861.00/11898: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 8—10 p.m.]
1455. Judging from articles which have appeared in the Moscow and provincial papers in recent weeks the war has caused a shortage of both industrial and agricultural labor. The workers on collective farms who have been mobilized have been replaced in part by evacuees from the cities who, according to the press, are mostly women, children, and students. This replacement does not appear to have been entirely satisfactory particularly with respect to the operators of farm machinery. The press states, however, that this year’s harvest is good and that grain collections are proceeding normally. An effort is to be made to increase the area of winter grains in the fall sowing and it is said that steps are being taken to insure the rapid delivery [Page 637] of grain to safe storage places. In this connection it should be noted that, with the exception of Bessarabia, none of the important grain areas are at present in German hands.
Although the press states that there is plenty of food, it urges the utilization of local sources of supply in order to conserve stocks and to relieve the burden upon the transportation system. Even in the environs of Moscow the mobilization of horses and trucks for military purposes has created difficulties in the transport of produce to the city. The rationing of food is being strictly enforced, but the supply of summer vegetables does not now appear to be causing any great hardship in Moscow. With the advent of winter, however, the problem may become serious.
Women have always been extensively employed in industry in the Soviet Union, but their employment appears to have been greatly increased in an effort to replace mobilized workers. Aged persons and children are being employed to a greater extent than formerly. Many large factories are believed to be operating three shifts and in the absence of daylight air raids or heavy night bombing it is probable that production has been maintained at a high level. It is reported that production is not stopped during a raid unless the area in which the factory is located is being attacked.
Many of the Moscow schools reopened on August 1st and many theaters are reopening. Although the persistence of long night raids has had a disturbing effect, it is believed that the population is rapidly becoming conditioned and would now stand up under heavy raids better than before, particularly as the air raid precautions have been greatly improved.