One thing that struck me about this week’s readings was the Soviet reliance on the USA, either indirectly (U.S. industry or agriculture inspiring changes to Soviet industry or agriculture), or even directly, through using U.S. experts and U.S. machine tools in the industrialization process. We’ve already discussed the influence of both Henry Ford and Frederick Winslow Taylor on early Soviet planners.
Magnitogorsk, 1930s, via wikimedia commons
The readings, however, underscore continued U.S. influence in the Stalin era, as U.S. experts were brought in to help plan and create Magnitogorsk, modeled partly on Gary, Indiana, and on Khrushchev’s famous corn campaign, inspired by corn production in Iowa.
Here we find amazing footage of Khrushchev’s visit to Iowa:
communism and the environment 