Report of the Post-War Five-Year Plan (1946-1950)

April, 1951.

THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN SET THE TASK OF EXCEEDING THE PRE-WAR LEVEL OF THE NATIONAL INCOME BY 38 PER CENT. ACTUALLY THE NATIONAL INCOME IN 1950, IN COMPARABLE PRICES, WAS 64 PER CENT. ABOVE 1940 .. , THE WORKING PEOPLE OF THE U.S.S.R. RECEIVED, IN 1950, 74 PER CENT. OF THE NATIONAL INCOME TO MEET THEIR PERSONAL, MATERIAL AND CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS.

Fulfilment of the Five-Year Plan in Industry

Big achievements in the rehabilitation and development of the industry of the U.S.S.R. were attained in the past Five-Year Plan. The Five-Year Plan envisaged that in 1950-the last year of the Five-Year Plan-the volume of output of all U.S.S.R. industry was to increase 48 per cent. compared with the pre-war year 1940. Actually in 1950 industrial output was 73 per cent. above 1940. U.S.S.R. industry fulfilled the Five-Year Plan ahead of time-in four years and three months. The target for industrial output fixed by the Five-Year Plan for 1950 was exceeded by 17 per cent. 

The introduction of the latest achievements of modern technique served as a basis for ensuring the further advance in the technical level of all branches of Socialist industry. 

The assignments of the Five-Year Plan in the iron and sleel industry as regards production of steel and rolied metal were over-fulfilled. The level of production for rolled ferrous metals set by the Five-Year Plan for 1950 was reached ahead of time -in the third quarter of 1949- and the level of steel production in the second quarter of 1950. The Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgical Industry fulfilled the Five-Year Plan for production of pig iron. In 1950 output of ferrous metals as a whole exceeded the pre-war level by 45 pe. cent., the Five-Year Plan assignment being 35 per cent ; production of pig iron increased 29 per cent. compared with the pre-war level, steel 49 per cent. and rolled metal 59 per cent. · 

The iron and steel industry of the South, completely destroyed during the war, was restored on a new technical basis and is producing more metal than before the war. The further development of the iron and steel industry was continued in the Eastern districts of the country. Production of pig iron in the Urals in 1950 increased 2.6 times compared with 1940, steel 2.7 times and rolled metal 2.8 times. In Siberia produc­ tion of pig iron increased 1.2 times, steel 1.7 times and rolled metal was doubled. Production of ferrous metal was organised in Central Asia and Transcaucasia. Notwithstanding the over­ fulfilment of the plan for steel and rolled metal, production of ferrous metals, and especially of certain types of rolled metal, lags behind the enhanced requirements of the national economy. The technology of production was perfected in the iron and steel industry. The use of oxygen in steel-making was mastered. Production of special shapes of rolled metal and brands of steel for the manufacture of new types of machines and instruments was mastered. Mechanisation of labour-consuming and arduous jobs and automatisation of production processes were effected on a large scale. Utilisation of equipment improved consider­ ably. Thus, by the end of 1950, utilisation of the useful volume of blast furnaces at the mills of the Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgical Industry increased 25 per cent. compared with 1940 and production of steel per square metre of furnace bottom in open hearth furnaces by 33 per cent. 

In the non-ferrous metals industry production of copper, aluminium, nickel, lead, zinc and other non-ferrous and rare metals greatly exceeded the pre-war level, as the result of construction of new mines, concentration factories and plants, as well as from an improvement in the work of operating the enterprises. However, the growing requirements of the national economy demand a still more rapid rise in the production of non-ferrous metals. 

The Five-Year Plan for coal production was over-fulfilled. Production of coal in 1950 amounted to 104 per cent. of the Five-Year Plan assignment and increased 57 per cent. compared with the pre-war level. The level qf coal production at the mines of the Ministry of Coal Industry set by the Five-Year Plan for 1950 was reached ahead of time-in the fourth quarter of 1949. The coal mines in districts which had suffered from the war were restored. The collieries of the Donets Basin are producing more coal than before the war and more than envisaged by the Five-Year Plan. The Donets Basin is once again the country's biggest and most mechanised coal area. Coal production in the Moscow Basin increased three times over, compared with the pre-war level. 

