The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 7, 1925, Page 7

feath sentence, but _ “The idea becomes power when it pene- ‘trates the masses.” —Karl Marx. By M. A. SKROMNY. A* interesting meeting of old time M SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT. ’ THE DAILY WORKER. - SECOND SECTION This magazine suppie- Ment will appear every Saturday in The Daily Worker. February 7, 1925 Veterans of the Russian Revolution Meet went abroad. Was in jail 24 yearsjin the attempt to assassinate Czar and 8 months. I¢hael Novorusski. Joined the revo-| Was Alexander III, imprisoned 18 years The third in the second row is Sentenced to death:| Michael Shebalin, a nfember of the The second in the second row is'|Sentence changed to life in Katorga. revolutionary movement since 1880. and 6/Was arrested in 1884 with an under- political prisoners, in fact the|lutionary movement in 18386. Arrested |months. Liberated by the revolution] ground printing plant of the Narodnaya oldest living. ex-politicals, was held|in 1887. Was accused of participating |of 1905. recently’ in Moscow. Most. of them were of:the Schlusselburg group, that. = is, people who were imprisoned in the fortregs ‘of. Schlusselburg, the .Bastile ad eer - Weare reproducing here Ssome of them.* ||” sometimes. that the work in. the movement is hard and tiresome,. who sometimes become apathetic, -may learn something from these veterans. Read their short life sketches, There is no fiction or poetry in them. Just dry facts. If we would tell of the hor- rors of the czarist Katorga, give the stories of the most terrible jails and of the work in the mines, that would probably add to the mental picture of the sufferings of these heroes of the revolution. But we did not want to make a “story” out of it. Just a short biographical sketch. Read it over. The first one on top is Vera Figner, @ member of the revolutionary move- ment since 1873. Was an active mem- ber of “Zemlia i Volia” and later of “Narodnaya Volia” (The Will of the People). Participated actively in the assassination of Alexander II., and ail other, activities of the organization. Was a member of the military com- mittee, arrested in 1883. Given & it was changed ) for life. Was Liberated et The first in the second row is Michael Froienko. In the revolution- ary movement since 1872. In 1878 he became a guard in the jail where the revolutionists Deitch, Stefanovich and Bochanovski were held for the pur- pose of liberating them. On May 27 of the same year he succeeded in leading them all out to freedom, He participated in all terroristic work of the Narodnaya Volia, including the assassination of Czar Alexander II. Arrested March 17, 1881, Sentenced to death, but the sentence was changed to life in katorga (hard labor), Liber- ated by the revolution of 1905 and By N. SEMASCHKO Chairman of the Central Council for Physcal Culture, ' 'HE Soviet Union is tne country of the worker. The Soviet Union is surrounded by bourgeois enemies. These two features which characterize the position of the Soviet Union de termine its immediate tasks regarding -Physicai culture, * ‘The foundation of the Soviet system is labor, ‘The most-impottant duty of the republic of the ‘workers is there- fore to maintain the working capacity of the population, and preserve and de- velop the young sources of creative power of the country. Physical cul- ture in our Union chiefly. serves this purpose and aims in this direction, The bourgeois-capitalist environ- ment is another factor which induces us to devote a corresponding attention to the development of the protective power of our army. As it is, our army is at present built up on the territorial principle. It is, as a matter of fact, a part of the working population. The first task (improving the health of the population) is thus inseparably linked with the second (increasing the fight- ing capacity of the army). The tsarist system has bequeathed us a very burdensome inheritance as regards to physical culture. Tsarist Russia was a country with a tremen- dously high rate of mortality: about three million persons died every year. The chief causes of death were the so-called “everyday illnesses”, tho va- rious forms of typhoid fever, cholera, smalipox, infantile diarrhoea, and syphilis, which was not due to sexual intercourse. About twenty-five per cent of all diseases were such “everyday” illnesses. In a population so back- ward in culture the most elementary hygienic habits were lacking. Handicapped by such an inheritance, the Soviet government had to train the population in physical culture. The sense of the necessity for phys- ical culture seized hold of the widest circles of the active workers, It is only a year since the Central Council for Physical Culture at the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive was founded, and already, on a mod- erate estimate, millions of workers are practising various forms of physical exercise. The youths were the first to respond to this call. The C. Y. P. A. R. (Communist Youth League of Russia) was a pioneer of the idea of physical culture, At every congress of the C. Y. P. A. R. members wefe urged to take a really active part in this movement, and there ts at pres- ent no group of the C. Y.