Results of Nationalization of Industry
V. P. Miliutin, Report of the First All-Russian Congress of Councils of National Economy. May 21, 1918
Original Source: V. P. Miliutin, Istoriia ekonomicheskogo razvitiia SSSR, 1917-1927 (Moscow, 1929), pp. 95-96.
According to statistical investigations which have been conducted by one of the departments of the Supreme Council of National Economy but which have not been completed, nationalization has been brought about not only by the central government but also by regional and local Soviets. According to data received, 304 enterprises were "nationalized" or "sequestered" before May 15, 1918, and these enterprises may be divided among the following branches of industry:
"Nationalized" and "Sequestered" Enterprises up to May 15, 1918
| Nos. | Branch of Industry | "Nationalized" | "Sequestered" |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Mining and metallurgy | 90 | 6 |
| Il | Manufacture of metal products | 41 | 12 |
| III | Electro-technical industry | 6 | 3 |
| IV | Miscellaneous mineral products | 2 | 1 |
| V | Chemical products | 11 | 6 |
| VI | Food products | 19 | 18 |
| VII | Animal products | 6 | 5 |
| VIII | Wood-working and wood-pulp production | 13 | 7 |
| IX | Paper manufacturing and printing | 16 | 2 |
| X | Textile manufacturing | 12 | 10 |
| XI | Miscellaneous | 18 | |
| Total | 284 [sic] | 70 |
You can see from this table that nationalization chiefly affected the so-called heavy industries-namely, mining and metallurgy and metal manufacturing. In these, 50 per cent of the establishments were nationalized. If we study the problem by regions, we can state that nationalization has chiefly affected the Ural district, where 80 per cent of all mining and metallurgical enterprises were nationalized ...
We are being blamed because we nationalized only individual establishments and because we introduced nationalization without adequate preparation. When people make such statements they forget the atmosphere of class struggle in which we were obliged to take over the administration of economic life. There is no doubt that nationalization must be planned in advance; and such planning requires preliminary work. But in the atmosphere of public strife in which we were obliged to take over the government, and carry on a political and economic struggle, nationalization assumed the aspect, ... of a punitive measure. it often grew out of the revolutionary clashes between the capitalists and the proletariat, and, therefore, was directed toward the seizure of individual establishments rather than of separate branches of industry ...
Source: James Bunyan and H.H. Fisher, ed., Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-1918; Documents and Materials (Stanford: Stanford University Press; H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1934), pp. 613-614.