Along with the rehabilitation of the Donets and Mosco w Basins, development of the coal industry was continued in the Urals, Kuznetsk, Karaganda and other districts. In 1950 coal production in the East was more than double that of pre-war. A new coal centre - othe Pechora Basin - was considerably· expanded. The pre-war level of peat production was surpassed. Mechanisation of the processes of hewing, breaking anddelivering coal, as well as the mechanisation of underground transport and loading o. f coal into railway cars, was completed. New machines for the mechanisation of coal-loading in working faces, as well as for loading coal and rock in preparatory workings, were developed and introduced. The switching of pits to comprehensive mechanisation has started, and remote control and automatic direction of the operation of machinery and equipment is being introduced. 

The Five-Year Plan asslgnment for the rebabilitation and development of the oil industry was overfulfilled. In 1950 oil output comprised 107 per cent. of the Five-Year Plan target and was 22 pe·r cent. above pre-war. The oil industry of Maikop and Grozny Districts and of the Western Ukraine, destroyed during the war, was fully restored and re-equipped technically. Substantial reserves of oil and gas were brought to light and prepared for exploitation as the result of success ­ ful geological prospecting. 

New technique in oil extraction, drilling of wells and processing of oil is being widely introduced. Production of high octane aviation fuel and aviation oils was expanded and the quality of oil products improved. New oil processing plants and installations fitted out with modem Soviet equipment were built and large trunk oil pipelines were constructed. At the same time the swift rise in oil production demands still more accelerated building of new oil processing plants. 

The significance of the new oil districts in the East has increased considerably. Big new oilfields and oil processing plants have been set up in the Bashkir Autonomous Republic. Production and processing of oil is swiftly developing in the Kuibyshev Region, in the Turkmen, Uzbek and _Kazakh Republics. Big new oil deposits were discovered in the Tatar Autonomous Republic. The share of the Eastern districts in total oil output of the U.S.S.R. increased to 44 per cent., as against 12 per cent. in 1940. • 

The gas industry was further developed. The Saratov-Moscow, Dashava-Kiev and Kohtla-Jarve-Leningrad gas pipelines were built and put into operation. Construction of plants to produce synthetic liquid fuel was developed. 

The Five-Year Plan assignment for production of electric power was exceeded. The level of ele,ctric power production set by the Five-Year Plan for 1950 was reached ahead of time -in the fourth quarter of 1949. Production of electric power in 1950 comprised 110 per cent. of the Five-Year Plan target and was 87 per cent. above the 1940 level. Considerably more electric power than in 1940 was produced in the war-ravaged districts. 

The following power stations destroyed during the war were restored : Donets Basin, Dnieper area, Kiev, Kharkov, Lvov, Odessa, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, Novorosiisk, Krasnodar, Grozny, Stalingrad, Voronezh, Bryansk, Kalinin, Minsk, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Petrozavodsk and other cities. All the hydro-electric power stations were restored, including six big hydro-electric power stations envisaged by the Five-Year Plan. The Dnieper Lenin hydro-electric power station was reconstructed. 

New hydro-electric power stations were built and fully put into operation- Shcherbakov, Niva No. 3, Parkhad, Khrami, Sukhumi, Krasnopolyansk, Shirokov and others. Large-scale construction work was carried out on the Verkhne-Svir, Ust Kamenogorsk, Gyumush, Tsymylanskaya, Niva No. I , Matkozhnen and other hydro-electric power stations, which ensures their exploitation in 1951-1952. Construction of the Gorky hydro-electric power station on• the Volga and the Molotov hydro-electric power station on the Kama has developed on a big scale. The building of new heat and power plants, electric and heat grids has been carried out. 

