by then is going to be 15 to 20 percent
 below the original target.
 E. The big agricultural investments, which were
 supposed to provide insurance against crop
 failures like those in 1963, have also been
 chopped. The rate of increase for fertilizer
 production is to be cut in half in 1968. Deliveries
 of farm machinery were supposed to
 increase sharply, but they have leveled off,
 and even declined in some categories.
 1. The Russians in 1963 joked grimly about
 "Khrushchev's miracle" -- that the planted
 wheat in Kazakhstan and harvested it in
 Canada.
 2. The new leaders had this in mind when they
 planned agricultural investments for 1966
 to 1970, but now they appear to be gambling
 on continued good harvests.
 3. At least one Politburo member, First Deputy
 Premier Polyansky, has been openly critical
 of this reneging. He is probably not aline,
 and if anything goes wrong at harvest time,
 there will be considerable political strain
 in the Kremlin.
 -7-
 
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