RUSSIA BETTER THINGS FOR BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY ? / UTOPIANS THINK 
THAT SCIENCE CAN TRANSFORM THE ATLANTIC OCEAN INTO LEMONADE, " SNORTED 
KARL MARX'S CO-WORKER, FRIEDRICH ENGELS . YET WHO SHOULD BE SERVING 
UP LEMONADE LAST WEEK THAN THAT OLD REALIST NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV . 
IN THE KREMLIN'S MARBLE-HALLED PALACE OF THE CONGRESSES, ADDRESSING THE COMMUNIST 
PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND MORE THAN 5,000 OTHER COMRADES, NIKITA PROMISED 
THAT ONE GREAT FORCE WOULD MIRACULOUSLY STRAIGHTEN OUT THE SOVIET ECONOMIC 
MESS : BIG CHEMISTRY . BETWEEN 1964 AND 1970, KHRUSHCHEV ANNOUNCED, 
THE REGIME WILL SPEND $46 BILLION TO EXPAND THE SOVIET CHEMICAL 
INDUSTRY ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT THAT NOW GOES ANNUALLY INTO ALL 
DOMESTIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT . WHERE WOULD THE ADDITIONAL MONEY COME FROM 
? KHRUSHCHEV HINTED AT A RADICAL REDUCTION IN MILITARY SPENDING . 
MORE IMPORTANT, HE ADMITTED THAT RUSSIA WOULD NEED CREDIT AND SUPPLIES, 
INCLUDING ENTIRE FACTORIES, FROM THE WEST BUT NOT, HE FUMED, AT 
" FABULOUS PROFITS " TO THE CAPITALISTS . BRAVE TALK . 
PLANS CALL FOR BUILDING 200 NEW PLANTS AND MODERNIZING 500 OLD 
ONES ; SINCE MUCH OF THE NEW PRODUCTION WILL BE PLASTICS 
AND SYNTHETIC FIBERS, SOVIET CITIZENS MAY AT LAST FIND IT EASIER 
TO BUY SUCH SIMPLE ITEMS AS NYLON STOCKINGS AND LINOLEUM FLOORING 
. " FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALL THE 46 YEARS 
OF SOVIET POWER, " SAID NIKITA IN A REMARKABLE CONFESSION, THE 
PARTY AND THE STATE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT " SATISFYING THE 
REQUIREMENTS OF THE PEOPLE . " MOREOVER, NEW PRODUCTS MUST SHOW 
BETTER DESIGN, BECAUSE IT IS " NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO TOLERATE 
" RUSSIAN CONSUMER GOODS THAT " LOOK LESS SMART THAN FOREIGN 
ARTICLES . " AN EVEN MORE URGENT TASK FOR BIG CHEMISTRY 
IS THE PRODUCTION OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZER . ITS OUTPUT, PROMISED KHRUSHCHEV, 
WOULD BE QUADRUPLED FROM 20 MILLION TONS THIS YEAR TO 80 
MILLION TONS BY 1970 . THIS WOULD PERMIT RUSSIA TO CATCH 
UP WITH THE U.S., FOR U.S . FARM SURPLUSES ARE NOT 
THE RESULT OF ANY " SPECIAL AMERICAN WISDOM, " KHRUSHCHEV INSISTED 
; IT IS JUST THAT THE U.S . USES ALMOST TWICE 
AS MUCH FERTILIZER AS THE SOVIET UNION ON ABOUT HALF THE 
ACREAGE . THROUGH ALL THIS BRAVE TALK RAN THE ADMISSION OF 