The latest power technique was introduced at electric power stations between 1946 and 1950. Soviet-made high-pressure steam turbines and boilers were installed at thermal power plants, including new fypes of high-pressure steam turbines of 25,000 kilowatts, drum boilers with a pressure of one hundred atmospheres and a steam temperature of 510°*, as well as uni­flow boilers with the same steam parameters. Hydrogen-cooled generators, high-tension air switches, high-frequency and other modern types of protective devices, as well as automatisation of the processes of combustion and stoking of boilers at power stations, were introduced. Operation of the equipment at two­ thirds of the district hydro-electric power stations has been automatised. 

In machine-building, the Five-Year Plan assignment for production of machine tools, machinery, equipment and instruments was exceeded as a whole by 17 per cenf Produc­ tion of the machine-building industry in 1950 wasl 2.3 times above 1940. The level of production of machinery, equipment and instruments fixed by the Five-Year Plan for 1950 was reached ahead of time---in the first quarter of 1950. 

The increase in the production of machinery and equipment has taken place on a new technical basis. Highly efficient methods of production and technological processes have become widespread at machine-building plants. These include·even-flow and automatic lines for machining, welding by automatic and semi-automatic machinery under a layer of flux, hardening of parts by high frequency currents, centrifugal casting and casting in chill moulds, stamping and high-speed methods of metal­ cutting. 

During the Five-Year Plan period branches of the machine• building industry in the main renewed the inventory of items produced. New equipment mastered includes about 250 types of metal-cutting general purpose machine tools, more than I,000 types of special and multiple machine tools, 23 types of. automatic and semi-automatic machines, 34 types of forge and stamping automatic machines, powerful pneumatic moulding machines, machines for casting' under pressure and centrifugal casting. Twenty-six automatic machine-tool lines and an automatic factory for manufacturing motor-car parts were established. 

In 1950, production of metallurgical equipment increased 4.8 times compared with 1940, steam turbines 2.6 times and electrical equipment three times. Coal combines, rock-loading and coal-loading machines, oil-drilling installations for deep drilling, powerful mud pumps and many other types of highly productive equipment were produced for the fuel industry. Output of oil equipment in 1950 was three times that of 1940. Production of new main-line freight locomotives. electric locomotives, diesel locomotives, dump-cars, all-metal gondolas and isothermic cars and all-metal passenger coaches was mastered and organised for the needs of the railways.

Output of tractors in 1950 increased 3.8 times compared with 1940, combines 3.6 times, tractor-drawn ploughs 3.1 times, t ractor-d rawn seed drills 5.5 times and tractor-drawn cultivators 

3.1 times. Manufacture of more than 150 new, highly efficient agricultural machines was mastered and their mass production undertaken. 

However, the level of output attained of power equipment, heavy metal-cutting and forge and stamping equipment, intri­ cate equipment for the oil industry and certain types of instruments does not meet the enhanced requirements of the national economy. _ 

In the chemical industry the Five-Year Plan set as the target to exceed the pre-war level by 1.5 times in 1950. Actually, production of the chemical industry exceeded the pre-war level 1.8 times. In 1950 the pre-war level of output of nitrate fertilisers was exceeded 2.2 times and of potash fertilisers 1.4 times, that is, more than called for by the Five-Year Plan. Production of phosphate fertilisers in 1950 was 1.9 times above that of 1940. Output of synthetic rubber increased compared with the pre-war level. 

Production for the synthetic fibre industry, plastics, paint and lacquer, pharmaceutical and other branches of the chemical industry was considerably expanded and manufacture of new articles mastered. The Five-Year Plan for production of dyes was over-fulfilled. The number ·of manufactured brands of dyes increased to 320 in 1950 compared with 186 in 1940. Production of high-quality and fast dyes increased. Manufacture of multi-colour films was mastered. 

Output of building materials surpassed the pre-war level. Production of cement in 1950 .increased 1.8 times compared with 1940 and of window glass 1.9 times. The Fi've-Year Plan target for production of cement in 1950 was fulfilled l0l per cent. by the Ministry of the Building Materials Industry of the U.S.S.R., and for the U.S.S.R. as a whole 97 per cent. The Five-Year Plan target for production of bricks and tiles was not fully reached. Output of building materials and their quality still lag behind the growing requirements of the national economy. 

