 15 USSR
(16 - 31 October 1951)
CONTENTS
Ideological Affairs??,,.?.?.?,.???? 1
Russo-Ukrainian Friendship.,,..?. 6
Party Activities.,..?. ?????O 7
Shortcomings,..,.... .:..???.,??.,.? S
Reports on ideological weaknesses are substantial in volume and follow a familiar
pattern. The education of children is said to be part of the "ideological front"
activities which also include the People's Courts and the science of astronomy.
Most of the regional criticism is directed against writers and composers, partic-
ularly in the Ukraine. The situation in the Kazakh SSR has reached serious pro-
portions. Communist education in the Party school network is referred to as the
weak spot of Party activities. Corruption and nepotism are imputed to the Party
organization of the Ministry of Labor Reserves and there are allusions to friction
betwerln that organization and Ministry officials. Discussion of agricultural
shortcomings continues'to center on the livestock industry and the inefficient
utilization of technical equipment.,
IDEOLOGICAL AFFAIRS'
There is much regional comment on the failings of Soviet writers, particularly in
the Ukraine and the Don region. That the Union of Soviet Writers is taking this
adverse criticism seriously is indicated by the various republican and Oblast
meetings called in rapid succession to cure the ideological illnesses. The PRAVDA
arti
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deological perversions itd litee (
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pr
mary item on the agenda of these gatherings.
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-.A suamnarize-d report -from idev (in Ukrainian, 19 October) -says that a plenary session
of the- Union of '.Soviet Composers is -now, --reviewing the works of -the Ukrainian; composers
written--during the past -year-in the light of the- PRAVDA -article. Another report
frow ttne?.Ukra-inian- capital (29 ,October) speaks of the irteri oblast, Perence of
oui writers of Kherson9 Izffiai19 Odessa and Nikolayev ob3ests convened' to discuss
"measures -frir improving the creative work of young authors in the light of the
PRAVDA arti-cle.. ."
MOLOT (21--October) "--dis-cuss'ing'?theLL..i-nter=oblast,-zonfes?ence.-of writers from Don,
Krxban,--Crimes _and-Stavropo ,scheduled--to open on 22 October, says that the purpose
--of that gathering is to look into the "1numerous defects" in the -work -of the .
.,Writers ? Union. The -main-defeat,." according- to the paper, is that :many of. the Don
writers--and poets "continue to lag behind . current events," and that present-day
reality is not reflected in. their works. The reluctance ' some writers and .
-poets to criticize them- colleagues' work lest they themselves be criticized in turn
is censured by the paper as one.of their cardinal sins. The DON AlMANACH, recently
published as an aid to literary groups, is cited as an example of a "formalistic
and heedless attitude" toward the works of young writers.
Referring to the situation-in Rostov oblast, the same editorial says that the oblast
writers "have not yet created an important woa about the heroic working class
or its struggle for Communism." The paper accordingly enjoins the men of letters
not to tae carried away by literary abstractions and to confine their creative
activities to current events for "who but the writers and poets ... should sing
the praises of the great Communist building projects."
Additional mention of the inter-oblast conference appears in. a dispatch from Rostov
on 24 October. No detailsof...the.conference are given but its importance is
implicitly emphasized in the announcement that it was attended by a representative
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and by the secretary of the USSR
Writers' Union. The latter is quoted as calling upon the writers "not to forget"
theii^ responsibility to the people, the Motherland and Stalin.
A specific complaint is voiced by RABOCHIY PUT (24 October). It declares editorially
that the Smolensk oblast writers are not following life very closely, and that their.
contacts with economic and cultural progress are "loose." The book "Black ;River"
by Shiryugin is referred to as "a bad job" and is said to be "politically perverse.'.,_
The "low ideological level" (nizkiy ideologichesky uroven) of independent artistic
work in Kherson oblast is the subject of NADNEPRYANSKA PRAVDA's editorial
(24 October). The paper lists a number of railway.-station clubs, amateur art groups.
and other cultural institutions and says that their activities still betray
ideological and artistic weaknesses for which there is no excuse. It is claimed
also that PRAVDA's admonitions against ideological perversions, as exemplified
by the opera "Bogdan Khmelnitsly," remain unheeded.
ORLOVSKAYA PRAVDA (28 October) says it would be a mistake "not to note" the
serious blunders and shortcomings in the amateur art activities in the oblast.
