Policy updates, continued
People's Secretariat for Railways
Of all the Secretariats in the UASR's government, the Railway Secretariat was the least controversial and innovative. The railroads had already been nationalized by the Hoover Government in early 1929, and had maintained operation throughout the Depression in spite of the collapse of interstate commerce and shipping. The take over of the railways by the provisional government had been smooth, and heavily assisted by the American Railway Union.
As part of the First Five Year Plan, James P. Cannon had lobbied for heavy reinvestment and expansion of the rail system, adopting new technologies to improve efficiency and productivity. With rail as the dominant means of overland passenger and freight transport, it was not hard to convince the Central Committee of its importance.
A Research and Development Division within the Secretariat was established, to develop and promote new technologies for rail transport. A program to convert the locomotive fleet to diesel-electric power-plants was begun, with the hope of reducing freight times and fuel costs. Experimental programs in rail electrification began in New England, to serve as a test bed for potential future technologies.
New rail lines were planned in the South, to serve industrialization programs. The first new lines, to support the Tennessee Valley Industrial Project, had already began construction in late 1933.
The period from 1934 to 1940 would see the last major expansion of the American rail system.
People's Secretariat for Communication
The nationalization of the American telephone and telegraph system, combined with the needs of information gathering and distribution in a planned economy prompted the creation of the Secretariat for Communication. Integrating the American postal, telegraph, and telephone systems, as well as the regulation of radio communications, the SecCom had the potential to be one of the most dangerous institutions in the UASR government.
It was a serious bit of fortune that it was Max Eastman, the American Trotskyist and critic of state socialism, was the one placed in charge during its formative years. The policies set up by Eastman dictated that the SecCom's portfolio would be limited to the maintenance and improvement of the physical infrastructure necessary for communication.
Under this interpretation, the main goal of SecCom became to expand telephone and telegraph services to cover the entirety of the country. Working in conjunction with provincial Communications Secretariats, telephone service was expanded to rural areas. In ares where coverage already existed, citizens were provided with a telephone and telephone service, free of charge, as available. "A Democratic Society is a Connected Society," as the program's tagline read.
A grant system to support the creation of new local radio cooperatives, was put into place in early 1935. An independent, non-political agency was created to review funding applications. Under the rules, the Union government would buy the necessary equipment for radio broadcast, and provide avenues for technical training if necessary, and the cooperatives themselves would fund their own operations through provincial/local grants, donations, or other means.
The program would serve as a basic template for a later program, begun in 1937, to support the filmmaking (and in the future, the television filming industry). In conjunction with the Union Academy for the Arts and Sciences, the SecCom created an independent, non-political agency to support both capital procurement and production costs in Hollywood. Controversial, even in the Workers Party at its inception, the program would eventually become a non-controversial institution in the Hollywood studio system.(1)
A pilot program, for research and development in television networks, began in New York City in 1935. Utilizing the existing infrastructure (with some modifications) of the local radio collectives, programming and expertise from the local university systems, and a bit of ingenuity, the first commercial, city-wide television network was set up.
People's Secretariat for Maritime Transport
The Secretariat for Maritime Transport was created to administer the nationalized American shipping fleets. As part of the system set up in the mid 30s, the Secretariat would set policies, and in conjunction with the Foreign Trade Secretariat, would provide the ships to conduct foreign trade with other nations over the sea. However, as a deal to the unions, the Secretariat would give ships a measure of autonomy. Trade unions involved with American shipping, fishing and passenger service would maintain propriety of ship conduct. The unions would elect ship officers, and discipline crews.
The system set up by Joseph Ryan, a former sailor and union man himself, would set up a tension between the Union government and the autonomy of the unions. In theory, the two sides remained in balance, but over the course of history, the balance of power and autonomy would shift back and forth with the currents of the times.
The Secretariat would also take over the administration of ports, docks and shipyards in the country. However, while it would set the policies of ports, the actual administration of them would fall to the provincial governments and the Longshoremen's Union.
During this period, and the Second World War that followed, the Maritime Secretariat would be the primary shipbuilder for the Union, constructing both civilian and military vessels based on designs developed by the independent Naval Architects Bureau.
1. Covered in more depth in a later update
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