RUSSIA: Half for War

The Supreme Soviet, Russia’s parliament, met fleetingly in the Kremlin last week to Sign Here at the bottom of the 1952 budget. For the first year since the war, Stalin was not present, but the other eleven Politburocrats dressed up the occasion by sitting up front, enduring dutifully one of the lesser hardships of dictatorship : boring, predictable speeches.

The Supreme Soviet met to approve a new 477 billion ruble budget, 6% higher than last year, and to be told that taxes will be 10% higher. Some 114 billion rubles (or $28 billion at the meaningless official exchange rates) are listed for defense —20% more than last year.

On the record Russia is putting a quarter of its income into war. Actually it is putting more than half, when budget categories are decoded. “Education” includes military training. “Support of the government” includes atomic development and the huge secret-police setup.