THREAT OF TOUGH ECONOMIC WAR SEEN IN RUSSIA'S GREAT INDUSTRIAL STRIDES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00058R000100130078-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 2000
• Sequence Number: 78
• Publication Date: July 22, 1956
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON STAR
JUL 2 2 1956 FOIAb3b
Approved For Release 2000/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00058R00010013
Threat of Tough Economic War Seen
In Russia's Great Industrial Strides ,
C PR.1T A. REICHHMANN I
Russia's tremendous .,_ industrial
development since the end of World
War II is causing some of President
Eisenhower's top policy adviso/s to
consider the possibility that the
cold war of threats and propa-
sanda is becoming history's most
:spectacular economic war.
Information being received here
through both open and secret
channels indicates that Ic emlin
leaders are now ready to pursue
that , phase of the Marxist revolu-
tion designed to establish Russia as
the world's greatest economic power.
Since the death of Stalin, the
Iron Curtain has parted enough to
The displays from Ole United
States have been big drawing cards
wnereverk they have appeargd., In
New Delhi, India, they far$utshone
the Russidn exhibits, These d'eih-
oi strationS of the fr~lts of Ameri-
d
can industry have been displaye
in. 34 countries around the word
establish that the Soviet Union is The probl of Soviet expa*on
no longer an agricultural nation is increased y the fact that 'the
but an industrial one. Soviet Union Is using {',tt s expanding
The nature of information being power to produce capital goods
received here was disclosed by rather than concentrating on con-
Allen W.-, Dulles, director ,off, t4 Sumer goods.
Central Intelli&ence 'Agency, in a The Soviet's extensTbn of a loan
speech carried in part by the Sun- of $100 million to Afghanistan and
day Star several mopth5 ago. the building of an airport there
In that speech, yylles~ ?_ re M_-, are examples of the new economic
ported that Russia has become the offensive and. no doubi$ a deep im-
second greatest industrial power in pression was "created in India when
the world, with gross national pro- Moscow offered a steel mill and
duction slightly more thak one-
third that' of the United States and
production of capital goods alone
about 45 per cent of 61ws.
Therefore- the Question is not so
much whether but when the Com-
munist world will be able to chal-
lenge the West for industrial lead-
ership. Some observers think it
will come in 10 or 15 years,,within
the lifetime of present Kremlin
leaders.
Business Is Not Concerned
Representatives of business 'ors
ganizations with,W)IQm this subject
was discussed expressed the view
that the present high rate of Amer-
ican industrial expansion will, prove
sufficient to meet the Soviet threat,
The trade fair9 which arie be-
coming increasingly common abroad
are becoming arenas in which the
products of American and Rusian
industrialism can compete. Ameri-
can industry had been reluctant to
take part in the fairs, Writing them
off as a waste of tirze But Com-
merce Secretary Sinclair Weeks set
up an office of International Trade
Fairs in his department in Febru-
ary, 1955, and since then many
American industries have sent
samples and exhibits,
the development of United States
industry.
Rely.on Industry
iii' accordance with the American
system of free enterprise, private
industry must be relied on to supply
the heavy industrial capacity under
the impetus of consumer demand
and the competitive system.
Plans have already been an-
nounced by Ford,: General Motors,
American Teleph6ne & P91egraph
and other companies 'for multi-
billion dollar plant expansion.
Steel, plastics, fiber gla.0, Dulp and
paper, aluminum, and a1-host of
other industries plan expansion. F.
W. Dodge & Co. reports that in the
first six months of 1956 new con-
struction contracts reached a new
high of $13.2 billion.
Undoubtedly the Federal Govern-
m.ent's interest in the country's in-
dustrial growth Will expand against
the day then the economic struggle
begins in earnest between the Com-
munist world and the world of free
enterprise. For that will be a
struggle to determine whether the
profit system can hold its own
against a collective economy.
i?t r'ated that textile,' eaving ma-
efilies were available,
In the last cast there was little
note of the fact that nssian credit
terms for the sale of he steel mill
were far more stringent than is
exacted by the Unit d mates for
such aid. Nor was he feet Men-
tiorled that this ind strio,l e" ufp-
m$Cit was outrrroded n Russia due
tq. the plannet adop4 ion of auto-
mation. Nonetheless , these tl'lbves
had. propaganda value.
, The United States has, confined
itself largely to a wait-and-see re-
onse to the Red offgnsiye.
"Our approach," one official said,
"is not to compete with the Soviet
Union on particular projects. Such
'victories' are `only temporary.
"In the end, yr believq the rda'ss
of tienple of ese cotntries will
appreciate the more the assistance
we have given them in building
themselves up through technical
assistance, education and health
programs."
Long-Range Plans Not Feasible
The problem of long-range
planning in this canntry to keep
ahead of Russia is a complex one.
No blueprint can be laid out for
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