In the timber industry, haulage of timber in 1950 was 36 per cent. above 1940. However, the Five-Year Plan assignent was not fully met. The Five-Year Plan assignment as regards supply of machinery and equipment to the timber industry was overfulfilled but, owing to unsatisfactory utilisation of equipment, the pace of increase in labour productivity in the timber industry during the Five-Year Plan period was inadequate. Production of paper in 1950 was 47 per cent. above 1940. 

The reconstruction and development of the textile, clothing, knitted goods, footwear and other branches of light industry proceeded at a fast pace during 1946-1950. Output of these branches of industry in 1950 increased 17 per cent. compared with 1940. Production of the chief articles of light industry increased during the Five-Year period as follows: cotton goods 2.4 times, woollen fabrics 2.9 times, hosiery 5.2 times, leather footwear 3.2 times, rubber footwear 7 times. However, the Five-Year Plan assignment for production of cotton goods and footwear was not fully met. The assortment of fabrics, clothing, knitted goods and footwear was substantially improved and expanded. 

Output of the main products of the food industry rose substantially during the five years. In 1950 the pre-war level of butter production was exceeded by 57 per cent., vegetable oil and other fats 10 per cent., meat 7 per cent., catch of fish 27 per cent., sausage products 20 per cent., tinned goods 48 per cent., sugar 17 per cent., confectionery products 23 per cent. and soap 16 per cent. The assortment of food products was enlarged and their quality improved. In 1950 production of higher grades comprised 75 per cent. of the whole butter pro­ duction and 42 per cent. of the cheese production. Output of dietetic products increased five times compared with the pre war level, baby foods 5.7 times and vitamins 10.4 times. 

Gross output of local industry and producers' co-operatives in 1950 was 1.5 times above the pre-war level. However, local raw materials are still insufficiently utilised for increasing the manufacture of consumer goods. The assortment and quality of output of local industry and producers' co-operatives lag behind the enhanced demands of the population. 

The fixed production funds of the whole of the industry of the U.S.S.R., as a result of the restoration, construction and reconstruction of enterprises equipped with the latest Soviet technique, increased in 1950 by 58 per cent. as against 1940. The total number of machine tools, having been supplemented by new, more productive units, more than doubled by the end of the Five-Year Plan as compared with 1940. The amount of electric power per worker in industry in 1950 was half as great again as in 1940. 

The successful introduction of new technique made possible the further large-scale technical re-equipping of the national economy and the raising of the level of mechanisation of Jabour-consuming and arduous work. At the same time, the technical progress, higher skill and creative initiative of the workers, engineers and technicians ensured a substantial rise in labour productivity. Labour productivity of the workers in industry in 1950 was 37 per cent. above the pre-war year of 1940, instead of the 36 per cent. envisaged by the Five Year Plan. Labour productivity in construction in 1950 exceeded the 1940 level by 23 per cent. 

The assignment for lowering the production costs of industrial output set by the Five-Year Plan for 1950 was fulfilled, as the result of better utilisation of equipment in industry, more economical expenditure of raw materials, fuel and electric power, reduction in losses and waste of materials, higher labour productivity and accelerated turnover of working funds. 

The Five-Year Plan target for reducing costs of construction work was not fully attained. Costs of construction, despite a substantial increase in capital development work, still remain high. In this connection, in 1950 the Government took measures' to lower costs of construction and improve the work of designing. to increase production of building materials, as well as to elimina te sho rt-comings in planning and supply for capital construction. 

Fulfillment of the Five-Year Plan in Agriculture 

AS a result of the successful fulfilment of the Five Year Plan, agriculture achieved a powerful new advance. During the Five-Year Plan the socially-owned sector of the collective farm economy grew and became still stronger, material and technical facilities for agri­ culture increased, the role of the machine and tractor stations in collective farm production was enhanced and new skilled staffs of organisers of agricultural production, experts in farming, livestock raising and mechanisation were trained. 

