The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 14, 1924, Page 7

peepee nap N spite of Nep and _ economic crises, and profiteers, and low wag- es, Russia still remains different from any place in the world. As soon as I crossed the border I noticed the change. In place of the beer and wines of Poland, bottles of Narzan began to appear on the dining-car tables, a sparking mineral water bear- ing a snow-clad mountain on its label with the inscription showing that it is bottled by the Department of Health of Russia. Beer and wine are of course not forbidden, but Narzan is the favorite and very delicious drink. I picked up a newspaper in Minsk. (Incidentally, there was a very com- fortable sleeping-car from the frontier, and a dining-car from Minsk to Mos- cow.) One whole page of the paper was devoted to letters from local correspondents in the country around and all of them breathed an atmos- phere of energy and reconstructive labor. A writer from Bobruisk was bragging about how the town got its new electric station, and how the peasants for miles around helped with labor and contributions, because the electric station would carry light for thirty versts. It was a hard job, and money was very hard to get, but now they are opening the station on May Day. Another letter describes the “seed- help” campaign in a little township and tells how sixteen tons of grain were collected, and given as seed to widows, and families of absent soldiers and war-injured men. Still a third announces that “our town- ship is far from the center and even from railway connections, none the less our classes against illiteracy and for training in civics are doing well”; and proceeds to prove it..... And letters like these have been going on in all the months that I have been away, a steady continuous interest in reconstruction. On my first evening in Moscow— it was Easter Sunday—I was invited to see the “child-naming” of a baby, to be held in a Jewish Communist Club. This is a ceremony which is beginning to take the place of the circumcision rites with the Jews and the baptism with the Christians. The hall was packed and the door were jammed with young people, obviously working-class, energetic, much alive. There was much seriousness but no solemnity. After an address by the chairman, the father held the child aloof to the crowd amid much ap- plause and said that he wished to call him “Lenid,” a contraction of “Lenin” and “Id”, the latter meaning Jew. The name was ratified by the assembly, and various factory delega- tions proceeded to make gifts of baby blankets embroidered with the Ham- mer and Sickle, of books and member: ship cards in their clubs. The father also presented in the name of the child two books to the club library. The ceremony has not taken any artistic or symbolic form as yet; it was crude; the chairman blundered and the crowd joyously laughed. But there was in it a vitality of belief and of dedication which was very impres- sive. Certainly the Russians have not lost their firm conviction that the World Revolution is on its way. The father announced that he had four older children, one in the Commun- ist Youth, and three in the Young Pioneers, the younger preliminary organization. He expected them all to be ready for the tasks to be given them, “either to fight on the battle- front against the world bourgeoisie, or to build afterwards in peace the structure of Communism, The special excitement in Moscow just now is the cleaning of the Com- munist party which is going on most drastically. Everyone is being ex- ined as to the details of his life and work, and all those found un- worthy of the stiff requirements are wn out. Men living “too m like bourgeois,” or in too close relations with profiteers, or dictatorial and uncomradely im their jobs, or even neglectful of work, are ruthless- ly eliminated. Letters From Moscow needed and the few cases that have come under my attention seem to me to have been deserved. In fact, I much rejoiced to see certain small bureaucrats, who to my own know- ledge continuously blocked any new ideas that did not contribute to their personal prestige,—now cast into the discard. The bureaucrats and officials espe- cially are getting it. Of the first two or three thousand members examined in Moscow, 7 per cent of the workers examined were eliminated, and thirty- three per cent of the intellectuals.” This last term includes the office people and Soviet officials, many of | related man..... Then a man and his wife offered me a sofa in their tiny room. He is chief engineer for the electric stations of Russia, but he has only one room, eight by four- teen in size, for all living purposes of himself and his wife; in this he of- fered me the sofa. Such is Moscow crowding. Next came a bureau member of the Immigrants Club, English-speaking section. This is a flourishing organi- zation just founded, which has se- cured a house from the Moscow au- thorities. “We have nine fine rooms just freshly painted,” he said. “We haven't any beds, but perhaps you whom have become Communists in|can get one from somebody.” order to make careers. “Careerism,” is hated just as much as profiteering in Moscow. I can’t close this leter without telling my amusing and delightful ex- perience of hospitality in Moscow It is, as always, very overcrowded, For two days I have had my baggage in the room of a friend and have been sleeping on a couch in the ambula- torium, from which I have to get out before the patients come in the morn- ing. But I have had no less than five offers of sofas from one comrade after another. First a hospitable comrade I still have American prejudices against sharing a room with an un- F as against 4,500,000 at the same date But the last and most perfect ex- By ANISE ample of Moscow hospitality