XIX Congress of the CPSU (b) - (October 5-14, 1952). Documents and Materials

October 6, (Evening meeting)

Presiding D.S. Korotchenko.

The meeting continued the discussion of the reports of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and the Central Auditing Commission of the CPSU (b).

L.I. Brezhnev, (Moldavian SSR)

Comrades! In the report of the Central Committee of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Comrade Malenkov deeply, with exhaustive completeness, summed up the results of the tremendous work carried out by our Bolshevik Party, and vividly showed the world‐historical victories of the Soviet people achieved under the brilliant leadership of Comrade Stalin.

Our party traveled a long way, full of heroism and magnificent victories, from the 18th to the 19th Congress. These historical years were the period of the heroic struggle of the Bolshevik Party for strengthening the might of our socialist state and the flourishing of the economy, culture and well‐being of the working people.

In the terrible years of the Second World War, when the threat of mortal danger loomed over our Fatherland, the Communist Party inspired and organized the Soviet people to fight for the honor, freedom and independence of our Motherland. The party, Comrade Stalin, crowned the truly titanic battle of the Soviet people with world‐wide victories.

In the postwar years, the Soviet people, under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, under the leadership of Comrade Stalin, are successfully carrying out the magnificent program of communist construction.

Comrade Stalin brilliantly combines gigantic state work with the creative development of Marxism‐Leninism. Comrade Stalinʹs work ʺEconomic Problems of Socialism in the USSRʺ, published on the eve of the Congress, is a great contribution to the treasury of MarxismLeninism. This classic work of Comrade Stalin marks a new, higher stage in Marxist‐Leninist political economy, generalizes the gigantic experience of socialist construction and indicates clear paths to the complete victory of communism.

In the new powerful upsurge of the economy and culture of our country, in the gigantic construction projects of communism, in the great transformations of nature, in the tireless struggle of the Soviet people for world peace, all progressive mankind sees how our glorious Communist Party faithfully and truly serves its people and selflessly fights for the happiness of all workers.

Comrades! Our entire Party, the entire Soviet people are infinitely happy that at the head of the great struggle for the happiness of all working people, for the prosperity of our socialist Motherland, there is a man with inexhaustible revolutionary energy, our brilliant architect of communism, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. (Prolonged applause.)

The years that have elapsed between the 18th and 19th Party Congresses have been marked by outstanding events in the life of the working people of Moldova. In 1940, thanks to the wise foreign policy of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet government, thanks to Comrade Stalinʹs tireless concern for the fate of the Moldovan people, the working people of Bessarabia were liberated from colonial oppression, and the Moldovan people were reunited into a single national Soviet state. The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, which entered the family of the fraternal peoples of the Soviet Union. This historical event will never be erased from the memory of the Moldovan people, from generation to generation the Moldovan people will glorify and carry the dear name of their liberator, the great Stalin, into the centuries. (Prolonged applause.)

Quite recently, under the rule of the Romanian boyars and their masters ‐ the American and Anglo‐French imperialists ‐ Bessarabia was a devastated land dominated by the colonial regime and feudal relations.

The main branch of the region ‐ agriculture ‐ was brought into a catastrophic state. Three‐quarters of all peasant farms were so small in land that they could not support their families even for six months.

As for the industry, it deliberately did not develop in Bessarabia. More than half a million destitute farm laborers roamed Bessarabia from county to county in search of work. Thousands of Moldovans, reeling from poverty and hunger, brutal political terror, were forced to flee from Bessarabia.

The famous French revolutionary writer Henri Barbusse, who visited Bessarabia in those years, wrote in his book ʺThe Executionersʺ that the occupation opened an era of suffering and need for Bessarabia. Everything that he saw there, he called the Bessarabian tragedy.

The liberation of the working people of Bessarabia from colonial oppression awakened in the people a tremendous revolutionary initiative and a creative impulse for a new life. But the treacherous attack of the Nazi invaders interrupted the creative work of the Moldovan people. Fascist monsters again brought disasters and misfortunes to the working people of Moldova.

Eight years have passed since the heroic Soviet Army drove out the German fascist invaders from Moldavia. During this time, the Moldovan people in the fraternal family of Soviet peoples, relying on their help and, above all, on the help of the great Russian people, surrounded by the constant attention and care of the Central Committee of our parties, the Union government, Comrade Stalin personally, managed to achieve serious success in raising the economy and culture of the republic. The rapid growth of the republicʹs socialist industry is evidenced by the fact that its fixed assets in the post‐war years have grown significantly, and gross output has increased several times.

During this time, a number of enterprises of union significance have been created in the republic. A large enterprise for the production of cognacs and champagne is under construction.

With significant areas of orchards and vineyards, Moldova is a large region of the country for winemaking and canned food production. This branch is the main one in the industry of the republic.

