FIVE YEAR PLAN.

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18803, 26 November 1932, Page 4

FIVE YEAR PLAN.

Engrossed as the rest of the world has been in its own troubles, it lias not paid so much attention of late to a question which promised to be of burning interest two or three years a g o —namely, the operation and results of the famous Five Year Plan in Russia. The question of two or three years ago was whether the plan would succeed. The five years will come to ail end on December 31, and there is no definite answer to the question of its success or failure, for either result must be on a basis of comparison not only with the objective in view but with the conditions of ttie people in Russia and the conditions of tiie world at large. Judged from any of these standards it would seem that the Five Year Plan has achieved neither success nor failure, and in any case it has not impressed the world that Communism is any belter than any other system.

If the Five Yea. Plan is to be judge,l on the extent to which the various quotas have been achieved, some measure of success has to be conceded, in some of the industries, such as oil, tractor and machine building, the quotas have actually been surpassed, but, on the other hand, in the output of coal and Iron and steel the plan is a long way behind. In agriculture the output is far behind estimates and the acreage is far below that planned. There has been a decrease in ihe number of livestock. .Moreover, tbe percentage increases planned in the food consumption of the city population have not been realised. Prices have Interfered seriously with the success of the. plan in relation to wages. The plan had contemplated an increase In nominal wages and a far greater increase in real wages, as a result of- lower prices for foodstuffs and manufactured goods. It would seem that the nominal wages are greater than the plan foreshadowed, but real wages have been lower because prices have risen far more rapidly than wages. Thus, while the Five Year Plan can show' actual results in pushing forward huge constructional and in forcing the peasants into collective farms, there has been dismal failure to effect any improvement in the living standard of the population. The Communist plans have failed, in other words, to bring material comfort to the masses. Actually the success of the plan to date has been achieved at the expense of the population, although better things are promised for the future, after the period of travail is over. Hut the Five Year Plan had been expected to do more than achieve success in Russia itself It was to demonstrate to the world the superiority of the Communist over the Capitalist system. r l'o achieve such success as lias been won llie Communist had to embody some of the features of the Capitalist system. The Five Year Plan lias not proved the menace to (lie Capitalist system that the world was led to believe it would be. The 50y,,.; has found that ils theories have .Veil sorely dinted when brought into conflict with that intractable quantity known as human nature.