The U.S.S.R. in War-time

Abstract

THE broadsheet “Soviet Planning in War-Time” issued by P E P (Political and Economic Planning) gives a useful objective account of the ways in which the Russian economy has advanced from one mobilized for war in 1941 to a battle economy, and of the general background of this economy. The machinery of Soviet planning functions through three main stages : first, a comprehensive survey of existing resources ; secondly, the formulation of a plan, which is simply the laying down of a series of output programmes which must be carefully dovetailed into each other so that they are consistent ; and, thirdly, a mechanism for checking their progress and for providing the elasticity necessary for periodic adjustments. This machinery was evolved over a considerable period of time, and the broadsheet gives a brief account of the purposes and achievements of the three Five-Year Plans. It was only during the Second Five-Year Plan that the consumption of foodstuffs and living standards generally rose to any appreciable extent, but an important aspect of that period was the development, partly for strategic reasons, of industrial and raw material resources east of the Urals. Both the First and the Second Five-Year Plans between them largely achieved their objectives of the creation of modern large-scale industry and a mechanized agriculture as the basis for raising living standards to a higher level and for national self-sufficiency in war-time.