managed on similar lines to the State factories.
All the work of the factories I visited where
some three to four thousand persons are employed
is heavily handicapped for lack of raw
material and fuel. The foundry compared
with any other I have seen was very inefficient
solely because proper fuel is not available. In
spite of every drawback there was, however,
clear, unmistakeable evidence that by enthusiasm
and effort production was increasing
week by week. Before the war much of the
machinery used in Russia was imported.
French firms to a large extent controlled the
manufacture of aeroplanes : it was the custom
to assemble parts brought from abroad, but
not actually to manufacture. Imports were
stopped owing to the blockade and consequently
the Russians, if they wanted aeroplanes,
motors and machinery were obliged to
settle down to do the work of manufacture
themselves. From the outset they had been
handicapped owing to lack of transport, and
because of this shortage we see in Russia the
extraordinary spectacle of multitudes of people
cold and hungry in a country enormously rich
in natural resources of every kind and with an
abundance of foodstuffs. The Allied blockade
in keeping out the means whereby the transport system could be dealt with has destroyed
thousands of lives, but the wicked wars waged
with the help of British gold, guns and muni-
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WHAT I SAW IN RUSSIA
