28 PHENOMENA, ATOMS, AND MOLECULES 



RUSSIAN PLANNING 



The Russians like to plan big projects on a nation-wide scale. The suc- 

 cessive five-year plans have been tremendous and successful undert^l'dngs. 

 The building of a huge steel industry beyond the Urals long before the 

 war made victory possible. They decided to use mechanical equipment on 

 the farms. The extent to which this was accomplished can be judged by 

 the fact that the Germans captured or destroyed about 200,000 farm 

 tractors, which is about ten times the total number in all Germany. 



I was much impressed by the display of Russian-made mechanized 

 equipment in the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24. The Russian 

 tanks, manufactured in quantity, had shown themselves to be the match 

 of any that Germany had produced and, in the opinion of some experts, 

 they were far better than our own Sherman tanks. 



In Moscow I was told that a full sized blast furnace has been operated 

 using oxygen instead of air. A large experimental plant, costing something 

 of the order of $100,000,000, is now nearing completion for the continuous 

 operation of blast furnaces and Bessemer converters. If this work turns 

 out as expected the whole steel industry of Russia will probably be re- 

 modeled to adapt it to the use of oxygen, at a cost approximating 

 $2,000,000,000 and with an ultimate large saving in the cost of steel manu- 

 facture. 



The biggest planned project that the Russians ever undertook was the 

 preparation for war against Germany, extending through the years from 

 1934 to 1941. The magnitude of this project is demonstrated by the fact 

 that the Russians, with only about 10 percent of their supplies provided 

 through Lend-Lease, were able to drive back the German armies from 

 Stalingrad to Vienna and Berlin. This is all the more remarkable when we 

 consider that the areas invaded by Germany contained about one-half the 

 population and had about one-third of the industrial output of the whole 

 Soviet Union. 



The efificiency of the workers and of the administration at the start of 

 large industrial projects has often been very low, but by well planned edu- 

 cational programs, with energy and enthusiasm on the part of the workers, 

 and with a remarkable system of incentives efficiency was usually rapidly 

 raised to a high level. During my short stay in Russia I was particularly 

 impressed by the tremendous emphasis that is placed on incentives. 



INCENTIVES IN RUSSIA 



In 1 93 1 the Soviet Government adopted the policy that men should 

 serve according to their abilities and be paid in accord with their services 

 to the state. Piecework rates are in effect in industry and on the farms, 



