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, = te UOLID|JU!L ON Co} Tec Jay Ca <4 bin 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. -