RUSSIA'S DISASTROUS AGRICULTURAL FAILURES . ONE ARRESTING FIGURE : ALTHOUGH ACREAGE 
INCREASED 7 PER CENT SINCE LAST YEAR, YIELD ACTUALLY DROPPED 20 
PER CENT . IF ANYONE WAS INCLINED TO CRITICIZE THIS FAILURE, 
OR THE COSTLY PALLIATIVE OF BUYING GRAIN FROM THE WEST, KHRUSHCHEV 
HAD THE STANDARD ANSWER . REMEMBER HOW BAD THINGS WERE UNDER 
STALIN . IN 1947, TO EARN FOREIGN EXCHANGE, STALIN AND MOLOTOV 
ACTUALLY SOLD GRAIN ABROAD WHILE IN A NUMBER OF AREAS " 
PEOPLE HAD BLOATED STOMACHS OR EVEN DIED FROM LACK OF FOOD 
. " IT WAS THE FIRST TIME MOSCOW HAD ADMITTED THAT 
STARVATION TOOK PLACE IN THE SOVIET UNION SINCE THE FORCED COLLECTIVIZATION 
OF THE EARLY 1930S . BULGING WAREHOUSES . FOLLOWING KHRUSHCHEV'S 4F-HOUR 
SPEECH, OTHER COMMUNIST BIGWIGS SHOOK THE AUDIENCE WITH A SERIES OF 
ANGRY COMPLAINTS . MOST COLLECTIVE FARMERS DO NOT KNOW THE FIRST 
THING ABOUT USING CHEMICAL FERTILIZER ; THE UKRAINE IS PLANNING A 
CRASH PROGRAM TO EDUCATE 4,000 / SKILLED FERTILIZER APPLIERS . " 
SUPERPHOSPHATE FERTILIZER ARRIVES AT THE FARMS WITH ONLY 20 PER CENT 
OF THE REQUIRED CHEMICAL NUTRIENTS ; THE REST IS WORTHLESS BALLAST 
THAT GETS LUMPY AND HEAVY IN THE RAIN . RUSSIA HAS 
AN IMPRESSIVE 561 SOIL LABORATORIES, BUT MOST OF THEM HAVE ONLY 
ONE OR TWO EMPLOYEES AND THE WRONG EQUIPMENT . AS FOR 
THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY ITSELF, MANAGERS ARE STILL WAITING FOR DELIVERY OF 
EQUIPMENT DESIGNED TEN YEARS AGO . SOME OF THE PRODUCTS ARE 
SO UNGAINLY THAT THEY PILE UP UNSOLD IN WAREHOUSES FOR INSTANCE, 
SYNTHETIC FUR COATS, WHICH, COMPLAINED ONE SPEAKER, " ARE SO HEAVY 
THAT ONLY WELL-TRAINED ATHLETES CAN WEAR THEM . " ONLY ABOUT 
30 PER CENT OF THE WORKERS IN THE INDUSTRY ARE ENGAGED 
IN PRODUCTION, WHILE THE REST ARE OCCUPIED WITH MAINTENANCE OR BUREAUCRATIC 
TASKS . MOREOVER, WORKERS ARE UNDERPAID AND RECEIVE ONLY A FRACTION 
OF THE PRESCRIBED INCENTIVE BONUSES . THE MATTER OF PERSONAL INCENTIVES 
WAS CLEARLY THE KEY TO THE SITUATION, BOTH IN INDUSTRY AND 
AGRICULTURE . IT IS THE VERY NATURE OF COLLECTIVE FARMING NOT 
THE RELATIVELY SUPERFICIAL PROBLEM OF FERTILIZER PRODUCTION THAT ACCOUNTS FOR THE 
CHRONIC CRISIS . AS KHRUSHCHEV'S OWN FIGURES SHOWED, PEASANTS WORKING ON 
THEIR TINY, PRIVATE HALF-ACRE PLOTS, WHICH COMPRISE LESS THAN 1 PER 
CENT OF THE ARABLE LAND, SELL TO THE STATE 14 PER 
CENT OF THE COUNTRY'S MEAT, 30 PER CENT OF THE EGGS, 
AND RAISE 65 PER CENT OF THE CABBAGES AND POTATOES . 
