13

p The October Revolution not only delivered the people of Russia from exploitation and backwardness, but also started the country on the wide road of scientific and technological progress. We need only refer to the figures of the national income (a highly significant economic index) to see the fast rates of Soviet economic development. Between 1913 (before the revolution) and 1970 the national income increased 46 times. In the postwar years the Soviet people effected a speedy restoration of towns and villages which had been distroyed by nazi invaders. They have achieved, to date, an 8-fold increase, as compared to 1940, of the social product and have carried out a technical re-equipment of the national economy. Powerful industry built up in Soviet times has made it possible not only to develop the means of production, but also to produce consumer goods at a fast rate. Industry and agriculture have developed much faster than in economically developed capitalist countries. For example, 14 the average annual rate of increase in industrial output in the USSR hetwcen 19.51 and I96S was 10.4 per cent, whereas in the USA, during the same period, it was 4.5 per cent, in Britain—2.9 per cent, in France—.5.4 per cent, and in the FRG 7.3 per cent.

p But the Soviet Union not only has a higher growth rate than most of the economically developed capitalist countries but also a greater absolute industrial output and is second in certain indices only to the USA. For example, in 1970 the USSR produced 740,000 million kwh of electric power, extracted 353 million tons of oil, mined 624 million tons of coal and smelted 85.9 million tons of pig iron and 116 million tons of steel.

p By concluding the eighth five-year period successfully, the Soviet people made another step forward to the creation of the material and technological basis of communism. The 24th Congress of the CPSU adopted Directives for the new Five-Year Plan of Economic Development for 1971-1975. The main task of the new five-year period is to achieve another considerable rise in the material and cultural level of the people on the basis of a fast rate of development of social production, its higher efficiency, scientific and technological progress and a rapid rise in labour productivity. The welfare of the people is the primary concern of the Communist Party.

p The development of the economy has led to a considerable rise in the living standards of Soviet citizens. Huge sums from the state budget are spent on satisfying the material and cultural needs of the population. The real incomes of workers have increased 8-fold and those of collective farmers 12-fold. Directives of the 24th Congress of the CPSU envisage a further rise in the people’s welfare. Between 1971 and 1975 the real incomes of the working people will grow by an average of 30 per cent. Three quarters of this rise will be accounted for by wage rises. The planned wage rises will affect nearly 90 million people. In addition to wage rises social consumption funds will also grow considerably, as was stated in the Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the 24th Party Congress. Their volume will be increased by 40 per cent and reach 90,000 million rubles in 1975. These funds will be used to implement a broad social programme. The amounts spent by the state on social and cultural purposes may be judged by the figures of the 1970 USSR state 15 budget; allocations for the above purposes amounted to 56,000 million rubles, which is nearly as much as was spent on the development of industry and agriculture and much more (3 times as much) than was spent on defence. Expenses on social and cultural measures are increasing with each passing year. In addition to the state budget funds, large sums are also allocated to the public consumption funds by state and co-operative institutions. Including these sums the total amount spent on social and cultural purposes in 1970 exceeded 70,000 million rubles.

p We have dealt with this question in such detail because a considerable part of the above-mentioned funds are allocated to the development of the public health service in the USSR; this will be dealt with in more detail below.

p In 1970 a considerable proportion of all the money spent on social and cultural purposes—more than 21,000 million rubles—was used for social insurance and social maintenance. The larger part of this money goes for various pensions, including old age pensions. In 1970 the total number of pensioners in the Soviet Union was 41.6 million, including 12.3 million collective farmers; 36 million of these were old age pensioners, invalids, etc., and 5 million were former servicemen. According to Soviet law, pensions are granted to men at the age of 60 and to women at the age of 55. Moreover, a large group of the population—workers in difficult trades, women employed in certain enterprises and several other categories of workers—are granted pensions 5-10 years earlier.

p The following figures may be cited by way of comparison: in the USA, for example, the pensions for men begin at 65 and for women at 62; in the FRG, the Netherlands and Finland the pension age is 65 for both men and women; in Switzerland it is 67, and in Canada, Ireland and Norway— 70. In the USSR, besides the comparatively early pension age, old age pensions are between 50 and 100 per cent of a person’s working wage. Considerable changes in social insurance and social maintenance are to take place within the next five years. As of July 1971 the minimum old age pension to workers, office employees and collective farmers went up by 50 per cent. Invalidity pensions will be increased, as will those granted on the loss of the breadwinner. The paid leave to take care of a sick child will be enlarged, and the network of old age and invalid homes will be extended.

