and external. The three main internal difficulties were as follows:—
Firstly, our industry was ruined and paralysed, except the war industry which supplied our civil war fronts with ammunition and arms during the intervention. Two-thirds of our works and factories were at a standstill, transport was disorganised, there were no, or hardly any, manufactured goods.
Secondly, agriculture was lame on both legs, working peasants were at the-fronts, there was lack of raw material, of bread for the urban population and particularly for the workers. In those days the ration of workers was half a pound and sometimes only an eighth of a pound of bread a day.
Thirdly, there was no or hardly any Soviet distributive apparatus between town and countryside capable of supplying the latter with manufactured articles and the former with agricultural produce. Co-operatives and State trade organs were in an embryo state.
However, at the end of the civil war and when the New Economic Policy was introduced the economic position of the country underwent a radical change.
Industry developed and consolidated itself. It took up a commanding position in the whole national economy. The most characteristic fact in respect to this is, that during the last two years we have been able to invest in industry over two billion roubles from our own savings, without help from outside, without any foreign loans whatever. One can no longer say that there are, generally speaking, no goods for the peasantry.
Agriculture has developed, its production having reached the pre-war level. One can no longer say that there is no bread and other agricultural produce for the workers.
Co-operative and State trade organs have developed to such an extent that they occupy a commanding place in the trade of the country. One can
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