Soviet Industrial Growth
'U W hen THE Bolsheviks took W over in 1917, Russia was an economically backward country. Today, less than forty years later, the Soviet Union is a mighty industrial power which, having outstripped France, Germany and England, stands second only to the United States. This rapid industrialization of a country politically dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism has been the object of much study and speculation; for a clear knowledge of Soviet economic growth and potential can make the difference between realistic and unrealistic thinking, and perhaps between war and peace. The first question generally raised is whether the Soviet Union has actually accomplished as much as we think it has. The Iron Curtain has made it almost impossible for Western economists to make independent investigations, but we are told that the output of the USSR has increased more than twentyfold in the period from 1913 to 1953. Such figures should not, however, surprise us. The Soviet Union is a Johnny-come-lately. It is now undergoing the industrial revolution which the United States and Western Europe experienced in the last century. American calculations show an annual rate of growth for the Soviet economy of from 6.5 to 7 per cent as compared with a rate of 2.5 to 3 per cent for the American economy. Or, taking industrial growth alone (without agriculture), the Soviet rate of growth was 15 per cent before