It must be said that our collective farmers and workers in the canning industry did a good job during these years. The production of canned food in the postwar years has increased 21 times. Last year, the canning industry of the republic produced about 115 million cans of canned food. This means that the canning industry of the Moldavian SSR last year produced almost one and a half times more canned food than the industry of all of tsarist Russia.

The production of wine materials has also significantly increased over the years. If in 1945 1.280 thousand decaliters of wine materials were produced, then in 1951 7.540 thousand decaliters were produced.

Comrade Stalin draws attention to the fact that business executives seek, find and use hidden reserves lurking in the depths of production, make the most of the available production capacities, systematically improve production methods, reduce the cost of production, and carry out cost accounting. This instruction from Comrade Stalin is of tremendous importance in the successful fulfillment of the tasks facing us in the new five‐year plan. It must be said frankly that we are still far from using our reserves.

The collectivization of agriculture, the invaluable assistance that our collective farms receive from the government, have significantly increased the gross harvest of all agricultural products, including grapes, fruits and vegetables. For a long time, this aspect of the matter was not noticed in the Ministry of Food Industry of the USSR, and until recently the Ministry took little measures to make fuller use of these raw materials of the food industry of the Moldavian Republic. For example, the existing canning factories of Moldova using the same equipment could produce up to 50 million more cans of various canned food per year if the Ministry of Food Industry, taking into account the increased raw material resources of collective farms, would timely make relatively small costs at factories, build simple ones that do not require sophisticated equipment, facilities for fumigation and storage of fruits and semi‐finished products.

This would not only give additional production, but would reduce its cost, improve the operation of enterprises, eliminate seasonality in this matter, and equipment and workers in factories would be used more rationally.

It must be said that the USSR Ministry of Food Industry has not really appreciated these reserves of its factories. The USSR Ministry of Food Industry underestimates the inconsistency that is emerging in the Moldavian Republic between the volume of investment in the food industry and the material and technical base of construction organizations. Strong design organizations have not yet been created in the republic. Therefore, we seriously need the help of this ministry and the State Planning Committee of the USSR in the placement and timely preparation of a number of projects both for industrial enterprises and structures, and for housing construction.

The Central Committee of the All‐Union Communist Party

(Bolsheviks), the government, Comrade Stalin this year considered the prospects for the development of the republicʹs food industry. About one billion rubles will be invested in capital construction alone in this branch of industry of the Moldavian SSR. It is envisaged to build new factories, reconstruct and increase the capacity of existing enterprises, increase the energy base, expand storage facilities.

We are faced with the task in this five‐year period to increase the production of canned food to 250 million cans. Such a huge scale of investment in the food industry only in our republic testifies to the great concern of the Party, Comrade Stalin, for the maximum satisfaction of the constantly growing material needs of the Soviet people.

The socialist reorganization of agriculture was of particular importance in the development of the entire economy and culture of the republic. The peasantry of Moldavia, having received enormous material and technical assistance from the Union Government and relying on the colossal experience of socialist construction in our country, responded with unanimous support for the policy of the Bolshevik Party and firmly embarked on the path of collective farm development. Now 98 percent of peasant farms are united in collective farms. Collective farms own 99 percent of the total cultivated land area.

Comrade Stalin teaches us that the concentration of the main instruments of agricultural production in the hands of the state, in the hands of machine and tractor stations, is the only means of ensuring high rates of growth in collective farm production. “We are all happy,” says Comrade Stalin, “at the colossal growth of agricultural production in our country, the growth of grain production, the production of cotton, flax, beets, etc. ... The source of this growth,” Comrade Stalin further points out, “is in modern technology, in numerous modern machines serving all these industries. ʺ

This transformative power of Soviet technology is clearly visible on the example of young collective farms in Moldova. MTS with a fleet of thousands of tractors, combines and other agricultural machines have been created in the republic.

Powerful machinery has already made it possible this year for almost 70 percent of all agricultural work to be carried out by the forces and means of MTS and plowing and sowing are mechanized by 80 ‐ 90 percent. The mechanization of agriculture raised the productivity of collective farm production, the culture of agriculture, the yield of collective farm fields, and increased the marketability of socialist agriculture.

During the first post‐war five‐year period, the yield of grain crops in the republic increased two and a half times. Technical crops have expanded significantly. The area under sugar beet crops has increased more than 7 times during this time. This year, the republicʹs collective farms are supplying the state with a million tons of sugar beets. The state task ‐ to receive at the end of the fifth five‐year plan at least 265 centners of sugar beet from each hectare ‐ the collective farmers of Moldova will fulfill with honor.

The collective farm peasantry of the Moldavian SSR is interested in cultivating a new crop ‐ cotton, which began to be introduced into our agriculture only three years ago.

