Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1928. CRAIN FROM RUSSIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 76, 10 January 1928, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1928. CRAIN FROM RUSSIA.

There is great significance in the statement that Russia’s export of grain, which before the war totalled 12,000,000 tons annually, will this year not exceed one milliohj while it may even decline to 600,000 tons. According to the “Daily Express,” the peasants are hoarding the harvest and are willing to sell only at prices that the State declines to pay. In it is stated, the authorities are organising “drives” to force the surrender of surplus grain. This shows that though the Soviet has abandoned much of the communism that was established at the revolution, there is still existent a powerful system by which the individual is compelled to act according to the dictates of the governing body. When the Soviet system was introduced the land was nationalised, the landlords expropriated. The peasants were to cultivate all the land; they were to receive sufficient /or their own needs—their share; the I’esi was to go to the community. But patient and dull though the peasants were, they realised that their lot under the new regime would not he one whit better or brighter than under Tsardom. So, jolted from their former spirit of acceptance of whatever the dominant class imposed upon them and fearful that they would he exploited by their new rulers, they produced only sufficient for their own needs. There was no surplus, and the townspeople were in danger of starvation. To prevent this, Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy, commonly known as N.E.P., which permitted the peasants to sell their surplus. The peasants have now become leaseholders, who may hand on their farms to others, and are hardly to be distinguished from owners. The only real gain has been freedom from the burden of the great landlords end a wider diffusion of land ownership. The result, however, lias not been what was desired, for though the land was nominally theirs the State retained such a hold on industry that do man could be sure of reaping the fruits of his labour. Thus industry is discouraged and what is produced is hoarded in the hope that the turn of events will he such as to benefit the hoarder. In several branches of industry the breakdown of the communistic system lias resulted in individual trading being permitted. The position of the peasant is complieated by the fact that the State has retained foreign trade in its own hands. The main reason for this is the desire to maintain the currency, for if there were a. large adverse balance it would possibly have a serious effect on the currency. Depreciation of currency would necessitate universal and freouent readjustment of wages and prices. Every readjustment would case trouble and discontent. Russia may have made some progress toward economic recovery, hut she is still a. long way from complete national health, ond will continue so while Govovw -nt rem-y-w on the lfr.es now I pursued.