Bureaucratic and formalistic leadership on the part of the Party, trade union
and Komsomol organizations is blamed for the failings of this "important sector"
of, ideological works This explains, concludes the...ppaper.,::, why amateur groups are
often headed by people "having nothing in common with either art or popular
creative work."
A report from Kiev (in Ukrainian., 31. October) tells of the plenary session of
the Union of Soviet Ukrainian writers and its probing into the Republic's
ideological affairs. The chairman of the Union Veryovka admitted that the
mistakes and shortcomings tolerated by the organization "have led to the appearance
in the Ukraine of a series of ideologically poor works." This lack of progress
in Ukrainian art, as noted by the session, is condemned with partictlar
vehemence in view of the fact that "a long time has passed'since the appearance
of the PRAVDA article." Soviet ballet is also referred to as "weak."
S vechnikov's ballet "Marusys Boguslavska" and Natolsky's "Chuvstvo Dovbusha,"
said to be worthy of popular commendation, were relegated to oblivion because
of the failure. if other composera...to give them "proper support."
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The Ukrainian composers are also belabored at the session for their failure to
produce anything worthwhile for children, the cinema and musical shows. Far from
attempting to discover mistakes in the works of other composers, they have
committed many of their own. The low theoretical and professional level of
musical criticism is responsible for the appearance of a number of ideological
perversions in Ukrainian art and the sorry state of affairs in musical arts in
particular.
A long, unsigned PRAVDA article on anti-patriotic views in literary criticism
(21 October) takes issue with critic Gurvich's recent article published in the
magazine NOVI1 MIR (New World). Gurvich, it appears, "has relapsed" into the mood
of his unpatriotic, cosmopolitan colleagues of 1949 by his implicit references
to Russian classical literature being unable to produce a "positive hero,"
a true representative of the people. The paper fulminates against this critic
who portrays the heroes of Russian literature as "idle people" (prazdnie lyudi)
who manifest their virtues "exclusively in love affairs."
This critic's attitudes toward Soviet literature, PRAVDA maintains, are just about
as reactionary and anti-Marxian as are his views on Russian literature. His
anti-patriotic treatment of the "great heritage of the Russian classicists" is said
to be comparable to his attempts to minimize "the most advanced features" of
Soviet literature. Gurvich's book "In Search of A Hero" (published some time ago)
is recalled as a typical example. In it, says PRAVDA, he developed the idea
(provodil mysl) that Soviet literature never produced a "genuine hero"
(nastoyashchi geroi). Among his other aberrations, it is pointed out, are his
references to the "split personality" (razdvoyennost) and "harmful nature"
(ushcherbnost) of the heroes of Soviet literature.
PRAVDA declares that such mistakes in Gurvich's work are neither accidential
nor isolated, and calls the critic's attention to the fate of his "anti-patriotic
and cosmopolitan" colleagues who "were unmasked and condemned" by the Party in
1949? He is also reminded that he was part of that group. Gurvich's article,
the paper concludes, is another reminder that "the liberal attitude toward
attempts to inject alien anti-patriotic views into literary criticism" must be
done away with once and for all.
Ideoiggv in School Training- The ideological aspect is the most important thing
in the education of school children, says a FADYANSKE PODIL,YE editorial (in
Ukrainian, 16 October). The right ideological direction (pravilneya ideologicheskaya
napravlennost), according to the paper, is indispensable in the education of
children in the spirit of Communist morality which is "the basis for the work"
of every Soviet school.
Another important aspect of school education, as stressed by the same editorial,
is the inculcation of a "socialist attitude toward common property." The issue
is raised because, according to the paper, this important element in the system
of Communist education has been left out in a number of schools, particularly
in Gorodokskiy rayon, due to the "formal attitude" toward the planning of
educational work.
People's dud eso The election of people's judges in the Ukraine, set for
16 December, occasions some editorial comment on the lower echelons of the
judicial branch of government. BOLSHEVITSXA ZBROYA (30 October) complains of
the "very low ideological level" in the work of some judges, especially in
Trostianitsky rayon. The paper complains that a number of judges are wont
of examining cases one-sidedly and that their political assessment of facts is
very low. Any deviation from such political and ideological considerations on
the part of the court, the paper intimates, constitutes a serious infringement of
the rules of procedure and "debases the political role" of the court of justice.
Reiterating that the "judges are independent and subject only to the law,"
BOLSHEVITSK& ZBROYA says that their shortcomings and deviations must be fought
"with resolution," and urges the appropriate Party and Soviet organizations to
create indispensable conditions for their normal functioning.
