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2034 2. A suooessful pro~ram of industtial development was,finanoially de- pendent on adequate agricultural pr oduot ion.. The COIIl1nunists were more or less on a limb and were too muoh beholden to the peasants. whom they could not safely control. 3. Adequate a~rioultural development required the oonsolidation of the multitude of small, peasant holdings in order that modern methods of farming might be employed. Peasant farming was generally orude. 4. The industrialization of the oountry required a large-soale shift of population tc the cities. This was feasible only if agrioulture Was moderni&ed. I The forced oolleotivization of the fanns and the "liquidation of the Kulaks", or more prosperous and influential peasants, disorganized the eXisti~ structure for agricultural produotion before the state was ready to institute he new methods. There was neither adequate farm maohinery nor oapable leadership to effeot the transition to large oolleotive farming so quiokly. As a result, agri. oultural produotion slumped and another famine resulted in 1932. .i.. . \ 'I j The Fil'st Five Year Progtam, which stl!-rted in 1928, was direoted 'pri- marily to the development of ~a.id indci~tties;' ltiJh as ketailurgy, petrbl~um; trans. portation, ele,otrid power ptletlu6tion. Thie was due, in partj to the fMt tli~t . I these industries are fundamental, but it was also due, in considerable measure, to theU- military signifioanoe. Fer the COIIl1nun1st regime was oonvinoed, at that early date, that Russia would soon be oalled upon to defend itself from attaok by same part of the oapitalist world, Partly beoause of the emphas is ple.ced on bas 1c industry dur ing the First Five Year Program, and beoause a large. part of the national inoome was plowed baok into this program. living standards during these years Vlere very low In -the Seeon<l Five Year Program, whioh started in 1933, oonsumers goods began to reoeive some attention. Consequently, living oonditions began to improve and the ohronio soaroity of consumers goods was slightly alleviated, As the VIal' olouds beoame more ominous, in the late 30's, the national effort was again direoted almost solely to basio industry and to military ~tepara- tion. Living standardS again suffered. You are all familiar with the developments in reoent years, the broad purges of army and oivilian offioials in 1937. the non-aggllession paot with CIlmany in August, 1939, followed by the oooupation of' eastern Poland, the war of dubious justifioation against Finland in Deoember, 1939. the establishment of bases and the subsequent oocupation of the Baltio States in the winter 1939-40, and finally the surprise attack by Hitler in June, 1941, You will reoall the distressing retreats upon Mosoow and upon Stalingrad, and the final turning of the tide; the inauguration of Allied help. in material, and the reoapture 01' the Ukraine ,Poland, and finally Berlin, and the last-minute entry of Russia into the war aga1nat Japan. You are awate of Teheran, Yalta and Pots dam. -4-