OR the Soviet économy, 1965 ~ Was the year of the “shift” HY (as-in gears). At least, that’s My tab for it. | pane shift was aimed at bring- pa Soviet policies into pace vt present-day tempos and re- Uirements. While q baseq Tead: MI re Will 1965 had economic aplenty, activity seemed On setting the gauge to Speed steady, with power Serve. Thus future years be the pay-off ones. iis Steady-on approach be- cha, i October, 1964, with the Emo over from Khrushchov. Phasis has been on replacing ohm and ~ voluntarism pen cution of reality by one’s ee will) with objective and a, appraisals. Stress has been in: On rejecting “undue haste” Proceeding with the tasks ad. At first glace, it might appear has © new Soviet leadership ~~ ROt proceeded very slowly. flees March and ‘September peas central committee of the 1 oo ost Party of the Soviet ma. Outlined radical reform fe in agriculture and in- fea! provided for more ee ac ined and better-quality this tion, with stimulus for pate to come from vastly ex- See material incentives for -SFRErs and farmers. : But Cs-C inati Shows th foser examination : ese sett 3 Posite of oct to be the op: It_seems uf Unds; apy rent now that hee Khrush iov toc much fo applied ini: ing to ni me difficulties i: .0 ad- ewe fashion, } seems “Segcaq DeCcome somew it .ob- Baas with the dea of -rrying 88 Up with nasty rec :aniza- Ure oe Well as ‘with a prema- - Centiy, t-emphasis on moral in- neg > rather than ~aterial . muss While the pres lead- " ie as acted decisi' y and “Out wasting time, + cir ac- desi 124 to Gyercome of economic progress the prior emphasis .on haste, and to provide necessary material incentives at this stage. The moral ones are still very much stressed, and this stress will grow, but they have been brought into a more realistic perspective. The new proposals: seem ob- viously well thought-out; in all probability, even somewhat overdue. While the new agricultural proposals were implemented last year, they. probably didn’t get a It is in this sense that last year represented a shifting of the gears, with the economy ready for revving up, to what- ever capability, in this and sub- sequent years. _ The next big tromp on the throttle will be the 23rd con- gress of the CPSU to beheld next March. This will outline the next five-year plan until the year 1970. - : This is the year that will mark the end of the first half of the 20-year program adopted get if the pace can be main- tained. . - But in his report to the Sep- tember meeting of the CPSU central committee, Premier Ko- sygin noted there had been a drop in recent years in national income and industrial output per ruble of basic production assets. And while the recent seven-year plan was overfulfil- led, several branches failed to meet their targets, such as the light, food, chemical, timber and paper industries. SOVIET UNION: 1965 By William Tribune Staff Correspondent—Moscow fair shake, ~ since preparations for the crop yeaF were already under way. And drought hit hard at the grain harvest. It's only in the present year that they'll have a good run at the problems, weather willing. In industry, the new econo- mic system was not scheduled to be introduced until the be- ginning of 1966. And it will be iiftroduced in stages, which will not be completed until 1967.. “Not: that achievements have not been substantial Jast year, “as already reported in the Tri- bune; But the key to an econo- mic characterization lies the new measures adopted, and only the future will show how they work out. in 1961 for laying the material and: technical basis of commun- ‘sm in the Soviet Union. Some of the goals set for this decade are therefore worth recalling. They include: e a 150 percent increase in total industrial and agricultural production; ea 150 perce’t increase in the national income; ~ e@ a 150 percent ‘increase in Jabor productivity; ‘e surpassing the ‘USA in per capita production. Industrial production during the just-completed seven-year plan rose 84 percent — a good ‘omen for meeting the 1970 tar- On the other hand, major at- tention is being given to these industries in 1966, and although this year’s planned 6.7 percent increase in industrial production is less than the 8.5 percent gain in 1965, it is expected the new economic reform will yield many additional reserves in this year ~ and subsequent ones. As to agriculture, gross farm output, scheduled to rise by 70 percent over the last seven years, rose by only 10 pecent. Agriculture, however, will be a ‘main concentration point in the next five-year plan. ; The plan for 1966 alone calls for an eight to 10 percent in- crease in production (essential also for industrial raw mate- rials), and centralized state ca- pital investment in 1966 will be more than double the average 7.5 percent of the last seven years. However, the consistent Brezhnev-Kosygin stress on thé need for objective, sober appra- isals, and their warnings against undue haste, may bear recalling at this point. In this connection, an Oct. 27 editorial in Pravda; titled Social- ist Land’s Supreme International Duty, stressed that the main contribution of the socialist states to the world revolution- ary government is in building — their socialist economies. In elaborating this point, it con- _ tained these words: : “Solution of the tasks of the — socialist countries overtaking — the capitalist countries, when _ the former will bégin to turn out — more than half of the world’s output, will still require some time . . . (the people) are well aware that socialist and com- ~ munist construction is an extre- — mely complex and difficult job.” The Soviet Union’s 20-year — program also warned that “com- | plications in the international situation and the resultant ne- cegsity to increase defense ex- — penditures may hold up the — plans for raising the living standards of the people.” ; There is no doubt that the international situation has deter- iorated in the Jast year, due to — U.S. aggression in Vietnam and American manoeuvres to give — West Germany nuclear weapons. Soviet foreign policy state- ments have become increasingly stern and firm in the last few months, and ‘a five percent in- crease in defense spending was announced for 1965. When the 23rd CPSU congress opens next March, then, we'll have a better idea of exactly what - gear-speed the Soviets “have shifted into.. One thing. however, itll be forward.