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ZAYA POLTAVSHCHINY (30 October) urges a widespread campaign to "explain to the workers"
the significance of the court of justice and why it should assume first-rank
importance in a socialist state. The function of the court, according to the
paper, is "the elimination of the remnants of private property customs and ... rein-
forcement of socialist property ...o"" In that capacity it is said to be serving
the interests of the State and those of the people. RADYANSKA UKRAINA (30 October)
discusses the theme along similar lines but defines the function of the court, as
primarily "guarding the State interests" and "resting on the support of the
people." The protection of socialist property is, as the paper points outs
l'one of the most important tasks" of the courts, and they should not hesitate
to mete out "severe penalties against thieves of communal property."
"Idea, ism" in Aatron tZy. Prof a Agamezov interprets the conflict between science
And religion (Stavropol.in Russian, 19 October) as the inevitable struggle between
materialism and idealism. The latter, he says, was born of religious superstition
and is used by the exploiters for their own ends. All the "unscientific drivel"
still supported by contemporary bourgeois science is debunked by advanced Soviet
science. This "idealism", says Agamezov, is employed by the bourgeoisie in many
branches of science, particularly in astronomy. Such brave scientists as
Copernicus, Galileo and Bruno are cited as having followed the same anti-church
line in astronomy as now held by Soviet scientists. The word. "unknown" itself,
according to Agamezov, is unscientific and therefore also idealistic since "there
is no such thing in the world as the unknown--it is a mere matter of time."
Ideolyv in Kazakhstan. There is evidence that Moscow's mounting concern over
matters of ideology in Kazakh SSR, a target of frequent official attacks, is
being translated into action reminiscent of the purges in 1949? The familiar
pattern of nervous Party activities preceding such action is revealed in a PRAVDA
dispatch from Alma Ata by Chernichenko on 20 October.
The plenary session of the Central Committee of the Kazakh Party, called to look
into ideological deviations in the Republic, traces the source of evil to the
highest echelons of the Party itself, including the principal speaker of the
session, First Secretary of the Central Committee Shayekhmetovo Noting that the
general level (obshchi uroven) of ideological work in the Republic is "still not
up to the requirements of today" (eshche ne otvechayet trebovaniam segodniashnyago
dnia), the speaker is said to have admitted that the "crudest distortions of a
bourgeois-nationalist nature" have crept into the treatment of historical sciences.
It appears that the Kazakh bouurgois-nationalist men of letters have "over a long
period of time" (na protiazhenii dlitelnogo vremeni) sung praises to Kenesera
Kasymov's movement of 1820-1840 for the secession of Kazakhstan from Russia.
These same literati, it is claimed, pass over in silence and distort (umalchivayut
i iskazhayut) the progressive significance of Kazakhstan's "voluntary unification"
with Russia. Similar "crude distortions" are revealed also in the arts and in
school text books. Sheyakhmetov names a number of well known Kazakh writers who
"have gone a little too far" (ehrezmerno uvlekalis) in their favorable description
of life in the ancient days of the feudal Bey regime.
Pleading guilty to his own admiration of Kenesera Kasymov which he made public in
1944, the speaker also points an accusing finger to the Central Committee
secretary for ideological affairs Omarov who, he says, failed to foresee the
present state of affairs and act in time.
The scope of this official investigation into Kazakhstan's ideology may be judged
from the charges and counter charges that followed ShayakhmetoV''s address. Prominent
mention, in this connection, is made of the Central Cvmmihteteriters9tatand
the
Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Cinematography, Union,
Kazakh Academy of Sciences and State University. What makes this probe sound
like a portent of worse things to come is the casual reference in Chernichenko's
article to the "insufficiently convincing arguments" (nedostatochno ubeditelnie
dovody) of the accused in their attempt to exonerate themselves.