Collective farm livestock raising is on the path of steady growth. As a result of the fulfillment of the three‐year state plan for the development of public livestock raising, the number of cattle on collective farms increased by 7 times, sheep and goats by 5 times and pigs by 8.3 times.

The result of the growth in the marketability of our collective farms is an increase in the delivery of agricultural products to the state. In 1951, compared with 1947, the delivery of grain to the state increased 4 times, grapes ‐ 8 times, fruits ‐ 6.5 times, sugar beets ‐ 7 times, tobacco ‐ 2.5 times, meat ‐ 4.5 times.

From year to year, the profitability of collective farms is growing, the well‐being and cultural level of the Moldovan peasantry is rising. This is evidenced by the continuously increasing monetary and in‐kind income of our collective farmers. In just two years, from 1949 to 1951, the number of collective farms receiving incomes over a million rubles increased almost tenfold. Now every third collective farm in the republic is a millionaire. The growth of total cash income was accompanied by a continuous increase in the indivisible funds of collective farms, which rose from 250 million rubles in 1949 to 683 million rubles. in 1951. This allowed the collective farms of the republic to allocate large sums for the construction of public production facilities, reservoirs, ponds, power plants, etc. Only last year and in the first half of this year, the collective farms built about 5 thousand public industrial premises, in addition, 2.593 collective farm buildings are at the stage of completion.

With the growth of the social economy of collective farms, the material well‐being of collective farmers is steadily increasing. If in 1949, in addition to payment in kind, 110 million rubles were given to collective farmers for workdays, then in 1951, 567 million rubles were issued.

All these figures and facts are clear confirmation of the invincible strength of the collective farm system, the advantages of large‐scale socialist economy, which makes it possible to use machine technology on a large scale and develop a diversified social economy in every possible way.

The achievements of the Moldovan people are also great in cultural development. Thanks to the tireless care of the Soviet government, Comrade Stalin personally, illiteracy among the Moldovan population was eliminated during this time, and a universal seven‐year education for children was carried out. Now in Moldova there are 1,924 schools with 425 thousand students. Over the years, the number of secondary schools has increased 6 times, and the number of students in senior classes ‐ almost 25 times. There are 46 universities and technical schools in the Moldavian SSR, in which 17.5 thousand people study. A branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a State University and 26 research and development institutions have been created. Much attention is paid to healthcare. The cadres of the intelligentsia of the Moldavian SSR are growing. The people, who for centuries have been deprived of the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of culture, under the conditions of the Soviet system, show a great desire for light, knowledge, science, join the culture of the great Russian people, the culture of Lenin and Stalin.

In his report, Comrade Malenkov deeply analyzed the shortcomings in the leadership of all sectors of the national economy, showed the reasons for their origin and outlined ways to eliminate them. I must admit that these shortcomings also exist in the work of the party organization of Moldova.

Comrade Malenkovʹs report will mobilize all our forces for the fastest elimination of shortcomings in our work, for raising the level of Party leadership in all branches of the economy and culture.

The party organization of Moldova understands its responsibility for the further development of all sectors of the national economy. In the coming years, we need to eliminate the backlog of the energy base of the republic and the industry that produces local building materials, to raise the material and technical base in the construction organizations of the republic to the level of increased volumes of investment.

We need to tackle a number of major agricultural issues. First of all, it is necessary to increase the overall yield of grain and especially industrial crops, and to intensify the use of the machine tools of the MTS, in which we are still seriously lagging behind. We must improve the training of machine operators. Our task is further to help cadres improve their agrotechnical knowledge and master the entire complex matter of collective farm production. We need to seriously improve the selection, placement and education of cadres, as is the account of us, Comrade Stalin.

The Moldovan people, much later than other fraternal union republics, embarked on the path of socialist development. This obliges our Party organization to tirelessly strengthen and raise the level of our work on the communist education of the working people.

The party organization of Moldova will perceive the historic decisions of the 19th Congress of our party as a military action program and will spare no effort to fulfill the tasks set by the Congress with honor.

Comrades! Our glorious socialist Motherland flourished mightily. Great and varied are its achievements, which are multiplied day by day by the heroic Soviet people.

Under the banner of Lenin‐Stalin, the Bolshevik Party exalted our socialist homeland, made it an impregnable fortress and a mighty bulwark of peace and socialism. With what pride are now the words of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin uttered by him 30 years ago: ʺAnd our road is true, for this is the road to which sooner or later other countries will inevitably come.ʺ On this right path, the genius of mankind, Comrade Stalin, led our Soviet people to the victory of socialism.

It is a great happiness for our Fatherland that at the head of the nationwide struggle for the prosperity of our Motherland, for the triumph of communism, stands the greatest man of our era, the wise leader and teacher Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. (Prolonged applause.)

Long live our leader and teacher, the great and beloved Comrade Stalin!

(Applause.)