| P, A. R. EX-POLITICALS OF RUSSIA . Physical Culture In U,S.S.R, which does not, in some form or other, take part more or less in the general movement. The trade unions also have taken up keenly the idea of phystcat culture They grasped-at once that. physical cniture is, for the workers, the funda- mental prerequisite for their personal well-being and for the improvement of the national economy, The trade unions also had a deeeisive influence on the nature of the ®hysical exer- cises. For the workers, physical cul- ture 1s not a means to hypertrophy in one particular direction (and _ there- fore injurious)—it is no bourgeois sport which produces champions with strong fists and weak brains. , Physic- al culture in a workers’ state is a powerful means for the harmonious development of the mental and phys- ical forces of man, The physteal ex- ercises are also intended to eounter- balanee the injurious sides of: certain occupations. Thus, for occupations which involve for instance the breath- ing in of. dust, noxious vapours, ete., exercises are organized) which differ from those for occupations associated with abnormal positions of the body (carpenters, * turners, shoemakers, ete.) The idéa of physical culture has become popular among the troops. Volia, Sentenced to life in Katorga, but later changed to 12 years. Was in ‘jail for 12 years. Afier that banished -|for.life to Siberia. Was there for 10 years, Liberated by the revolution in “| 1905. ‘The first.in the third row is Nicolai Morosov. Member of the revolution- ‘ary movement since 1374 First jtima} {arrested and sentenced in: 1878) Partic;: ipated. actively in the terrorist: work! of the Narodnaya Volia. Arrested again in 1881. Sentenced to death, Sentence changed to 20 years katorga. Was in jail a total of 29 years. Liber- ated by the revolution of 1905. Sen- tenced again to one year in the fort- ress in 1912 for a poem. The second in the last row is Michael Aechenbrenner. Born in a family of “nobles.” Member of the Military organization of the Narod- naya Volia. In the revolutionary move- ment since 1879. Worked for the par- ty in the army all over Russia. Ar- rested in March 1883 when 40 years old. Was a colonel in the army when arrested. Sentenced to death by hang- ing, but sentence was changed to life in Katorga. In 1896 sentence chanred again to 20 years, Liberated in Sep- tember 1904. Was in jail 22 years. The third in the last row is Dimitri Surovzev, son of a priest. In the move- ment since 1874. Was arrested and banished to Siberia in 1876. Escaped in 1878. Arrest in in 1882 in Odessa. “Sentenc Ug ‘ka. torga. Served ail 15 years. After that, in 1896, banished for ‘life to Siberia. Remained there 19 years. This is, in short, the story of the above comrades who were among the. first to raise the banner of revolt against czardom in Russia. While they were in the jails at hard labor, their comrades kept up the fight which finally resulted in victory, in the over- throwal of czardom and capitalism and the establishment of the first workers’ and peasants’ Soviet repub- lic in the world. Physical exercises are ‘a part of the system of. military training. In this way the ideas of physical culture not only permeate the Red Army, but are aiso carried by the territorial] divisions to the. towns and villages of our ex- tensive Union. The Soviet physical culture has no easy fight against the remains of the oid bourgeois sport (even now. this struggie has not cote to an efid). Wei are of course not opposed { sport. On the contrary, we regard sport as) one of the most important factors in! the development of the body. We are, | however, opposed to sport which does not promote health, but cripples the individual; we disapprove of sport which does not promote human feel- ngs in men but.turns him into a brite, In order, however, to direct the physical training in this way towards a “eugenic” goal, the goal of the har- taonious development of all the forces cf the individual, it was necessary to form a staff of well trained instruc- tors. The State Institute for Physical Culture of the People’s Commissiariat for Health has undertaken this task | and, during the six years of fits exist- | ence, has specially mtd serena | hundred doctors and pedagognes ior, this function and, in short training | courses, has prepared special instruc- tors for various factories and assigned them for this purpose to the factories ig question. The All-Russian Congress of the (Continued on page 8)