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Following are some of the ideological. sins highlighted in the course of the
session:
1. The entire bureau of the Central Committee and its secretaries
are responsible for the present ideological messy according to
Zhanbayev, Secretary of the Kustanai regional Party Committee;
2. KAZAI iSTANSKAYA PIiA DA editor Nikitin discloses that Secretary
Omarov forbade the publication of available materials exposing the
nationalist sentiment in Kazakh sciences;
3. Khramkov, head of the Agitation and Propaganda Department, admits
the accuracy (pravilnost).of the session's criticism but claims that
he and his colleagues "were afraid to shake" (boyalis pokolebat)
Shayakhmetov?s and Omarov?s views on Kenesara"s 19th century
movement;
40 The Plenum considers the speech of Satpayev (head of the Academy
of Sciences) as "unsatisfactory." HHe failed to explain why proven
bourgeois-nationalists and "Persons casual to science" (sluchainie
lyudi v nuke) are still hanging on (podviazyvayutsia) to various
scientific research institutes. He is also accused of having
concealed "until quite recently" the fact that he published an anti-
Marxian brochure in 1927;
5. Tadjibayev, rector of the Kazakh State University, made a state-
ment in self-defense which is said to have "a strange sound" (stranno
prozvuchale). A "zealous defender" (ryanny zaschitnik) of the already
exposed bourgeois nationalists, he is accused of placing them as
university instructors, attacking the Communist critics of the
University and generally suppressing criticism.
KAZAKHSTANSKAYA P VDA"s comment on the Central Committee,session (21 October)
is restrained. There is no reference to the Committee itself or its secretaries
as being involved in the current investigation and only a few officials below
the Central Committee level and several writers era singled out for editorial
strictures. The Kazakh Ministry of Education, including Minister Sembayev, is
reviled for its ?"loss of political vigilance" (utrate politicheskoy bditelnosti)
because it permitted the publication of text books containing bourgeois-
nationalist tendencies. It was the works of the reactionary (historian)
BelQnakhanov, according to the paper, which popularized the bourgeois-nationalist
views on Kenesara?s movement. And these views, it is claimed, were propagated
in the first and second editions of the history of the Kazakh SSR. The paper
also belabors the Party organization of the Kazakh Writers' Union for failing to
unmask (razoblechit) the nationalistic views of such writers as Izmailov,
Dzhumaliev, Bekkhozhiy, Musrepov and others. There is no specific reference
to the works of these writers or to the extent of their ideological deviations.
The Kazkh Academy of Sciences is dealt with again in a KAZAKSTANSKAYA PRAVDA
editorial on 26 October. The Academy is believed to have committed a grave
error by accepting a "politically injurious" thesis on Abay's history of
literature. No details of the thesis are mentioned but the very selection of it
is termed "the most outstanding shortcoming" in the work of the Academy. The
thesis is described as propagating "anti-scientific, bourgeois, anti-Bolshevik
and fascist" ideas and having nothing in common with historical reality. The
Presidium of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences and a number of its (unnamed)
officials are further accused of placing themselves "apart from the community"
and paying insufficient attention to the political qualifications of post-
graduate students, many of whom "are clearly not suited for scientific work."
.
This, says the paper, is a violation of the "principle of Bolshevik selection,"
because a thesis, regardless of the subject matter involved, "must prove (the
student's) ... ideological state of preparedness."
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Nozova apes of the close similarity between the
Great Russian and Ukrainian people, on t"e one hand, and places considerable
emphasis on the "advanced democratic culture" of the Great Russians, on the other.
(24 October) The Russian and Ukrainian people, says she, "were born in the same
cradle ... are kin as regards language, habitation, character and history."
Developing the theme, Nozova pictures the Great Russians as the saviors of
Ukrainian freedom on numerous occasions. She intimates that the October revolution
in the Ukraine had been stoutly opposed by its nationalist and pro-German elements
and could not have been ushered in without the aid of the Great Russians:
If it were not for Soviet Russia and the Great Russian people ...
the Ukraine would be languishing under the yoke of the inter-
ventionists, and the Ukrainian workers and peasants would have
been turned into slaves.
Russian version
Esli by ne Sovetskaya Russiya, Bali by ne veiikiy russkiy narod ...
Ukraine stonala by pod igom interventov, a ukreinskie rabochie i
krestyane prevra tilis by v rabov.
Nozove debunks the theory of alleged Ukrainian-German friendship advanced by the
Ukrainian nationalists, and. points to the "beneficent influence" and "direct
assistance" of the Great Russian people since the times of Bogdan Khmelnitsky.
(Not mentioned, of course, is the fact that Bogdan Khmelnitsky who led the
movement for Ukrainian independence in the 164O1a against Poland was equally
opposed to the Muscovy government). The crowning effect of Russo-Ukrainian
relations is said to have been attained after the October Revolution when,
with the unification of the Ukrainians and Russians, the "advanced part of the
Ukrainian people began to assimilate the Great Russian culture even more."
