to expect that within a brief space of time, when hunger and cold are rife, when there is a lack of fuel and raw materials, it will be possible rapidly to achieve permanent and satisfactory results. But while it is true that people do not live in the foundations of their house, and that they cannot live in the house at all till it has been erected upon its foundations, and until the scaffolding has been removed, nevertheless the foundation is absolutely indispensable. This comparison may be applied to the upbuilding of communist society. The foundations of communist society are laid by the organisation of industry, and first of all by a purposive unification of industry under State control.
To carry out this design in practice, it was necessary, first of all, to take stock. We had to know precisely what resources were available for the proletarian Power. We had to know what supplies there were, how many enterprises, etc. By degrees, ties arose between what had formerly been independent enterprises. Central instruments came into existence for the supply of raw materials, fuel, and accessories. A network of organs for the local and central administration of industry was created, and this was already in a position to elaborate a general plan and to apply the plan all over the country.
The administrative apparatus of industry, regarded from above, is constructed as follows. At the head of each factory there is the workers’ factory administration. This usually consists of the workers in the enterprise, who are members of the appropriate trade unions, and of members of the technical staff who are appointed subject to the approval of the central committee of the workers’ trade union; two-thirds of the members of the factory administration are ordinary workers, and one-third belong to the technical staff. In certain cases, where we have to do with a number of comparatively small undertakings, there are district administrations in close touch with the local economic councils, and these in their turn are in touch with the local soviets of workers’ delegates. Larger undertakings are directly subordinated to the so-called “chiefs” and “centres.”