Piecing together bits of informatio

Piecing together bits of information from current Russian periodicals usually produced answers, although the work was painstaking. An analyst trying to estimate steel-making capacity in a given year might see an article applauding the efforts of one of the comrade-directors of the Stalinsk steel plant. Morrison noted that Comrade X "had been given the Order of Lenin for raising the production of steel ingots 14 percent above the quota set for 1942." Another magazine article stated that the Stalinsk steel plants had raised their production in 1942 a certain percentage over the last prewar year. In technical journals, analysts found descriptions of the equipment used in this particular mill. Finally, calculations and extrapolations based on available prewar statistics resulted in an estimate of production in the last prewar year. When taken together, Division analysts could arrive at an estimate for plant production in 1942.145 It is no wonder that Robinson and Morrison argued that research on the USSR took twice as much time and twice as many analysts as that conducted in other regional divisions.