NEW SOVIET DRIVE IN HEAVY INDUSTRY

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28160, 26 December 1956, Page 7

NEW SOVIET DRIVE IN HEAVY INDUSTRY

“Capitalist West To Be Outdone” (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, December 24. Russia gave notice tonight that she intended to press ahead with the development of heavy industry, and to launch a drive aimed at beating the “capitalist” West in output. The governing Central Committee of the Soviet Conjmunist Party, which in effect decides government policy, disclosed this in a long statement after a five day plenary session in Moscow. This reviewed Soviet industrial achievements and failings during the last year and demanded that full details of the sixth five year plan (1956-60) be presented to the Supreme Soviet —Russia’s single-party Parliament—for consideration and approval within the first six months of 1957. The general directives for this plan were laid down by the twentieth congress of the Soviet Communist Party last February on a basis of priority for the development of heavy industry. The plan has never yet been set out in detail, however.

The Central Committee denounced current failures in Soviet economic planning and called for a new fiveyear plan which would boost Russia’s industrial output in a "Beat Capitalism” drive. The committee, which concluded its five-day meeting to-night, said that State planning bodies had made mistakes which had led to non-fulfilment of quotas. The new five-year plan’s main objective, it urged, should be that “within the shortest historical period the most advanced capitalist countries should be overtaken in per capita output.” Fullest and most effective use must be made of all the material resources and finances of the country. The committee noted that coal, metal, cement, and timber lagged behind in production and had not fulfilled their planned quotas. Housing was also behind the plan. It put the blame for this on serious

failures in planning and unsatisfactory direction by the Ministries. The committee called on planners to cut down on capital investment in new enterprises. It said that additional funds would have to be allocated for housing, but full use of local materials cutting out of all “architectural excesses,” and the education of the inhabitants in the maintenance of houses, must be made.

Bus Boycott In Florida

(Rec. 10 p.m.) TALLAHASSEE (Florida), December 24. Negro leaders decided last night to try to integrate seating on Tallahassee bus lines, boycotted for seven months. The leaders, including negro ministers and professional men, decided at a mass meeting of the ITegro InterCivic Council to try to follow the example of the four-day-old integration at Montgomery, Alabama. The vote was taken in the face of an appeal by the Mayor (Mr John Humphress) to both whites and negroes to co-operate in maintaining race segregation on the city bus lines.