The grain area increased more than 20 per cent. during the five-year period. The gross harvest of grain in 1950, was 345 million poods* above 1940, with production of wheat being 376 million poodst greater than before the war. The Five­ Year Plan target for yield of grain was surpassed. Jn 1949 and 1950 the grain yield was 13 per cent. above 1940. * 5.56 Million tons. 

The area under industrial crops increased 59 per cent. during the five years, including cotton 91 per cent., flax 90 per cent., sugar beet 57 per cent. and sunflowers 23 per cent. The total cotton crop increased 2.9 times during the five years, flax fibre more than doubled, sugar beet increased 2.7 times and sunflower 70 per cent. 

The losses, which are still large in harvesting, especially in grain, flax and sugar beet, are a serious shortcoming in agri­cultural production. 

The area under vegetables, melons and potatoes increased 5 per cent. compared with 1940. The total crop of potatoes in 1950 was 21 per cent. above the pre-war level. Considerable work was carried out during the five years for the further consolidation and expansion of potatoes and vegetable-growing facilities around Moscow, Leningrad, Baku, Kharkov, Kiev, Gorky, the industrial centres of the Urals, the Donets Basin, the Kuznetsk Basin, the cities of Siberia and the Far East, as well as other big cities. 

The area under fodder crops increased 15 per cent. in 1950 compared with 1940. However, the Five-Year Plan assignment for increasing the area under perennial grasses was not fully met, and production of. fodder lags behind the great requirement of animal husbandry. 

ln animal husbandry the Five-Year Plan assignments for increasing the head of socially-owned collective farm livestock were over-fulfilled. The pre-war number of productive stock and poultry in collective farms was exceeded by a large margin: beef and dairy cattle by 40 percent., sheep and goats 63 per cent., hogs 49 per cent. and poultry double. The total head of productive livestock, sharply reduced during the war, was restored, and in 1950 increased by four per cent. compared with 1940 in all categories of farming collective farms, State farms, individual collective farmers and individual peasants, factory and office workers- and the number of poultry increased by 14 per cent. 

During the Five-Year Plan period collective farms and State farms accomplished much work in improving pedigree stock­ breeding, and the network of pedigree State farms, State pedigree stock centres and pedigree stock sections of collective farms was extended. 6.95 Million tons. 

The technical facilities of agriculture have grown. During the Five-Year Plan period agriculture received 536,000 tractors (in terms of 15 H.P. units), 93,000 grain combines, including 39,000 self-propelled machines, 341,000 tractor-drawn ploughs, 254,000 tractor-drawn seeders, 249,000 tractor-drawn cultivators and a large quantity of other soil-tilling, sowing and harvesting machinery. At the same time there is a lag in supplying agriculture with machines for harvesting cotton, flax and hemp and sugar beet, for production of fodder and mechanisation of Labour-consuming work in the livestock sections of collective and State farms. Considerable work was accomplished in the electrification of collective farms, machine and tractor stations and State farms. By the end of 1950 the capacity of rural power stations was 2.8 times that of 1940. 

Big achievements were made in advancing the efficiency of farming. Work was developed to introduce and master correct field and fodder ley crop rotation systems in collective fanns and State farms; in 1950 tractors ploughed more than 90 per cent. of all fallow land and all land ploughed in the autumn on the collective farms ; 87 per cent. of all tractor ploughing was done with ploughs equipped with coulters, as against 13 per cent. in 1940; in 1950, 63 per cent. of the spring crop area in collective farms was sown on land ploughed in the autumn and on clean fallow land, compared with 54 per cent. in 1940; in the five ·years the grain area sown with selected seed increased 64 per cent. and with wheat doubled; half of the whole grain area in the collective farms was harvested by combines in 1950. 

The assignments for shelter-belt planting are being success­fully realised. Putting into lift the Stalin plan for re-making nature the collective farms, State farms, machine and tractor stations, forestry and afforestation. stations have planted shelter belts on an area of 1,350,000 hectares!, of which 760,000 hectares! were planted in 1950. 