An allusion to Ukrainian aspirations to independence after the October Revolution
is seen in Nozova's reference to the "reactionary" Ukrainian Central Council
(Teentralna Rada Ukrsiny), the provisional government of the Ukraine in 1918
which, when attacked by the Red Aram, "turned to the W'Western imperiali.ts for help."
Of some interest here are the alleged 'orrecti rs be,,wean the Central Council and
Bukharin and Trotsky who, according to Nozova, assisted the Council in its
"dastardly act" cf seeking separation from Russia. This reference to the Brest-
Litovsk Treaty--whereby "the Ukraine was separated from the Soviet Union and turned
into a German colony"--end its association with Trotsky (who was deputized by
Lenin to negotiate it) is both a reminder of past sins and a warming against
"unpopular" ideas on the part of'the Ukrainians. The. mutual interests of the
two nations, the lecturer concludes, demands "not separation" but a stronger union
of the Russians and the Ukrainians within the framework of a "single state."
The benefits derived by the Western Ukrainian oblasts from their unification with
"Soviet Ukraine are listed in a RATAU dispatch to the local press (29 October).
Subsidies paid to mothers of many children and the distribution of films in the
rural areas--unheard of before unification--are cited as some of the major
advantages. For all this, the dispatch concludes, the people of Western Ukraine
"assure" Stalin and the Party of their loyalty.
An anonymous talk on "The United F,mily of Soviet Peoples" (Stavropol., 25 October)
compares the "violence and robbery" in the relations between the various
components of the British Empire with the Soviet constituent republics where "the
most open trust and friendship" are ansaifested. The comparison is carried further
by citing American crimes in subduing the "defenseless Indians," and Britain's
forcible seizure of foreign lands while in the Soviet Union "there was complete
acquiescence on the part of non-Russian populations." Stalin is quoted as
-authority for the "guiding principle" that if people do not want to unite, no one
will force them. The Uzbek and Turkmen republics are said to provide an example
of such voluntary unification. The full-equality argument is finally clinched
by stressing the republics' right to independent action in foreign affairs.
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Ministry of Labor Fie ryas-. A PRAVDA article by Pishenina (21 October) states
bluntly that the Party organization in the Ministry of Labor Reserves is hamstrung
by "a series of grave difficulties and stumbling blocks" (ryad seryoznykh
trudnostei i pomekh) created by Ministry officials. The main target. of attack,
however, is not the Ministry but the Party Organization itself. Minister Pronin
himself, Pishenina complains, "fenced himself off" (otgorodilsya) from the Party
organization, and access to him is made difficult not only for rank-and-file
Communists but also for members of the Party Committee. The Ministry Collegium
and other high officials "do not lean too much" (malo opirayutsya) on the Party
organization in their daily activities. The suppression of adverse criticism
within the Ministry, according to Pishenina, has become standard procedure. In
some cases "an atmosphere of ill-will is created" (sozdayotsya obstanovka
nedobrozhelatelstva) to discourage further complaints. In others, criticism is
"heard and given the silent treatment" (vyslushivayetsya ... i zanialchivayetsya).
The result is that a number of honest Communist critics are shifted to other
jobs, demoted or even dismissed.
Another serious charge against the Ministry is the violation of the Bolshevik
principle (narushenie bolshevitskogo printsipa) in the selection and distribution
of qualified personnel. Two specific cases of nepotism and corruption are
detailed by Pishenina Barmaid Nikitina who had been dismissed for squandering
(State) funds was appointed to an executive post in the personnel department by
Deputy Minister Likovenkov. The other case is that of Oreshkin, head of the
Ministry?s Economic Department, who cheated the Government and abused his position
for "personal gains" (v korystnykh tselyakh). The Party organization exposed
his activities and called for (disciplinary) action but Oreshkin still remains
at his post.
The responsibility for all that, Pishenina concludes, rests squarely on the
shoulders of the Party organization. The latter is reminded that it is "the
keeper of proper Soviet order" (blyustitel nastoyashchego sovetskago poryadka)
in the Ministry and the guardian of the State interests, and is capable of
remedying the situation without directly interfering in the Ministry ?s functions.
The political education of the youth, both within and outside the Party school
network, is saidi to be lagging behind in a number of localities. KIROVOGRADSKA
PRAVDA (17 October) says that in a number of rayons the Komsomol committees have
"severed their links" with the village youth, taking no interest in their
political education. What is worse., 60 primary Komsomol organizations are not even
engaged in their basic duty which is recruiting new members for the organization.
