The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 15, 1925, Page 11

| — Union Delegation | Py Nitteteen: "e Miners’: Fe- ners’. Federa:« ce 1921, Vice- i on several »sident, Inter- . Member ‘ding (Yorks). public bodies T, parliament- zion congress, uncil, 1923-24. Member, cen- welfare »and ng examining rdf secretary « 8@. Founder cl originated and General shed..in. 1887. on «movement. : evetab parliann i tedufor North «!: 2ral.secretary, » Cransport and . Now secret- ernational De- aated Union. congress gen- . Member. of ttee, trades sociated with since 1884. In- nd leaders of 2 as : William nd other pio- ad with prince atil his return... woneer of shop under of Shop ficial’ of this retirement as twelve years. 245 0Blectedto , a .nion congress, ress each*year ptember, 1925. P:. A pioneer tism and held t prior to ap- cretary of As- »motive Engin- 4. Elected or- re union, 1910. liation boards. y of.the union, of labor party 1921. | Elected. gress gen- i ber of la- f d. Three arrow, elected ~ ciated with la- anda for many ? .¥,\memiber af. ° ” Association « secretary and assistant gen- ve department, secretary, 1917, igineering and federation for atly appointed occupying this des union con- (921, re-elected or term ending unman of dele- risMing Trades afr, social-de- ay years. Mem- Jouncil tor six retary, subse- aishing trades. te, West. Sal-. Coventry, 1923- cessful arbitra- « Thru Courtesy of the International Pub- lishers Co. the right to refuse publication of information which he consid- ers contrary to the State regulations. The ultimate responsi- bility, however; remains with the editorial staff. Press.Propaganda . The organization and control on certain definite lines of the printed word is considered to be one of the greatest trusts and responsibilities of the present rulers of Russia. press, to break down the many traditions and customs which are still retarding..the progress and correct evolution of the new ideas. The main features of the Russian Press, and, in fact, all literature in general, are therefore devoted to instruc- tion and propaganda on the theories and practice of the many ramifications of Soviet rule. The economic and social side of life under the new condi- tions is dealt with by the Press in great’ detail; and a special -feature is the verbatim reports of all speeches made by the lead- ers at party meetings and congresses. Foreign and political news and the comments of all sections of the foreign Press are well set out, even in the smaller provincial papers. “The absence of all sensational news stories of no instructive or public value is very marked. Infact, Soviet newspapers, although perhaps _& little dull at times, are considerably cleaner reading than the newspapers of other. countries. Newspipers ‘ The “Pravda” (Truth) is the Communist Party organ. The paper deals with general news, but its special feature is the activity and views of the Communist Party organization. This paper has one of the largest general circulations, and is looked upon as. the mouthpiece of the Government. It also acts as a press agency for the provincial newspapers. The rest of the newspapers are divided into sectional categories as follows:— General newspapers—town, provincial and rural. Trade Union newspapers dealing with matters per- taining to their particular union. Peasants, workers and professional newspapers. Economic, military and technical. Co-operative societies and national newspapers. Weekly and monthly periodicals on art, music, litera- ture and agriculture. Rosta, the official Soviet Press Agency. Factory wall papers. CS Sas: PY Press Circulation . 1914 A924 No. of publications............ 447 A498 Chronletton iiss sets oe eae e «8,728,700 2,530,000 In the rural and agricultural districts the nuniber of publi- cations has increased from 131 in 1914 to 168 in 1924; in the large centers, however, there has been a slight.decrease. The decrease in general circulation is undoubtedly due to the fact that every industrial and agricultural organization has its own club, which subscribes to the principal central newspapers and all the local ones. In this manner it is reckoned that each copy is read by at least ten persons. In most of the workers’ clubs voluntary readers réad the newspapers aloud at specified hours to members who are unable or unwilling to read. The reading public: is, ‘therefore, far in excess of figures suggested in the comparative statistics. The ‘Peasants’ Gazette” and the “Red Star,” both peasants’ and workers’ newspapers, were only start- ed at the beginning of this year, and have each reached a cir- culation of over 400,000 daily. In the above figures the native, vernacular Trade Union and Peasants’ Press is not included. Wall Papers One of the most*interesting features in Soviet: journalism is what are:called wall papers. These consist of printed, ‘type- written and, in some cases, hand-written slips, which from day to day are pinned on a board on the wall of the factory, club, institute, or other meeting-place of the workers. These slips contain articles, views, news, comments, etc., of the workers themselves. Each wall paper has its own organized editorial and printing staff, and is entirely run by the workers themselves under the auspices of the Trade Unions. Special correspond- ents are selected from among the workers, who gather news and send anything of general value appearing on these wall papers to some of the recognized newspapers in the cities. The origin of these wall papers sprang-from the activities of the Russian Press Agency, “Rosta,” which, in the days when paper was scarce, printed its telegraphic news on small slips, which were distributed in single copies to the clubs and meeting-places of the workers, and then pasted to the white wall. The workers soon began to write their own comments on the wall below. When this was stopped they wrote their comments on scraps of paper, often cigarette packet wrappings. From these efforts . sprang the organization which is now represented in almost ev- ery workshop: and club in Russia. These organized wall news- papers are a‘medium through which the workers can express their opinions, not only as regards general politics, but also on questions concerning the factory or institution for which they are working. Their