nan Lumer

e 1930s when the United States
of the capitalist world were in
f the worst depression in their
| when in this country full a
labor force was jobless, there
ntry in which there was no de-
ino unemployment. In the so-
t Union, during those years,
ontinued to rise steadily and
ork for everyone. In fact, So-
ses of machinery and other
is served to provide jobs for
$s and to alleviate to some ex-
cts of the depression here.
2 find a similar and even more
rast.
talist countries, and not least
tates, are bogged down in deep-
. It is a crisis marked by the
of the international monetary
d on the privileged status of the
mounting financial difficulties
eting interest rates, by recur-
1 declines. And it is marked by
uble-digit”’ inflation, corroding
andards of the working people
lining economic stability. Cur-
nited States is suffering a crisis
and over-production in which
S are accompanied by falling
ind mounting unemployment.
4s a built-in feature of present-
ism. In the United States, con-
2s have risen every year since
II — in good times and in bad
y two minor exceptions. In re-
the situation has progressively
3y 1970, prices were increasing
6% a year, and during the past
hot up by more than 12%. Nor
relief in sight.
ation is not a product of ‘‘ex-
ge demands, of the **machina-
e oil-producing countries or of
umerous other reasons common-
r it. On the contrary, it is a
capitalism itself, and of this
better proof than the fact that
alism is absent, inflation does
ndeed, one of the most striking
the economies of the social-
s is the high degree of price

viet Union, if we take the year
the index of state retail prices

‘1IBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1974—Page 6 "

Shopping in one of the food stores on Moscow's Kalinin Ave.

in subsequent years, according to the offi-
cial statistical reports, was as follows:

1960 ; 74
1965 %
1972 14

In 1973, figures on retail sales and on

sales in constant prices indicate that the —

index remained virtually unchanged.

Here there are no private monopolies
to fix prices at the highest level the market
will bear, to ¢reate artificial shortages
or to use real shortages as a basis for un-
conscionable price-gouging. Prices are
regulated in the interests of the people.

The difference between pricing in the
Soviet Union and that in the United States
is illustrated by the following example: in
1972, the Soviet Union experienced a severe
drought which seriously reduced its wheat
crop, and a considerable quantity of wheat
had to be imported from the United States.

But during this period the price of
bread remained unchanged. In this country,
on the other hand, drought has become an
excuse for constantly rising prices of bread
and other grain products. :

The picture in other socialist countries
is similar. The UN Monthly Statitical
Bulletin for those countries for which they
are available: (1970 = 100)

1966 1974
Czechoslovakia 91.5 99.7 (Mareh)
Hungary (1967) 97.7 110.3 (June)
Poland 94.5 103.9 (March)

These figures show that since 1966,
consumer prices have increased by only
about 1% a year in Czechoslovakia and
Poland and by about 2% a year in Hung-
ary. And these increases are due mainly
to special circumstances. Thus, the in-
creases in Hungary, which have. taken
place mainly since 1970, are the result of
a-new economic policy permitting enter-
prises a degree of latitude in raising prices
of luxury, semi-luxury and high-quality
goods. In Poland, the chief factor was a
one-shot rise in the prices of certain com-
modities early in 1974. And in Czechoslo-
vakia the tise in prices, which took place
entirely before 1970, is associated primar-
ily with the period of the Dubcek regime
and its after-effects.

The one exception to the general pattern
is Yugoslavia, where prices rose nearly
2*4 times from 1966 to June 1974. But this
arises from the fact that Yugoslavia has
tied itself to the capitalist world market

and has adopted many features of the cap-
italist money market.

But there is more to the socialist pic-
ture than price stability. Soviet statistics
show that average monthly wage payments
to all workers and employees rose from
80.6 billion rubles in 1960 to 130.2 billion
rubles in 1972. In 1974 these payments will
come to well over 140 billion rubles. Even
allowing for the growth in the size of the
labor force, this represents a steady and
very substantial rise in real wages. Con-
trast this with the experience of U.S. work-
ers, whose real wages have fallen by
5% during the past year alone.

Secondly, not only are the prices of
necessary goods and services stable; they
are in the main considerably lower than in
the United States. A pound of potatoes costs
about 4% kopecks, a quart of milk about
30 kopecks, a pound of beef about 90 ko-
pecks or less. Rents on apartments run
10-18 rubles a month. Telephone service in
Moscow costs 3 rubles a month with un-
limited calls. Charges for gas and elec-

tricity are nominal. And subway fare is 5.

kopecks. (At present rates of exchange one
ruble is equal to about $1.33) Prices of
clothing are higher, and prices of consumer
durables and luxury goods may be much

. higher. But they are increasingly within

the reach of the average Soviet family as
purchasing power continues to rise. Today,
for example, 98% of households in areas
with dependable reception own television
sets.

A. might be expected, the commercial
news media exert themselves to deny
reality and to ‘‘prove’’ that inflation does
exist in the Soviet Union and other socialist
countries. The latest such exercise in
futility is an article by Hedrick Smith in
the New York Times (October 7, -1974),
seeking to show the existence of “hidden
inflation” in the USSR. Compelled to admit
that prices of every-day necessities remain
constant, Smith devotes himself to prices
of luxury goods like caviar and jewelry and
of such items as furniture and automo-
biles—articles whose prices may be raised
or lowered in accordance with their avail-

- ability or for other reasons (for example,

liquor prices were raised to limit drink-
ing).

In pursuit of his impossible goal, Smith
resorts to the well-worn techniques of anti-

‘if they are found to be justified, steps

<-cow (August 19,

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Soviet fabrication. He presents complalli lit
about rising prices by a series of unnaliky

individuals—stories which are obviOUN) als

impossible to verify. Secondly, he GN an

(though without saying so) complalil} Dr

about prices or quality of goods wi

appear in the ‘letters columns of Po

newspapers. In the Soviet Union such
plaints are customarily investigated,

taken to correct the shortcomings. 4)
cases, which are exceptions, Smith
to present as the rule. é
But such distortions are rejected n.
by other bourgeois observers. Thus, dlc
ard F. Janssen, veteran staff mena
the Wall Street Journal, writes from colt
1974): ‘Until: rece
months, Western. analysts would.-- ‘|
tend that the Soviets probably suffer me it
much inflation as we do... A a
soned American and Western Europeal tt
servers, however, there’s a general inde!
sensus' that the Soviets have o"
achieved something economic that ¥!
haven’t — sparing their economy ae
double-digit inflation rates © cla
through most other countries.” > u
But this achievement of the Soviet
ion is not due to the discovery of So”)
miraculous formula. Stable prices
ing living standards are a natural cole
quence of socialism. A socialist econott!
in which the purpose of production
maximum satisfaction of the needs
people, has no place for inflation, W i
as present-day capitalist economy, J
which the aim of production is vee
profits for the giant monopolies,
exist without it. i
The monopoly capitalists do not vind
abolish inflation, since it is an essen)
instrument for maintaining and expand :
’
|

ow

ey ee eek ae” goer rao. ee

corporate profits. The mass anti-inflatl
movement which is now unfolding cal’
fectively alleviate the effects of inflati
and curb the efforts of the ruling class’
place the burden of the economic cri®
on the shoulders of the working pe {
But to eliminate the source of inflation
necessary to abolish capitalism, to?)
place it with a society in which the met, ‘
of production are collectively owned vi
the working people and used for 4
benefit. A socialist United States, no ¥
than a socialist Soviet Union, will bé
society free of inflation and of all
other economic evils which grow out
capitalist exploitation. -