The Five-Year Plan assignments for State farm development were carried out. During the five-year period the State farms considerably expanded their sown areas. The grain yield in 1950 was 16 per cent. above the yield of 1940. Mechanisation of field work was com. J;>le ted in the main in the State farms of the U.S.S.R. Ministry of State Farms. In 1950 more than 95 per cent. of the ploughing, sowing and harvesting of grain was done by mechanical traction. By the end of 1950 the State farms of the Ministry of State Farms of the U.S.S.R. had 20 per cent. more beef and dairy cattle than before the war, 29 per cent. more sheep and goats and 36 per cent. more hogs. Productivity of livestock increased substantially. In 1950 the average milk . yield per cow in State farms of the Ministry of State Farms of the U.S.S.R. was 28 per cent., above the 1940 level. 

During the Five-Year Plan period much work was accomplished in the further organisational and economic consolidation of the collective farms and elimination of violations of rules of the agricultural artels; measures were taken to improve the organisation and regulate the remuneration of labour in collective farms, to consolidate the permanent production brigades as the main form of organisation of collective labour; labour discipline was considerably strengthened and labour productivity in the collective farms enhanced. By 1950 the indivisible fu nds• of the collective farms rose 1.6 times compared with 1940. 

The Soviet Union rendered great help in production to the farmers of the Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Moldavian Union Republics and the Western regions of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian Republics, which suffered from the German occupation, by strengthening the agricultural co-operatives, organising machine and tractor stations, supplying tractors and machinery and mineral fertilisers and by granting credits. By the end of the Five-Year Plan, collectivisation of peasant households on a voluntary basis was in the main completed in those districts. 

The development of Socialist agricultural production, its large production for the market, made it possible to provide for the greater demands of the population for bread, meat, butter and other agricultural produce and to raise the incomes of the collective farms and collective farmers. Larger production of grain and industrial crops and the increase in livestock output created a firm raw material supply base for the further advance of the light and food industries. 

Fulfillment of the Five-Year Plan in Transport and Communications 

DURING the Five-Year Plan period, the railways provided for the growing requirements of the national economy in freight carriage. The target for rail freight carriage fixed for 1950 was over-fulfilled by 13 per cent. Average daily loadings on the railways in 1950 amounted to 121 per cent. of the 1940 level and 103 per cent. of the Five-Year Plan assignment. 

As a result of the introduction of advanced labour methods and new technical facilities, utilisation of the rolling stock of the railways improved considerably. In 1950 the load per freight car increased 14 per cent. compared with 1940 and the average weight of a freight train was 10 per cent. above that of 1940. The average daily run of a freight car exceeded the pre-war level by 4.6 per cent. Car tum-round was acceler­ ated during the Five-Year period; however, in 1950 it still did not attain the level envisaged in the Five-Year Plan. As a result of the restoration of the national economy in the dis­ tricts that had suffered from the war and the measures carried out to eliminate irrational shipments, the average distance of freight shipments was cut during the five years, but the assign­ ment for reducing distance of shipments fixed for 1950 was not fully met. 

The repair of the great war destruction on the railways was the decisive task of the post-war Five-Year Plan. The restoration of double tracks, bridges, stations and junctions accomplished during the Five-Year Plan ensured the necessary carrying capacity on the main railway lines. The locomotive park was considerably renewed and replenished with new types of locomotives , diesel and electric locomotives; the wagon park was likewise renewed and replenished. New railway lines were built, in particular in North and Central Asia. A number of railway lines were electrified in the Urals, in Trans­caucasia, in Krivoi Rog, as well as on suburban sections of the  Moscow, Leningrad, Riga, Kiev, Baku and Tallinn railway network. However, the Five-Year Plan assignment for the restoration and building of railways, bridges and stations was not fully met. 