success has been so great that they have become preparatory journalistic schgols. The Factory Commit- tees of the Trade Unions take very careful note of any young _e6rrespondent or contributor of merit, and from time to time muke selections of candidates for the literary schools or insti-. tutes of journalists, where students receive a special training in all branches of journalism. Much young talent is appearing from this source. sei! Jabor and oppression: In the © ~words of Lenin, it will be possible, with the aid of the printing ‘The,comparative daily circulation figures are as follows i Copyright in the United States by the International Publishers Co, All Rights Reserved. Copyright by the Trades Union Cohgress General Council in Great Britain, eer emementtneeenemeennememeeene Freedom of the Press The-older journalists of today, as in fact the whole of the contemporary Russian Press, are the outcome of 20 years of Most of the writers have served many years in prison under the Tsarist regime. After the Revolution in 1905 a very strong agitation was started for greater freedom in the Press. The movement met with a certain amount of suc- cess until 1909. Repressive measures were then taken, In 1911, ’ ' however, there was ‘a further revival of the movement, which met with a greater measure of success. Militant action was ho longer attempted, but combines were formed of various newspa- pers with dying circulations. Rights for the publication of new newspapers were also obtained. In this manner various politi- cal groups became possessed of the right of publication by ser- eral newspapers, of which only one’ Was printed and issued. Di- rectly it was closed by order of the authorities for too free an . éxpression of views it continued its activities under another permit and under another name. In this manner the “Pravda” changed its name twelve times during the period 1912 to 1914, and 16. members of its editorial staff sufféred various terms of ° imprisonment. As will be readily seen there is still no opposition Press. In spite of this, however, very considerable latitude of criticism is allowed; these criticisms take the form of open discussions on social and economic questions. No attack on the Communist Party is permitted. The authority of the existing Government is in all cases. strongly. upheld. This is evident in the attitude of the whole of the Russian Press against Trotsky in his recent criticisms, which latter amounted to an attack on certain phas- cs of the present system of rule. -~ Very few newspapers at present are self-supporting; for the most part they are subsidized by the organizations they repre- sent or the Government, which looks upon them as part of the State éducational system. A certain income is received from advertisements. The advertisements mostly consist of theatre notices, notices of party and Trade Union meetings, and co-operative stores, all ef which have to be paid for by arrange- ment. General Conclusions From the above necessarily inadequate review of the Soviet educational system it will be realized that every opportunity and encouragement is given to the worker, no matter what may be his or her calling, to obtain the best instruction in any branch of art, industry, science or literature for which he may feel he has an aptitude. The results which were seen by the Delega- tion-in all the districts visited were certainly astounding, es- pecially when it.is considered that the whole system; has not.) yet ‘been im’ operation for‘three years. Many of these workers had no intention of leaving the factory in which they had work-" # ed all their lives or altering their lives in any way. The train- ing they had received in the optional schools or other institu- tions had, however, given them an entirely new outlook on life and made their leisure hours a pleasure. Others were by these means enabled to quit an irksome and routine job for a pro- fession to which their talents and bent fitted them. A peasant or a worker can by his own energies rise in his or any other profession with the aid given to him by the system. The pa- thetic feature in our own civilization of wasted and dormant talent, the slave of circumstance, owing to the absence of all possibility of outlet or instruction through lack of means, seems likely to become very rare among the workers of Russia. CHAPTER X Public Health and. Housing, etc. Disease : Prior to the Revolution the registered death rate in Russix was higher than any other country in the world. The mortality among children under the age of one year was nearly three times that of any other country in Europe. During the general mobilization at the beginning of the war in 1914 it was found that 45 per cent. of the male population was unfit for military service as not coming up to the standard established at that time. Most of these defectives were suffering from syphilis in a more or less acute form, the disease being rampant in the vil- lages and rural districts. During the war and the Revolution typhus, typhoid, smallpox and malaria were ‘epidemic in all parts of the country; but reliable statistics dealing with this period are not available. It has now been established from former official records that over 1,500,000 were killed during the war, and that another 1,675,000 lost over 50 per cent. of their working capacity as a result of wounds or sickness. During the Revolution and the Civil War (Denikin’s offensive and others) it is reckoned that a further 6,500,000 lives were lost from casualties in fighting, disease, and infant mortality; finally, the famine of 1921 and 1922 carried away 5,000,000 men, women and children, bringing the total recorded losses to Russia during eight years up to nearly 15,000,000. eae A The first reliable statistics dealing with public health since the Revolution appeared in 1920. The number of registered cases of typhus had then reached nearly 4,000,000 and amount- ed to 365 per 10,000 inhabitants. In 1921 a cholera epidemic broke out in the south, and for six months the registered cases averaged over 200,000. In 1922 typhoid cases reached 1,500,000 and recurrent’ 300,000. At the same time scarlet fever and smallpox were epidemic in many parts. Such was the state of Russia in the years 1921 and 1922. (To be centinued in next issue.)