Soviet Dumping
duction, it cannot be said to be dumping. This argument
in a variety of forms is brought forward in all seriousness
and can be read and heard in every country where Soviet
dumping is discussed. But the argument is neither new nor
final.
To-day we are witnessing dumping by a country whose
costs of production may be said to be negative. Indeed, the
commodities dumped by the Soviet Government of Russia
are either produced by the ““ omnipotent ” State on nationalised
 land or in confiscated factories, mines and works, or
they are obtained from its subjects at fixed prices ‘“ regulated
 by the State’ and paid for in the State printed currency,
 which has no purchasing power outside the territories
controlled by that State. They are then transported on
confiscated railways and on confiscated inland water-ways,
and loaded by convict, forced and ill-paid labour. The only
real cost, therefore, in addition to the low cost of keeping
the workers alive, is the charter of foreign ships, and this is
asually paid by the foreign buyer in real foreign currency.
But the Soviet definition is not the only one. According
to Professor Jacob Viner, in his Memorandum on Dumping,
submitted to the * Preparatory Committee for the International
 Economic Conference” (League of Nations),
dumping is a term used by the more careful writers to signify
sales for export at lower prices than those charged at the
same time and under like circumstances to buyers on the
domestic markets. Accepting such a definition, the term
dumping can certainly be applied to Soviet exports, since
the domestic prices of all export commodities were and are
higher than those charged to foreign buyers.
Professor Haensel, in his Economic Policy of Soviet Russia,
states among other things that “ Cloth has been sent to
Mohammerah and sold there at as low a price as 44d. a yard,
a. thing unheard-of in the Soviet Union, and greatly to be
envied by Soviet citizens.” He also cites granulated sugar,
matches, coal and other commodities, while Mr. Graham,
President of the Board of Trade, stated in the House of
Commons on February 13th, 1930, that “ Russian textile
goods are being offered at low prices to British export houses

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