Cargo carriage by inland water transport in 1950 was 26 per cent above 1940, but it did not reach the level set by the Five-Year Plan. Utilisation of the Volga and its tributaries, as well as the Siberian and Northern rivers, for transport purposes was improved. Utilisation of capacities of towing vessels increased in 1950 by 30 per cent. compared with 1940 and utilisation of the cargo capacity of barges increased 43 per cent. The River Fleet was considerably renewed and replenished. The Stalin White Sea-Baltic Canal and the Dnieper-Bug Waterway, as well as river ports and ship repair enterprises, were restored. 

Cargo carriage of the merchant marine. increased 65 per cent. in 1950 compared with 1940. However, the Five-Year Piao assignment for marine shipments was not fully met. 

Restoration of seaports and shipyards ·was completed in the main. Capacity of shipyards and shops of the Ministry of Merchant Marine in 1950 was more than twice that of 1940, and the number of structures for raising ships 1.6 times. 

Freight carriage by motor transport in 1950 increased 2.3 times compared with 1940. Sixteen thousand kilormetres• of hard surface motor roads were built. The Moscow­ Simferopol motor highway was put into operation. Towards the end of the Five-Year Plan the' network of motor roads with improved surfaces was 2.5 times bigger than before the • war. 

Means of communication and radio were restored during the five-year period and their further development on the basis of new technique ensured. The capacity of telephone exchanges exceeded the pre-war level. The plan for building radio broadcasting stations during the five-year period was exceeded by 39 per cent. The radio receiving network increased. The plan for restoring and laying trunk cables was exceeded by 23 per cent. during the five-year period. The length of air mail lines increased 2.3 times compared with 1940. 

• 9,942 Miles. 

Fulfilment of the Five-Year Plan in the Sphere of the National Income and the State Budget 

THE Five-Year Plan assignment for increasing the national income, was over-fulfilled by a big margin. 

The Five-Year Plan set the task of exceeding the pre-war level of the national income by 38 per cent. Actually the national income in 1950, in comparable prices, was 64 per cent. above 1940. 

The growth of the national income allowed substantial improvement in the material position of the workers, peasants and intelligentsia, realisation of big capital investments fo the national economy and the accumulation of the necessary State material and food reserves. 

While in capitalist countries more than half of the national income is appropriated by the capitalist class, in the Soviet Union the whole of the national income belongs to the work­ ing people. The working people of the U.S.S.R. received in 1950, 74 per cent. of the national income to meet their person al material and cultural requirements, while the remaining 26 per cent. remained at the disposal of the State, of the collective fa rms and of the co-operative organisations for expanding Socialist production and for other needs of the State and society. 

As a result of the growth of the national income, the State Budget was fulfilled each year with an excess of revenue over expenditure. The share of appropriations for financing the nation al economy and for social and cultural construction steadily grew in the State Budget expenditures. . As a result of the growth of the national income and successful fulfilment of the State Budget, the Five-Year Plan for capital investments in the national economy was exceeded by 22 per cent. During the period 1946-1950, more than 6,000 industrial enterprises were restored, built and put into operation, not counting small State, co-operative and collective farm enterprises. 

The me reasons made it possible, in December, 1947, to carry out a currency reform and to abolish rationing of all foodstuffs and manufactured goods. During the period 1947• 1950 prices of goods. of mass consumption were reduced three times and conditions prepared for another reduction of prices carried out as from March 1, 1951. This ensured a consider· able increase in the real wages of factory and office workers and intelligentsia and a reduction in expenditure of the peasants for the purchase of manufactured goods at reduced prices, and led to a still greater strengthening of the rouble, an increase in its purchasing power and an improvement in the exchange rate of the Soviet rouble with respect to foreign currencies. 

Fulfilment of the Five-Year Plan in the Sphere of the Material and Cultural Standards of the People 

THERE was not and is not any unemployment in the Soviet Union. After the Great Patriotic War all those demobilised from the Soviet Army and Navy were fully provided with work in accordance with their skill and specialities. The number of factory and office workers in the national economy of the U.S.S.R . amounted to 39,200,000 at the end of 1950, an increase of 7,700,000 compared with the figures at the end of 1940. 

