RUSSIA’S GOLD

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 July 1938, Page 16

RUSSIA’S GOLD

INCREASE IN EXPORT. 1 I The higher price of gold, which has! increased gold production throughout! the world since the United States Gov-j ernment established it, thus becoming the world’s largest buyer of the metal, has been a. great benefit to the Soviet Russian Government, Communist economists assert. Russia, they announced, will continue to export a large portion of its gold production. In recent years Moscow has exported large quantities of gold to America, Britain and Germany. An increasingquantity of gold has poured into New York, chiefly by way of London, on its way to America’s underground vaults in Kentucky. “Russia has become an industrial country, and to-day needs its raw materials,” said the Moscow newspaper “In-, Austria.” “Because we can no longer export sufficient raw materials to obtain the foreign exchange necessary for our purchases abroad, we are going to continue to increase our exports of gold. “In capitalistic countries gold is connected with base crimes and monstrous exploitation. Gold is the measure for all bourgeoise values, both material and moral. There is nothing in capitalistic countries which can resist the power of gold. But in Russia the role of gold is quite different. “We need gold not only to strengthen Bolshevism in its fight against the capitalistic world, but also to secuie the independence of our Communist native countries. We do not want to become the debtor of capitalistic States, and we need to purchase many things abroad. For this reason we must continue to enlarge our gold production." ~ The “Industria” did not mention the amount of gold now being produced annually in Russia. The newspapei stated, however, the output of gold in 1937 was three times as large as in 1933. . T The Union Corporation ot London, which follows world gold production closelv, estimated that in 1’933 Russia, produced 2,650.000 fine ounces of gold, which would make its production last year approximately 8,000.000 fine ounces against the 11.735.000 fine ounces produced in the Union of South Africa. CONGRESS OF GOLD WORKERS Commenting on the recent congress of workers of the gold industry in Moscow, whose proceedings were not fully reported in the Soviet Press, the “Industria" reported the congress passed a resolution promising Dictator Joseph Stalin it would place Russia at the top of the list of gold producing countries next year. “The Congress disclosed many disorders in the gold industry,” said the paper. “The production of individual prospectors was' higher than that of the Government’s various trusts. Sabotage and wrecking were reported in many enterprises. The newly appointed directors and managers know they must increase production and are informed of the mistakes which have been made. It is up to them to make good. “Our country has immense supplies of gold-bearing ore and gravel, which have been explored and mapped. The gold industry technically is well equipped. We have a large number of huge dredges, hundreds- of hydraulic plants, tens of thousands of individual prospectors, and many thousands of additional cartels now mining gold. “We have huge smelters and refining plants, which need only more efficient management to place us in the position of being the largest goldproducing country' in the world.” The “Industria” did not mention that the Soviet gold mining industry is controlled by the GPU (secret police), which has settled more than 2,000,000 people in the gold-producing regions of the Urals and in Siberia since 1928.