Page:Joseph Davies Memorandum regarding Military Strength of the Soviet Union.djvu/9

 trained labor. The transportation question has not been solved and would constitute a serious handicap in munitions production and distribution. The measures undertaken to speed up transportation appear to be meeting with some success. Clothing and housing are unsatisfactory, even in time of peace and would be no better under emergency conditions. Both are so highly centralized in government commissariats however, as to assure adequate clothing and housing to the armed forces and to workers engaged in the munitions industry, even though the rest of the population were not provided for. 23. Incidental but important difficulties which hamper all Soviet industry are the lack of skilled labor, the frequent misuse of machinery, and the adoption of advanced industrial methods without having passed through preliminary stages of development and training.

24. During the twenty years of its existence, the Red Army has passed through various phases in the task of attempting to provide its organizations with proper officers. Throughout the Civil War and post-war years, Red Army units were officered largely by former soldiers, generally without military education, and by former officers, who were allowed to exercise their talents under the constant and direct 9