16

p The Soviet system of state pensions, as well as paid leave in cases of temporary disability (illness or injury), looking after a sick child or relative, quarantine, etc., not only contributes to the material welfare of the people, but helps to maintain their health.

p It is also important to note that in the USSR the pensions and other allowances are granted entirely from state funds (not.through deductions from personal incomes as is the case in many capitalist countries) and that the state has placed all the funds allocated for social insurance at the disposal of the trade unions which effect their distribution.

p If we add up all the gratuities and allowances the people receive from the public consumption funds we lind the total sum to be quite imposing; in 1970 these grants amounted to 262 rubles per head. In addition, the state and the collective farms spend about 150 rubles a year per family on the construction of houses, municipal services, and cultural and medical institutions.

p The working hours have been significantly shortened in the USSR and the working conditions improved. Today most of the working people have a 40.7-hour week and most of the industrial enterprises and offices work 5 days a week; this allows the working people to make fuller and better use of the two free days for rest, recreation, and for their cultural development.

p The problems of food and modern housing are being successfully solved. Valuable foodstuffs rich in proteins, vitamins

p Table 1 Consumption of basic foodstuffs (kg per capita, per annum) Foodstuffs 1913 1968 Meat and fat 29 48 Fish and fish products 6.7 14.3 Milk and dairy products (in terms of milk) 154 285 Eggs (in tens) 4.8 14.4 Breadstuffs 200 149 Potatoes 114 131 Vegetables and melons 40 79 Sugar S.I 37.4 17 and other necessary ingredients occupy an ever increasing place in the diet. Increasingly more meat, milk, eggs and sugar arc consumed, and less bread and cereals, which used to be the mainstay of the diet for the majority of Russia’s working people (Table 1).

p More and more houses are built every year. During the last 10 years half the country’s population has been given new dwellings or otherwise improved their living conditions.

In rates of housing construction the USSR has outstripped the economically developed capitalist countries. This is evidenced by the following table.

Table 2 Number of flats built per 1,000 population in 1968 Country Number of Hats USSR Britain USA France Italy 9.4 7.9 7.7 8.3 4.9

p We must also remember that in the USSR the rent does not, as a rule, exceed 5 per cent of the wages of industrial and office workers, whereas in capitalist countries it amounts to one-fourth and, not infrequently, one-third of the total personal income of the working family.

p Fundamental changes have taken place in Soviet education, science and culture. Illiteracy was wiped out during the first two decades of Soviet power. Science and the arts were brought within the reach of millions of people. During the 1969-1970 school year the higher, general educational and other schools were attended by almost 79 million people.

p An extensive network of research institutions uniting hundreds of thousands of scientific workers in all fields of knowledge has been set up in the USSR. The general headquarters of Soviet science is the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In addition to this central academy there are also socalled branch academies, including the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR.

18

p The national policy of the Soviet state provides every opportunity to all peoples within the Soviet Union for the development of science, culture and education. The former outlying, backward districts of tsarist Russia have become prosperous, industrially developed, sovereign republics with an advanced science and culture. Peoples such as the Komis, Mordvinians, Adygeyans, Altaians, Khakasses, etc., who formerly did not even have a written language, now take pride in their doctors, engineers, scientists, writers and artists.

This is just a brief outline of the development of the country’s economy and the improvement of the well-being and culture of the Soviet people, but we hope it will be useful for the understanding of the problems tackled by the Soviet public health service, considering the direct dependence between the level of health protection and the country’s social conditions.