from

om

HE SOVIET UNION, iit its economic and cultural develop-

MOSCOW

ment, is following the path of the transition from socialism to

communism.

By socialism, we mean that first stage of the building of commun-
ist society which follows immediately after the abolition of. capitalism,

in which society is ordered according’ to the slogan:
cording to his ability, to each according to his labor.”

The higher stage of communist
Society is reached when this slo-
San becomes: “From each accord-
ing to his ability, to each accord-
ing to his need.” This stage is
reached when the social] produc-
tive powers at the disposal of so-
ciety become so great that a su-
perabundance of products of all

kinds is realized.

In the building of socialism the
mechanization of labor processes
Plays an extremely large part—
the use of machines to raise the
productivity of labor and to re-
place heavy and arduous work.
But in the process of the transi-
tion from socialism to commun-
ism the task of mechanization of
labor gradually gives rise to and
mingles with an even more com-
Plicated and magnificent task —
the automatization of production
processes. By the automatization
Of production is meant the use of
Self-regulating machines which
Perform a large variety of intri-
Cate operations without human-
intervention.

The basic direction of the devel-
opment of technique in the Soviet
Union in the period of transition
from socialism to communism is
towards
Production on the basis of. elec-
trification. °

the automatization of

A veritable technical revolution
is now ‘proceeding in the Soviet
Union; heralding the transition.
socialism to communism.
The post-war Five-Year ‘Plan
(1946-50) has already laid down
huge tasks in the automatization
of production in heavy and light
metallurgy, in machine building,
in the chemical, rubber and food
instmustries, and in many other
branches of industry.

In the sphere of electrification,
far-reaching work is going ahead
On the automatization of power
Stations and grids. Some hydro-
electric stations, for example, in

‘Armenia and on the Moscow-

Volga canal, function without per-
sonal intervention. The machine

“hall of such a giant enterprise as

the Dneiper’ Dam power station
is manned by only a few workers,
checking the reading of the ap-
Paratus.

Another example of automatiza-
tion is seen in the conveyor belts
of mass production. factories.

In 1946 at the Stanko-Kon-

‘Structsia factory in Moscow an
_ automatic line of benches was set

up and put into production, ful-
filling, without the direct parti-
Cipation of. any worker, 134 op-

' erations in the working of eylin-

dew heads for the KTZ tractor.

The Orjonikidze works, too, has
set up an automatic line of bench-
es to make the Zis-150 engine.

This line consists of eight parts
of assembly benches, situated in
Such a way that during the move-
“ments of the block of the engine
from the first pair of benches to
the last (in two minutes), all the

. Operations of countersinking and

Cutting threads are performed,

“From each ac-

etc. The control of the line, look-
ed after by only two men, is con-
centrated on a central electric
panel with push-button control
and signal lamps.

zi

The development of teleme-
chanics: that ‘is, the direction and
regulation of technological pro-
cesses from a distance, plays, an
important part in automatization.
Telemechanical devices of various

Kinds are receiving ever wider

By M. RUBINSTEIN

RT) LL

There is intense interest among the Soviet people in every new scientific advance and
engineering development, as these students experimenting with a model of ‘the Moscow Metro show.
4

Push-button era of labor

application in power stations, in
railway transport, in the most va-
ried branches of industry, on
ships and airplanes.

The automatic hydro-electric
station at Erevan, capital of Ar-
menia, is kept locked up and is
visited only once a week by a fit-
ter who tests the equipment. The

station is controlled by a duty

technician at a central panel two
miles away.

The work of five automatic
pumping stations on the Moscow-
Volga canal is directed from a
Single control.

One press of the button of the
“dispatcher,” and the telemechan-
ical installation hands over “elec-
tric orders” in the automatic
equipment of the pumping sta-
tions. The motors and pumps are
put into commission or stopped,
the machinery is lubricated, the
temperature of the bearings is
tested and regulated.

The telemechanical installation
is, moreover, so interlocked that
any incorrect order of the human
“dispatches” is not fulfilled.

There is not space here to deal

with all the applications automat-
ization is already receiving in the
Soviet Union, still less with its
potentialities for the future. In
the years to come it will become
possible to lay down plans for
ever-wider undertakings for the
automatization of production.