was furnished by Paul Kipnick, of the Tambov Workers’ Commune, now visiting in Moscow. He will be re- membered by many Americans. I met him last evening about midnight. “Why didn’t I know before?” he ex- claimed. “You could have had Gor- don’s room.” “Where is Gordon?” I asked. “In Leningrad?” “O, no, Gordon is in his room and I am visiting him, but we could move out. We have plenty of friends!” Such is the comradeship in Moscow. And really, it is so pleasant that I would rather sieep around, on sofas among comrades than hunt for a priv- ate room in a nepman’s hotel. K CBEAEHHIO MOAMMCYHKOB NAMATH HA AJIbBBOM JIEHHHA (Y BEAWVKHOUN MOTUAb) and not being a Communist delegate| Toxo wo Karmupmm Cxaagom «H. M.» noayscna KABIJETPAMMA H3 MOCKBEI who gets met at the station and cared| Uaiateascrno ¢«Kpacnaa Sne3qay yregomaseT, uro BENAy oOnrHA OCTyNuBUErO Ma- for, I have not yet secured a room.| TeP#442, Aap6em pemeno synycruts ne B 300 crp., Kak Onx0 00 apxAeHO panbule, HO B 700 ctpanuu, WEHA AJIBBOMA OCTAETCA BE3 H3MEHEHUS Tem oGcroatetscTBOM, Yt0 pasMepM aabGoMa u unca0 pucynkos pewieno yuexBuRTs Combme, veM vxB0e, 06 acHAeTCA A Bajepaka B Levarannn [Cognucnaa wena Ha aab6om «Y Beauxoii Moruan» — 15 ROAnapos B paccpouKy assured me that he had two beds in| 5 xoaaapcs enormtca mpm Hoauacke. Ocraapyaa cyMa joumna OBITS TOKpWTA XO his room and I could have one; but! 15-r0 mwas. Nocxe 15-ro vias voymmena 6yzer zaKpwra. Ars6oM GyxeT BiMRCaK TOISKO AIA WOAUMCHBMINXCA. Bakasn aapecyiire: NOVY MIR BOOKSTORE 231 E. 14th St. New York City INCREASE IN TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP IN RUSSIA ROM October 1, 1922, until October 1, 1923, the membership of the Trade Unions of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics increased by 22 per cent, the total membership amounting to 5,500,000 on October 1, 1923, in the preceding year. The table below gives a clear picture ‘of the growth of the’ membership in the vatious categories of employes: Pct. of Oct. 1, 1922 Oct. 1, 1923 increase Agriculture. Field and Forest wWorkerS.....csssccssseseoee 263,000 296,000 4.6 Industry. © OE WOR ROD ais sich tslvsstalcirecheensiccavckeies 20,000 27,000 35.0 Miners .... ... 228,000 305,000 38.8 Woodworking industry 32,000 122,000 48.8 Leather workers ....... . 77,000 89,000 15.6 Metal workers . . 422,000 522,000 22.7 Printers ......... . 61,000 77,000 26.2 Food workers ... 183,000 269,000 47.0 Sugar workers .. 31,000 48,000 54.8 Building workers . 102,000 245,500 40.2 Textile workers. .......... . 400,000 476,000 19.0 Chemical workers ... 124,000 157,000 26.6 Clothing workers ...... 49,000 53,000 8.2 MUI i. cl Sctelatalertacisarashenpitse comico 1,799,000 2,390,000 34.3 Transport and Communication. Water transport ............. wwe 122,000 123,000 0.8 Railroad workers 4 se 714,000 741,000 3.8 Local transport ...... se 102,000 139,000 35.3 Posts and telegraph.. -» 106,000 102,000 3.8* Grand Total slicanvaiias Rbccemend satin saad 1,044,000 1,104,000 5.7 State Public and Other Establishments BEE WORM Bis iis scat once poeniidecone . 58,000 66,000 13.8 Medical and sanitary workers............ 297,000 333,000 12.1 Educational Workers .....c.:.s.sssssssssessun 386,000 467,000 21.0 Soviet employes ....csccccsscsecerseesseeeeseiessseee 473,000 642,000 35.7 ROE wisiasitriesstnicintasssssevicosiivinensiincisicis RILMOO 1,508,000 24.2 Other. Municipal enterprises ......0...c.s000ns0n 125,000 173,000 38.4 Public feeding «......cccccesesssssssossvsersorviessseem 88,000 70,000 84.2 DORA iiss cnisitrconcnts ssicenasenenssisbte svuce 163,000 243,000 49.1 Not classified according to trade union 63,000 ect iadoansnbete Sideasee ORO TRAE io, sisy sadisaccabiuscsuisacicbocsensiatie 4,648,800 5,541,000 21.9 *—Decrease. There has thus been a great increase all round. If the peculiarly marked increase in the number of communal and public dining room workers is dis- regarded, it is seen from the above table that the greatest increase of trade union members is in industrial occupations, in which on the average there lias been an increase of 34.3 per cent during the year. The comparatively small increase in the membership of the Land and Forest Workers’ Union is duo to the iact that in many districts branches are only now being formed. There has thus been an increase during the year of one-fifth in the num- ber of organized workers, and an increase of one-third in the number of organized industrial workers. The relation is obvious between this increase and the ever-growing stability of the Soviet power and economy. The fact that there are now 5,500,000 organized workers, including 4,000,000 organized industrial workers, is the best possible guarantee of the further consolidation of the Soviet regime. Of the total number of trade union members, 69 per cént belong to the four main industrial regions. Furnishings LADIES’ MEN’S INFANTS’ Trade Where Your Money Buys the Most. Martin’s 723 West North Avenue East of Halsted St. Mueller’s RESTAURANT A good place to eat. 1010 RUSH STREET Tel. Superior 7079 Downstairs of National Office. Tel. Monroe 7281 an . We Serve Nothing But the Best VICTORY Restaurant and Lunch Room Pronos Brothers 1054 West Madison St. Chicago Res. 1632 8. Trumbull Ave. Phone Rockwell 5050 MORDECAI SHULMAN ATTORNEY-AT-LAW 701 Association Building 19 S. La Salle Street CHICAGO Dearborn 8657 Central 4945-4947 DR. A. H. TAMARIN Dentist Wishes to announce the removal of his Division St. office to 4805 N. CENTRAL PARK AVE. Phone Juniper 10210 Chicago, Tl. PITTSBURGH, PA. DR. RASNICK DENTIST Rendering Expert Dental Service {th MERERIEYS gt Roar ton are REDLAND POEMS By Bella N. Zilberman. The New Way of Hope—Lunacy under Capitalism by Beila Ly Hinka, 50c. Send stamps to Coast to Coast Book Shop, 1729 Caton Ave. Brooklyn, N. Y. Oe st