A report from Drogobych (18 October) says that the oblast Party organization called
a special session to improve the mass political education of the youth. A MOLOT
editorial (19 October) inveighs against the practice of selecting agitators from
among people who have "no inclination or desire" to do that work. Many of them,
says the paper, also lack the proper qualifications. It cites the case of one
agitator "who has not read a single book or subscribed to a single paper since
1946."
.Not enough lectures are read on "the intrigues and war-mongering policies of
the Anglo-American imperialists," complains SOTSIALISTICHESKIY DONBAS (18 October).
Very little is said also about the domestic and foreign policy of the Soviet
Government. In at least two rayons--Enakievo and Gorlovka--lectures for inde-
pendent students have not been given at all. RADYANSKA UKRAINA asserts (19 October)
that a number of Party organizations in the Government departments "are taking
into their hands" tasks which are no concern of theirs, namely, administrative
duties. This, says the paper, is a violation of the Communist Party Statute
and it "undermines their superior Party organs." Red tape is branded as the
bane of Soviet administrative.activitieso some complaints submitted by workers
are being held for consideration for one and even two years.
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The Coiamunist education of the intelligentsia is not up to requirements in
Armenia, particularly in Erevan, according to a KC1dUNIST editorial of 28 October.
The Erevan intelligentsia, the paper hints, would justify additional instruction
"in the spirit of flaming Soviet patriotism" (v dukhe plamennogo sovetskago
petriotisma) and unlimited devotion to the cause of the Lenin-Stalin Party..
Political education is dealt with again by SOTSIALISTICHESKIY DONBAS on
31 October. This time it is the Party school network which is attended by "too
few" Communists. Those for whom such schools have been organized fail to
benefit. Insufficient attention to Communist education is blamed for both
slack attendance and the."dogmatic approach" (dogmaticheskiy podkhod) to
Marxist-Leninist theories.
SHORTCOMINGS
Agriculture e The chronic inefficiency in the utilization of agricultural
machinery, particularly tractors, is played up in a number of broadcasts.
While most regional sources attribute this failing to the familiar lack of
control and poor organization, at least two of them admit that better living
conditions for tractor drivers could improve the situation. CHERNOMORSKA KOMUNA
(23 October) discusses the poor performance of men and machines in a number of
rayons and suggests a more thorough study of the living conditions of the tractor
drivers which the appropriate authorities apparently "never bothered to make:"
The deterioration of leadership in agriculture, says the paper, is also
responsible for the bed maintenance of machinery. It is also utilized to "only
a small degree" of its capacity, in some cases 25-30%. The agricultural leaders,
continues the editorial, "do not struggle for creating normal labor conditions
for the mechanizers (tractor drivers and combine operators)." This oversight
of the human element, the paper intimates, is one of the reasons for the low
output. The Ovideopolske machine-tractor station, for example, is said to be
plowing "not more" than 35 to 50 hectares a day because the tractor drivers are
not even trying to fulfill their norm. Ovideopolskiy rayon is mentioned as a
particularly bad area but a similar situation is said to exist in Andreyevo-
Ivanovsky, Gaivoronsky and Troitsky rayons.
PRIDUNAYSKAYA PRAVDA (Izmail, 31 October) also maintains that the creation of
normal living conditions for tractor drivers might help eliminate such short-
comings as the poor utilization of the tractor pool, inadequate maintenance
and timely deliveries of fuel lubricants and water for the machines. What these
tractor drivers need--and apparently do not have--according to the paper, is
warm living quarters as well as good food. The result is that tractors are idle
"for days on end" and the utilization of hitching equipment (pritsepshchiki) is
simply overlooked.
A short report from Alma Ata (17 October) refers to the tractor-repair situation
in East Kazakhstan oblast as "particularly serious" (osobenno seryoznoye) but
no further details are offered, In Taldy-Kurgan and Akmolinsk oblasts, many
machine-tractor stations are "very slow" in starting their machine-repair work.
Tractors and potato-digging machines can be seen standing idle in a number of
rayons because of inadequate maintenance and breakdowns, says a dispatch from
Smolensk (20 October)a And this accounts for over 50% of the State potato plan
not being fulfilled.
