The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 25, 1925, Page 7

enema remem " WI Pw “The idea becomes power when it pene- trates the masses.” —Karl Marx. By ANISE. UST across the street from the hotel where I lived in Moscow is the headquarters of the Food Work- ers’ Union. The provision trades are based on the immediate needs of the population; consequently they were the first to revive after the long civil war and famine, and are in a very Prosperous condition. And since the wages of workers go up in Russia as | “ fast aS an industry revives, the pro- vision trades workers are somewhat better off both in wages and ‘in or- “ganization than ‘sétme of the other trades, such as metal workers, whose industries revive more slowly. HERE are any number of labor headquarters in Moscow. There is the giant Palace of Labor, where the central trade unions of all the Soviet Federation are housed, There is also the Hall of the Unions, a sort of Central Labor Temple of the Moscow Unions, with its wonderful Hall of. the Columns in marble and crystal, with its library in many lan- Suages, and its paintings and statu- ary ordered from modern Russian art- ists. to decorate the assembly place of the workers with subjects of work- ers’ life. Yaar Food Workers’ Union is just one of the--twenty-two’ industrial unions. Yet it also has two floors of a downtown building, with financial department, statistical department, ex- ecutive offices. At one window I saw the sign, “Theater Tickets.”. Union -Mmenibers get their tickets here, at 50 ‘per cent discount. N the floor below was the Central Club of the Food Workers, supple- menting the dozens of other clubs at factories and places of Work, Here was a good little library, with reading rooms and rest rooms. There were a number of men using it. No women were visible, for this was daytime and the women were working. The men present were those employed on night shifts who were using their days to get some extra culture. «But no women work on night shifts; it is against the law. are and order and enjoy- ment made up the atmosphere of the place.. For the unions are the workers’ own organizations, built anew from the ground since the revo- lution, and not contaminated by any of the left-over civil service -workers from the days of czardom, who still clog the government apparatus, There is also much hospitality in all union headquarters, I have never seen any group in any land which seems to have such a good time welcoming folks as the organized workers of Russia, Anyone who knows any for- eign language comes out at once and tries, cheerfully to practice on the vis- itors. Anyone who has been in Amer- | “ ica also appears and gaily begins in- quiries about the workers of the Unit- ed States. Ww got into an automobile with the secretary of the union and were whirled out of town to a macaroni factory. Incidentally, if you want the convenience of an auto in the Soviet |‘ Republic, don’t come as guests of the departments of education or health or any branch of the government, but come as a guest of the trade unions. For the government is poor, having to live on a budget and acquire a gold currency. I believe the department of health has two automobiles for ‘the higher members of its staff, But “every trade union has autos; the trade unions and the Communist Party, be- ‘ing supported by membership. dues, are the really flourishing organiza- tions, SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT * THE DAILY WORKER. APRIL 25, 1925 With the Food Workers’ Union in Russia Ww. visited first a macaroni factory, on the outskirts of the city. The day before we had been at the Red October Candy Factory, a modern and flourishing place. The macaroni fac- tory was more ancient; it had a seri- ous housing problem and antiquated buildings. We passed through a cor- ridor in which there were signs about cleanliness and wiping your feet, and came to the directors’ office. HAT is your experience as. di- rector?” we asked right away. “And how is your factory organized?” No one minds these personal ques- tions in Russia. He told us he had eral assembly of the workers, held every six months,” he answered. “The Communist yacheka holds a. prelimi- hary meeting and nominates a slate, but the assembly does not have to elect this slate. It is the aim of the Communists to keep closely in touch with the workers’ wishes, so that their slate will be chosen without. contest, and this usually happens now in our plant. Back in 1921 there was a max- imalist who organized a committee and got himself nominated, but he didn’t get far in the. assembly.” THE shop committee, we learned, was paid by the factory, an amount History As She Is Taught (By Hendrik Willem Van Loon in The Survey.) Johnny! Why did Abraham. Lincoln set the slaves free? I dunno, ma’am! | suppose he done it been a mill worker before the war, but had been director of this factory since the new economic policy came into effect. He was a Communist. NDER me comes the production manager, who is not a