Half a century ago, the Soviet rulers commanded their subjects to be patient,
bear privations, and make sacrifices for the sake of “industrializing” the
country, promising that this was only temporary, that industrialization would
bring them abundance, and Soviet progress would surpass the capitalistic
West.
Today, Soviet Russia is still unable to feed her people—while the rulers
scramble to copy, borrow, or steal the technological achievements of the West.
Industrialization is not a static goal; it is a dynamic process with a rapid
rate of obsolescence. So the wretched serfs of a planned tribal economy, who
starved while waiting for electric generators and tractors, are now starving
while waiting for atomic power and interplanetary travel. Thus, in a “people’s
state,” the progress of science is a threat to the people, and every advance is
taken out of the people’s shrinking hides.