The material position of the population of the U.S.S.R. improved. This was expressed in a growth of monetary and real wages of factory and office workers and an increase in incomes of peasants both from the socially-owned sector and from the subsidiary individual sector of the collective farm economy. In 1950 the total incomes of factory and office workers and incomes of peasants was 62 per cent. above 1940, in comparable prices. 

State expenditure on cultural and welfare services to the working people. increased substantially. The population received, at the expense of the State, benefits and payments under the social insurance which covers workers and other employees, social security pensions, accommodation in sanatoriam , rest houses and children's institutions free of charge, or at reduced rates, allowances to mothers of large families and unmarried mothers, free medical aid, free education and free training for higher qualifications of the working people at the expense of the State, grants for students and a number of other benefits and privileges. 

Further, all factory and office workers annually receive paid holidays of not less than two weeks, while the workers in a number of trades received longer holidays. In 1950 the population received the above-mentioned payments and benefits at the expense of the State to a total of more than 120,000 million roubles, that is, three times the amount in 1940. 

Simultaneously with the advance in the material position of the people, a further progress of· culture, science and art was achieved in the post-war period. 

The number of pupils in elementary, seven-year and secondary schools, technical schools and other secondary educational establishments increased during the five years by eight million and reached the figure of 37 million in 1950. Technical and other secondary specialised educational establishments were attended by 1,298,000 students in 1950 compared with 975,000 in 1940. There were 1,247,000 students enrolled in higher education establishments in 1950, as against 812,000 in 1940. 

During the five years, the national economy received 652,000 specialists with higher education and 1,278,000 specialists with secondary education. Compared with 1940 the number of specialists working in the national economy increased by 84 per cent. 

Major discoveries and inventions in various spheres of science and engineering were made in our country during the past five years. More than 6,500 people were awarded Stalin Prizes for outstanding works, inventions and achievements in science, engineering, literature and art during the Five-Year Plan period. The network of scientific research institutions in 1950 was 1.5 times above pre-war, while the number of scientific workers in them almost doubled. 

The network of cult ural and educational institutions was restored and exceeded pre-war. In 1950 there were 15 per cent. more club houses and public libraries in town and country­ side than in 1940. Publication of books increased 84 per cenL compared with 1940. By the end of 1950 the number of cinema installations in reased 1.5 times compared with 1940. 

Further improvement in the medical and sanatorium­ prophylactic service to the population was attained in the post­ war period. The number of hospital beds in towns and rural communities increased 25 per cent. in 1950 compared with 1940. Sanatoria destroyed during the war were restored. Th, number of doctors increased 75 per cent. compare d with 1940. Important achievements were registered in the development 

of Soviet trade. Retail sales of State and co-operative trade considerably surpassed the level of the pre-war year 1940. Sales of State and co-operative stores in 1950, not counting sales of goods available from local resources, increased as follows compared with 1940: meat and meat products 38 per cent., fish products 51 per cent., butter 59 per cent., vegetable oil and other fats 67 per cent., sugar 33 per cent., confectionery pro­ ducts 34 per cent., footwear 39 per cent., cotton, woollen, silk and linen fabrics 47 per cent. and hosiery 39 per cent. 

Sales to the population of goods serving cultural requirements and household articles went up. In 1950 sales of clocks and watches were 3.3 times above the pre-war year of 1940. radio sets six times, electric household appliances 1.5 times. bicycles 2.9 times, sewing machines almost three times and motor cycles 16 times; the sale of building materials in the countryside increased several times. The volume of collective farm trade in 1950 increased substantially above 1940. Prices on collective farm markets dropped since the abolition of rationing and the currency reform. 

During the post-war Five-Year period housing construction developed on a wide scale. State enterprises and institutions and local Soviets, as well as the population of towns and workers' settlements with the help of State credits built or restored homes with a total floor space of over 100 million square metres*. In addition, 2,700,000 dwellings were built or restored in rural localities.