Only socialist economy, free
from crises and unemployment,
jean fully display and make use
of all these peaceful possibilities
of the technica] revolution creat-
ed on the basis of automatization.

Only socialist economy can

make use of automatization in all
its breadth for a hitherto un-
heard-of growth of man’s produc-
tive powers.

Under socialism, automatization
does not mean that the worker is
thrown on the scrapheap. It
means, instead, the creation of a
superabundance of social prod-
ucts, the raising still highen of
the status and qualifications of
the worker, the freeing of the
worker from heavy and routine
work, the destruction of the op-
position between mental and phy-
sical labor.

ITH emergence

groups,

my, the liberation war

phase.

in once
tral Burma of a united

(PVOs) and other insurgent
and with establish-
ment, under joint command,
of a Democratic People’s ar-
in . of
Burma enters a new decisive

.

movement led by the Com-
munists and supported by the
democratic forces.

‘Mront composed of Commun- News reaching here
ists, White Band People’s Vol- through merchants and trav-
unteer Organization forces ellers,, arriving from the

Karen-held areas, indicates a
tremendous awakening in the
Karen masses, which has re-
sulted in a gradual isolation
the reactionary Karen
chieftains.

It will be remembered that

Their joint administration
appears to control an area
of over 50,000 square miles
stretching from a point north
of the Yenangyaun oilfields to
Tharawaddy, within 70 miles
‘of Rangoon, to the west of

the Rangoon-Mandalay rail-
"way. ;
This democratic united

front is supported by a large
section of Burmese army de-
serters, who came over to the
people's side in the course of
the insurrection.

News from the interior of

Burma is _seant and heavily
censored. It is officially re-

ported that the reactionary-

Karen chieftains have set up

a parallel state with the
avowed object of disrupting
the democratic liberation

a@ year ago Karen chieftains
at the instigation of the Brit-
ish Tories, took up arms
against the Nu government.

Since then, in the context
of a democratic liberation
movement, guided and led by
the Communists, the Karen

masses have taken the path
blazoned by the Communists,
and effected a fair measure
of land reform such as dis-
‘tribution of land to the peas-
ants, setting up of people’s
elécted local administrations.

bd *

According to a proclama-
tion issued by the democratic
United Front earlier this year,
the following points form the

main planks of the new pro-
gram.

@ Replacement of the present
_ puppet state of Takin Nu,

cs _ Burma unites for freedom

‘and its ramifications in.
town and countryside, by
a democratic state in
which the toiling masses
will have a predominant
role in the affairs of the
state;

@ Scrapping of the present
Burmese  Canstitution,
which serves the . native
bourgeosie and its foreign
masters, and the formation
of a new one on the basis
of democratic ideals.

@ Abrogation of all financial,
economic and _ military
agreements arrived at be-
tween the present ruling.
clique of Thakin Nu and

his predecessors and the
British;

@ Nationalization of all
eign enterprises;

for-

@ Distribution of land to the
peasants and penceliation
of all debts;

@\ Selfideterminaition to na-
tionalities;

@ Annulment of the notorious
Nu-Attlee agreement by
which the entire economy
and resources of Burnia
were sold to the British
imperialists,

An eight-hour working day
and the raising of the stan-
dard of living of the masses,

‘tions

\erisis deepens.

middle-class employees, teach-
ers, government servants, and
others, will shortly be an es-
tablished fact in the liberated
area.

The United Front has al-
ready put into practice the
pledges it made to the peas-
ants relating to the distribu-
tion of land and the cancel-
lation of debts and settling up
of local people’s administra-
in the liberated areas.

The Nu government now
controls only a few cities and
has been completely cut off
by air, rail and wireless from
the interior. Today it stands
isolated from the Burmese
masses.

Right in the midst of Ran-
goon government areas there
exists a strong people’s move-
ment—led by the All-Burma

Trade Union Congress, the
Communist , party and the
democratic youth organiza-

tions—which is growing in
momentum as the economic

It is. against this back-
ground that a feverish at-
tempt is being made to get
British and U.S. aid in resur-

recting the tottering Nu gov-
ernment.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE

— OCTOBER 14, 1949 — PAGE 5