EAST GERMAN ECONOMY

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27695, 27 June 1955, Page 13

EAST GERMAN ECONOMY

DRIVE FOR FARM PRODUCTION TASK OF COMMUNIST OFFICIALS (From a Reuter Correspondent) BERLIN. East German Government collectors, the men who have to gather the compulsory quotas of farm produce from the farmers, have received instructions to be “human” with the farmers and to persuade rather than to order. They are to be friendly but firm, and should try to find out why a farmer can or will not meet his quota. They should seek to become the friends and advisors of the farmers. Hand-in-hand with friendship and advice, however, they are expected to conduct an ideological campaign to convince farmers that fulfilment of their quotas is “an important part of our national struggle.” This is the gist of an article in “Neuer Weg” the monthly newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and summarises a spate of speeches and newspaper articles calling for improved collection of farm produce and cattle. The Fast German State President, Mr Wilhelm Pieck, set the pace at a reception for farm produce collectors, when he advised them to “create and maintain relations of friendship and comradeship with the farmers.” The new instructions are a further instalment in the zig-zag course which the East German State has followed in pursuit of the illusory goal of food autonomy. First, immediately after the war, there was the expropriation of land owners and the redistribution of their estates in small uneconomical plots. Four years later, came a drive to reunite these plots in large collective farms. Every conceivable form of compulsion was used to press independent farmers into collective farming—threats, imprisonment, impos sible delivery quotas and taxatin»- ; The result was that more than 10.00' experienced farmers sought political asylum in the West, leaving larg' tracts of good land behind withou' men to work them.

This tough course was reversed in June, 1953. Farmers were given credits, lower delivery quotas, tax remissions nnd building materials. Labour offices and industry were ordered to free men for work on the land. But by January of this year, collective and State-owned farms still ran only onefifth of all arable land. Sales on Free Market

Farmers took advantage of the lower delivery quotas to increase production—and sell more on the free market at rates substantially higher than those paid by the State for compulsory deliveries. Cattle stocks in Mecklenburg dedecreased from 306,000 in 1952 to 188.000 last year, and pigs from 790.000 in 1952 Io 635,000 in 1954. President Pieck told veterinary surgeons that “permanent losses” caused by animal diseases and improper treatment of cattle “are resulting in gaps in meat and fat supplies which imports cannot always bridge.” “Neuer Weg” declared that the farmers of Neubrandenburg, another important agricultural district had failed to reach a single target figure in agricultural production last year. The official production report for the first quarter of this year stated bluntly that “the planned increase in cattle stocks has not been achieved and there are recurring fodder shortages.” Collectors. “Neuer Weg” stated, are partly to blame for the unsatisfactory situation. On. the one hand, they had “categorically insisted” on taking away the fixed delivery quota without seeking to help the farmer. On the other hand, they “yielded- to unjustified excuses of farmers who lagged behind or even supported their demands for lower delivery quotas.” “Great Mistake” One great mistake they had made was their failure to explore the real reasons for lagging deliveries and to advise the farmer on how to fulfil his quota. The newspaper accused collectors of failing to secure the cooperation of local government organs, the farmers’ own organisations and the all-party National Front. It demanded that collectors should live in the district and establish close, personal contacts with their farmers. Broad political “enlightenment” should not be confined to “general propaganda” but should take into account the conditions peculiar to the locality. Frequent meetings with the farmers should be used to “overcome the present aversion of the country people to problems connected with the collection of agricultural produce.” But the collectors should not “overlook carelessly the farmers’ attempts to neglect the fulfilment of their compulsory quotas and to sell their products on the free market instead.” It is inexcusable, for example. “Neuer Weg” said, that “the area of Templin, for instance, ranked last in the fulfilment of its compulsory quotas but held the lead in free market The newspaper urged collectors to form working groups and exchange ideas about “the most methods of collection. They should also collaborate closely with the machine tractor stations which were the advance guard of democratic socialism on the land.”