JN his “Economic Problems”
documents published on thé
eve of the 19th Congress of the
mmunist Party of the Soviet
Nion, Stalin defines “at least
three basic preliminary condi-
tions” for the gradual transition
tom socialism to communism.

Only after the. fulfilment of
all these three conditions, ha
_Wtites in his demolitions of
- Yaroshenko’s errors (the third
document in the series), will it
he possible to go over from the
SOcialist formula:

“From each according to his
abilities, to each according to
his work,”

to the Communist formula:
“From each according to his
abilities, to each according to
his needs.”

Two basic conditions are
these:

1 An uninterrupted growth of
_ the whole of social produc-
tion, but especially of the means
of production, so as to guarantee
the essential re-equipment of the
ackward sections of industry.

» By gradual stages ‘‘to raise

collective farm property to
the level of national property”’
€nd substitute exchange of pro-
Ucts—between state industry
and agviculture—for the present
“ommodity (market) relations.

Given this, the central author-
tly, or some special social-eco-
Nomic centre, could embrace the
€ntire fruits of social produc-
ion in the interests of society.

Otherwise, says Stalin, there
‘8 @ growing contradiction in -so-
“alist agriculture between the
Productive relations and the pro-

Uctive forces, which can hold
ack the latter and prevent their
ing fully drawn into the state
4Qning schemes.

It is emphasized that tackling

© question of this special form,

Sroup property under social-
Sm—collective farm property—
Sfar indeed from being a simple
Matter of nationalization,

After all, the land and the
Achinery are already national
Property; it is the labor of its
Members, the seed that it re-
“Vers, its buildings and, above
all, its produce, of ‘which the
lective farm disposes fully.
b Here we see the connection
ay ween the: property problem
in the continuance of commod-
Y circulation.

In order to transform the
oun property of the collective
“ms into national property —
a achieve, in fact, the complete
°cialization of all the means of
duction — it is necessary to
®t the collectives out of the
Market. f

aes question is discussed in
thou! by Stalin in the last of
© four documents, his reply
‘Wo economists named A. V.
al Nina and V. G. Venzher; it is
80 the latest in point of time,
“Ing dated September 28, 1952.
aya Stalin points to the pre-
Drog beginnings of a system of
re, Uct exchange by way of di-
ing agreements between state
ety. and certain collective
ij hs, mainly on technical crops
. B Sotton, flax, sugar beet and

tyo@Phasizing that ,the collec-
armerg concerned have got
advantages from these.
€nts in more and cheaper
be ass Stalin says that these first

Mines of the system of pro-
€xchange will have to be
alized throughout agricul-

Rreat
®8ream

S€hep
ture,
conse this way,” he adds, “the
on Ctive farms will receive not
but Money for their produce
Mainly the wares they need.”
ro 1S gradual substitution of
rouie ts exchange for commodity
Qing on will in its turn re-
& vast increase in the out-

” Mae wl

Graph shows how the Soviet people’s national income has soared over the years.

From socialism

/

to communism

é

What Stalin really said —

LTT Set) CE LE By ALLEN HU ; EE SS 2 0 ST 0 a 0 aT a
’ \

put of the manufactured goods
needed by the collective farmers,

Here is a third basic condi-
tion:

So to transform living con-
ditions and material stand-
ards, by at least doubling real
wages and reducing the working
day first to six and then to five

hours, that all members of so-

ciety will have the opportunity

_ to develop their mental and phy-

sical capacities, their cultural
level to such a point that no one
need be tied to one trade or oc-
cupation for life.

This will require universal
and > compulsory polytechnical
(technical, cultural and artistic)

education.

Qn the allied theme of ending
the distinction between mental
and manual labor, Stalin else-
where. (Section 4 of the ‘““Obser-

’ vations’) remarks that if the

majority of the Soviet workers
were to lift their cultural-techni-
cal level to that of the present
technical. staiffs, industry. would
be raised to a height unattained
by the industry of any other

country.
Ok

Stalin makes an interesting
reference to the fundamental
social-historical position of Brit-
ain. The passages occur in Sec-

tion 2 of the ‘‘Observations,” |

where he first discusses the ques-
tion of commodity production
under socialism.

The point is, in effect, that

Britain is the only country in
the world which has no peasan-
try. :
Only in Britain has there been
“such a development of capital-
ism and a concentration of pro-
duction alike in industry and in
agriculture that in the event of
the working class taking power
all the means of production in
the country could become na-
tional property and be removed

from the sphere of commodity
production.”

Stalin adds the important
qualification that he refrains
,from considering the question of
Britain’s foreign trade, with its
immense importance for the eco-
nomy of the country:

“I think that only after
studying this quetsion conld
one finally settle the question
of the fate of commodity pro-

duction in Britain after the
seizure of power by the work-
ing class and the nationaliza-
tion of all the means of pro-
duction.”

The Soviet paper, Pravda,
writes that Stalin’s ‘‘Economic
Problems” is “truly of historic
significance. .. . It will help our
cadres to grasp more profound-
ly the laws of social develop-
ment, and will play a great part
in the ideological armament of
the Communist and Workers’
parties abroad.”

Here we return to the propos-
ed new textbook of Marxist poli-
tical economy around which all
the discussion arose.

Stalin stresses the fundamen-

“tal importance of such a text-

book for the Soviet young peo-
ple, for those rising generations
who need to be c@onstantly re-
equipped with the basic econo-
mic theory and practice of
Marxism,

And, he goes on, it is not
only necessary for the young peo-
ple of the USSR.

“It is especially necessary for
the Communists of all countries
and for Communist sympathis-
ers.’”’ If such a textbook is real-
ly well done, not too bulky, but
made a real handbook, “it will
make a fine present for the
young Communists of.all coun-
tries.”’

To which he adds this refiec-
tive sentence:

“Incidentally. in view of the
unsatisfactory level of Marx-
ist development of the majori-
ty of foreign ‘Communist par-
ties, such a textbook could
also be of the greatest assist-

ance to the not-so-young lead-
ing Communists of the coun-
tries concerned.”

Meantime, the ‘Economic
Problems” call for the closest

study and thought by every Com-

munist and sincere Socialist, It
niust now be clear to all that
without mastering and applying
the mighty instrumtnt of Marx-
ist. political economy there can
be no solution to the social prob-
lems of our time.

® This is the second and con-.
cluding article by Allen Hutt.
on the Stalin documents pub--

lished in the Moscow journal

Bolshevik,

“... If the majority of Soviet workers were to lift their cultural-technical level to that of the
present technical staffs, industry would be raised to a height unattained by the industry of any

other country.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 31, 1952 — Page 9

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