861.60/337: Telegram

The Chargé in the Soviet Union ( Thurston ) to the Secretary of State

859. Today’s newspapers publish a ukase64 of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in which it is stated that the issuance of poor quality or defective industrial products or the issuance of goods below the obligatory standards constitutes anti-state crime equivalent to wrecking. Directors, chief engineers and chiefs of departments or others responsible for such conditions are subject to trial and imprisonment ranging from 5 to 8 years. Editorials in Pravda and Izvestiya praise the ukase and cite various examples of poor quality or defective production.

Thurston
  1. Dated July 10.