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Such progress was made possible only by a relentless moratorium on consumer goods. While arms plants boomed, farms and light industry slumped. This economic unbalance leaves Russia well geared for a short war, but liable to great strains, particularly in food production, in a long-drawn-out war of atomic attrition. It is a fact that has been noted by Malenkov himself (TIME, Aug. 17). "Things are bad," said Malenkov. "The volume of production of consumer goods cannot satisfy us . . . We are not meeting the demands of the population for meat, milk and eggs. All this is damaging to the national security."
Malenkov left his lieutenants to spell out the damage in detail. In an orgy of breast beating, they reported: ¶ Stockings, underwear, hats and footwear—"completely inadequate." ¶ Textiles of all sorts—"insufficient . . . badly dyed, with flaws." ¶Furniture—"unsatisfactory." ¶ Women's dresses—"poor." ¶Bed linen—"production is lower than in 1940."
Far more serious is the "near crisis" in agriculture revealed by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, who doubles as party secretary and overlord of Soviet farming. Khrushchev succeeded Malenkov in Stalin's old job as boss of the party; the fact that he confessed a "serious lag" in food production attests to the growing alarm of the Soviet leaders. The facts, as Khrushchev gave them: ¶ A shortage of cattle in 1952 equal to 22 million head. ¶ A decline in pork, from 5,000,000 tons in 1940 to 1,600,000 in 1952. ¶ A drop in butter production, in Siberia alone, from 75,000 tons in 1913 to 65,000 tons in 1952. ¶ A supply of potatoes and vegetables that is "quite unsatisfactory."
Khrushchev showed that since 1940 the Soviet population has increased more than twice as fast as agricultural production. After 36 years in power, during which they had total power to make over the land in their own image, and by their own theories, the Communists officially acknowledge that the Russian people, in 1953, are eating less high-protein food per head than they did under the Czar. And the people work harder for it than they did 30 years ago, as the following U.S. Government tables show:
To buy 1 Hours of Work
kilo of 1923 1953
Bread 2 hrs. 42 min. 4 hrs. 30 min
Beef 11 hrs. 2 min. 15 hrs. 48 min.
Butter 3 hrs. 41 min. 4 hrs
Milk 1hr. 5 min. 3 hrs. 42 min.
Sugar 3 hrs. 51 min. 5 hrs. 35 min.
As the one-man boss of Soviet agriculture, Khrushchev is the man most to blame for the human misery and potential strategic weakness that his figures indicate. But though Communism has killed tens of thousands for failings one-tenth as great, this tough, blue-eyed bureaucrat has not only survived but has got himself appointed boss of the Kremlin's recovery plan. He has undertaken to revolutionize Soviet agriculture (for the umpteenth time) by 1956, to more than double its gross output. He promises to raise the supply of meat (230%), butter (190%), cheese (220%), sugar (230%). His record makes it plain that he will stick at nothing to get what he wants.