RADYANSKA UKRAINA (31 October) speaks of a number of collective farms and machine-
tractor stations as being "in arrears" (v dolgu), and gives as the reason the
inadequate utilization of transportation facilities. In Rovno oblast, for
instance, one-third of the available trucks remain idle for days, and "not even
one half" of the sugar beets have been delivered to the State. Similar trans-
portation troubles are noted in Volyn, Lvov and Sury oblasts. Nikolayev oblast
is lagging behind (otstayet) in its cotton deliveries, and plowing is slow in
Ternopol and Kamenets -Podolsk oblastso
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The livestock industry is another object of complaint heard on a number of regional
transmitters in the Ukraine and also-in Azerbaijan where the stealing of live-
stock is mentioned as one of the shortcomings. NABNEPRYANSKA PRAVDA (17 October)
frankly admits that "the oblast did not fulfill a single part of the 3-year
livestock development plan." There is indirect reference to losses (of livestock)
occasioned, as the paper puts it, by the failure to introduce the "livestock
accounting and preservation" system end to provide sufficient fodder. The
situation is called "especially serious" in Kelininsky, Bolshe-Alexandrovsky,
Novo-Mayachkovsky and Kherson rayons. Far from introducing any improvements,
these rayons are said to have failed in the maintenance of the existing stock.
In Odessa oblast, the bottleneck in the livestock industry is insufficient
fodder, according to CRERNOMORSKA KOMUNA (18 October),, In the oblast as a whole,
says the paper, the plan has been fulfilled by 62.1%, and in some rayons by
only 38.1%.
That the stock-breeding situation in Azerbaijan is grave enough to elicit the
concern 'of the highest Republican authorities is evident from a report from
Baku (in Azerbaijani, 19 October). A joint resolution of the Central Committee
of the Azerbaijan Communist Party and the Council of Ministers bids the various
ministries concerned to "take definite measures" to increase the number of
animals of every-kind and their productivity. The resolution also states that the
Party and the government "consider as doubtful" the reports on the losses of
animals submitted by 14 rayons, and calls upon the ministers of agriculture,
kolkhozes, cotton production and foodstuffs to reexamine the reports by
1 November with a view to ascertaining the actual losses sustained. The
resolution leaves no doubt as to the official view that the excessive losses
of stock are not necessarily due to natural causes. The Republican prosecutor
Rahimov is directed to take up immediately all "matters connected with the
stealing and dispersing" of communal stock. Members of the Central Committee of
the Party are to be sent to the affected areas for direct supervision of the live-
stock industry, and the "comrades in the rayons" in charge of stockbreeding
are told that hereafter they will be held personally responsible for increasing
the number of animals.
ORLOVSKAYA PRAVDA (19 October) claims that toe oblast as a whole is "disgrace-
fully lagging behind" its grain delivery plan. A number of rayons--Uritsky,
Korsakovsky, Orlovsky, lzmailkovo, Stanovlyapsky, Russko-Brodsky and others--have
"in effect discontinued their grain deliveries" in October (po sushchestvu
prekratili vyvozku zerna ne gosudarstvennnie sklady). A number of unnamed leaders
are accused of the lack of responsibility and of "open concessions to the dis-
organizers of the work and violators of the rain-procurement law" (stali na put
pryamykh ustupok dezorganizatoram raboty, narushitelyam zakona o khlebozagotovkakh).
A considerable aver-expendit }re of rgrain ?6r domestic needs (perereskhod zerna
dlya domashnikh nuthd) has been discovered:i'n a number of collective farms at a
time when their grain deliveries are "far behind schedule." The paper rebukes
the collective farm chairmen who "are hoping, as in the past years, to take
cover behind the successes of'the leading kolkhozes" (nadeyutsya, kak i v proshlie
Body, pryatatsy a za spinoi peredovikov)o It may be worth mentioning here that
one of the officials resolutely condemned by the oblast Party Committee for their
"reprehensible attitude and dealings" is Volkcv, the Oblast Public Prosecutor
for the fight against criminal infractions of the grain delivery laws.
1nLWo The only report on industrial failings is heard from Proskurov, Kamenets-
Podolsk oblast, The following industrial enterprises have failed to achieve their
production targets for the 3d quarter of the current year, according to RADYANSKE
PODILYE (28 October). the oblast local industry enterprises, the timber-processing
concern, Proskurov and Shepetovka meat-processing combines and several others.
There is no reference to the nature and extent of their failings except the remark
that the "superficial' management" of those enterprises was sharply criticized.
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