Commun- ist,” he said. “Then we have our marconi specialist, who has worked forty years in this organization; he is also a non-party man, but an expert. We three are the technical heads of the work. HERE are 720 workers, of whom 100 are Communists and 85 in the Young Communist League. The workers have their shop committee, five members, three of whom work full time,. Then we have our Commu- nist yacheka, consisting - of all the Communists in the plant; and now We have also: the NOTH, a special committee which is studying the ways of increasing production.: These are the varjous groups in control of our working life.” “TJOW: is the shop chosen?” I asked. committee “In- the gen- it on orders from Moscow. equal to 2.per cent of the total wage scale being set aside for this purpose for their wages. The majority of the workers were women, yaad secretary of the Food Workers’ Union, who was with us, admitted to getting $75 a month, whereupon the workers began to “guy” him. “See how fat he is,” they cried, pointing to his full cheeks. “See how much he eats.” “I don’t get all the rebates you do,” he retorted, and this was true. We later learned the number of things which the workers got free through their factroy organization. -T 12 o'clock the courtyard filled » with women pouring into the base- ment dining hall. We also partook of the solid mealvof sop and meat and caroni served hete) for a few cents. We-also visited the offices of the’ Communist yacheka and of the shop Committee. On the wall was the factory newspaper, beautifully lettered and illustrated, with colored cartoons and sketches, with letters and com- plaints and gossip about factory life. SECOND SECTION This magazine supple ment will appear every Saturday in The Daily Worker. Every large factory has one of these wall newspapers, edited by the young people’s organizaiton. EYOND were two busy class-rooms, where workers from the night shift were spending their afternoons study- ing reading and writing and politics. The director himself taught an even- ing class in the same factory school. When the workers finish here, if they wish for more advanced courses, they go down to the regional center. CROSS the court was a tall build- ing devoted to club purposes. We saw upstairs the room of the Young Pioneers, children of factory workers, gay with banners and posters. Next to it was the sewing-room of the wom- en’s club. Downstairs’ was a theater, with a forest scene still set. They in- vited us to come on November 7th to the celebration for which they were preparing. T was still lunch hour, so the work rooms were empty. We went to visit a new apartment house under construction for the factory workers, out in the park at Sokolniki, fifteen minutes’ walk away. “It is not a model house,” said the secretary of the union. “There are not nearly enough bathrooms. It is just a bit of emergency construction to get the workers out of the rain.” R the macaroni plant was expand- ing and there was no room for the workers who were coming in from the country for jobs. Many of them were camping out jm-amold b y with, carpets hung bet the to. shut off the quartérs | a ‘ditterent-familé lies. The barn was warm and clean, but it was hardly the place for winter quarters for the women with babies who looked up at our entrance. “You see why we are hurrying to get the house finished,” said the secretary. HEY had taken an old brick ware- house and adapted it for living quarters. Painting and woodwork and Plastering were going up rapidly. Two rooms per family was the allowance in this new pla¢ée. Next spring the brick barn is to. be raised .to three stories and remodeled into a dwelling to relieve the crowding still more. HEN we returned to the factory, its workrooms were humming. We passed from floor to floor, :follow- ing the elevators which carried the flour to the top of the building, the revolving urns where it was mixed with water, the turning tables where it was greased and cut into great slabs, the giant machines whence it came out as thin streams of maca- roni. Then the capacious drying room piled to the ceiling with the product. Enough to supply all of Moscow and to export to Leningrad and Nijni. We noticed everywhere the cheerful faces of the women. They spoke to us; they laughed at the jokes of the union secretary. Many of them wore red handkerchiefs over their hair. There was no atmosphere of strain anywhere, WOMAN whose facq showed strong intelligence and personality joined us. She began in this factory as a girl of twelve in the days of the czar, She has worked there seventeen years. Now she is president of the Women’s Communist Section of the factory. She went ,with us back to the director’s room, where we all had tea together. What I remember most about that factory was the democratic atmosphere “of the : “director's | office, with workers coming in and out, and with all of us, union secretary, Com- munist sectetary, head of the women's © section, and director of the plant, all - having tea around the table together. —