559 



Soviet political and industrial leaders. Even Joseph Stalin paid hom- 

 age to American work techniques : 



American efficiency is that indomitable force which neither knows nor recog- 

 nizes obstacles: which with its businesslike perseverance brushes aside all 

 obstacles: which continues at a task once started until it is finished, even if it 

 is a minor task ; and without which serious constructive work is inconceivable.* 5 



Sutton claimed that Soviet industry generated very little tech- 

 nology of its own in the period prior to 1946 : 



No major plant under construction between 1030 and 1045 has been identified 

 as a purely Soviet effort. No usable technology originated in Soviet laboratories 

 except in the case of synthetic rubber. . . . 60 



Soviet achievements since World War II in military and space 

 technology, presumably independent of technology transfers from the 

 West, raise doubts of the current validity — even accepting its earlier 

 basis — of the view that Soviet industry is incapable of generating 

 necessary technological change. Certain civilian sectors have also made 

 important technological innovations. Huge Soviet expenditures on re- 

 search and development have apparently created a new capability for 

 generating technology. Thus, while Soviet officials are again showing 

 an interest in importing U.S. technology, the present situation differs 

 somewhat from that of the prewar period. 



CURRENT SOVIET TECHNOLOGICAL REQUIREMENTS 



In official negotiations of the Joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Commercial 

 Commission and in private talks with U.S. businessmen, Soviet officials 

 are again expressing an interest in importing various kinds of U.S. 

 technology. Soviet representatives have shown most interest in those 

 areas in which the United States appears to have a legitimate claim to 

 world technological leadership : . 



(1) large-scale petroleum and natural gas extraction, transmission, 

 and distribution systems, including special permafrost problems and 

 oil recovery systems ; 



(2) management control systems utilizing computer facilities; 



(.3) mass production machinery output, such as of trucks and ears; 



(4) animal husbandry as characterized by U.S. agricultural busi- 

 ness; and 



(5) tourist systems including hotels, packaged tours, and transport. 



Each of these technological areas requires large-scale financing, con- 

 sortium operations, and marketing systems. The experience of U.S. 

 multinational corporations might lend itself to industrial coopera- 

 tion with the Soviet Union. 



European and Japanese firms may wish to limit their commitments 

 to the Soviets. For example, Italian Fiat and French 'Renault in- 

 volvement in the Tol'iatti and Kama plants, respectively, may be as 

 far as they wish to go. Japanese leaders may prefer some joint U.S.- 

 U.S.S.R. -Japanese arrangements. 



For political reasons, the Soviet leadership may wish to spread the 

 participation of non-Communist countries to minimize outside lever- 

 age. Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germanv have been the lead- 



65 Joseph Stalin. The Foundations of Leninism (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing 

 House, 1950). p. 160. 



66 Sutton, op. cit, p. 346. 



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