The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 26, 1927, Page 3

‘ , THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1927 ?age Three Soviet ussia After Ten Years Report of the American Trade Union Delegation to USSR The following is the fifth instalment of the re- pert of the first American Trade Union Delega- tion to Soviet Russia, in the words of the delega- The report will be published in The DAILY tion. WORKER in successive issues until | ternational politics. | corners” completed. : a Cultural-Educational Work. We asked Tomsky, the president of the C. C. T. U., what was the mos achievement of the unions during years. His answer was: “The most notable development in the Rus- sian trade union movement is the tremendous progress of cultural activities, Through these | activities great masses of the working class Tens are aided in their cultural development. of thousands are being prepared for partici- pation in the government as wel omic and trade union life. They nearer to the realities of life, and that is the most important factor. Such.a exists nowhere else. tion.” After examining the cultural-educational work of the trade unions we are inclined to agree with Tomsky. From the bottom to the top of the union apparatus the cational work is interwoven. ers insist that it is incorrect to think of work- ers’ education as a separate departmentalized They contend that every branch of union work is educational, and that every, “ac- affair. tive” in the union is really an worker, so that through all the of the union runs the educational function. The educational work is not regar' thing apart from the union and supported like an outside stead it is a vital, organic part of every department of the Without going into the details ious methods used by the unions workers political, trade union a education (the three categories the unions divide their teaching activities), we may summarize some of the facilities enjoyed by. the average ber: 1. If he is illiterate he may’ attend school or night class for the “liquidation of illiter- acy.”’ The unions have made particularly good progress for the last few years in eliminating illiteracy among their members. 2. He may become a member or union club. Within these clubs, now or- ganized in practically every fact attend discussions or join a “circle” to study almost any subject in which he and his union SOVIET-AMERICAN TRADE INCREASES. 20%, IN ONE YEAR Trade in Last Fiscal Year Over 78 Million American-Soviet trade conducted by the four principal trading organiza- | tions here showed a turn-over of $78,- | 880,592 for the Soviet fiscal year end- ing September 30, as compared with $65,328,175 for the previous year, an increase of 20 per cent. Exports from the United States | were $63,524,037, a gain of 22 per} cent, and imports were $14,850,555, | a gain of 14 per cent. These figures do not include imports of manganese for the period, which amounted to $2, 901,294, according to the U. S. de-} partment of commerce figures, and | furs worth several million dollars im- | ported under concession by Eitingon- | Schild. These two items would bring the trade turn-over up to approxim- ately $90,000,000, The pre-war trade turn-over between the two countries | was about $48,000,000. | \ Cotton Big Export. ‘The four trading organizations mak- ing returns are the Amtorg Trading Corporation, the All-Russian Textile Syndicate, Centrosoyus and Selskoso- |! jus. The last two are the trading bur- eaus of the Soviet Consumers’ Coop- eratives and the Agricultural Coop- eratives respectively. Of the exports cotton was the larg- est item. Shipments for the fiscal year aggregated $42,372,666, about $11,006,000 greater than the previous | year, and established a post-war rec- | ord. Other exports included indus-| trial equipment $6,982,536, -including oil machinery worth $2,069,465 and_ , electrical equipment worth $927,162; | agricultural machinery $5,451,338, in- cluding tractors worth $3,916,134; metals $5,211,287, chemical products | $835,017, binder twine $757,920, au-| tomotite equipment $734,047, tyne-| writers and adding machines $443,659, livestock $168,515, rubber $200,220. Exports of industrial equipment in- | creased over $500,000 as compared , with the previous fiscal year, and those of agricultural machinery fell No union abroad is doing a tenth of what we are doing in that direc- 0 be patronized organization. | pape {news). + important | the last few (the lers, including 5. The worker jregular theate jand dramatic p: pates in excu s of the . all sor l as in econ- are brought development ried en. owned by the R educational departments |SPorts and gynnas 9. He participai papers (special f news of the shop, ded as some-| agency. In-} of the work|as a correspondent of the var- to give their nd technical into which|ernment trusts and der the collective services and union mem- seeks to penetrate of a factory |the workers.” ory, he may] he it anywhere in the Anti-Semitic Riots Break Out in Hungary; | Beat Jewish Students | BUDAPEST, Oct. 25.—Because a| play written by a Jewish student had been presented at the National The- ater, anti-semitie riots broke out her last night. Anti-semitism has be: openly fostered by the White Guard Horthy regime. | Fascist students set out to demolish {brothers are interested, 8. In the clubs and reading rooms are where educational é ried on as well as amateur dramatics, rad |moving pictures, “loud reading acting rate unions, and inter-union libraries. formances. ons |places of cultural in tions and performances. 6. He frequents s to his union where ente tures similar to those in the clubs are car- 7. He goes to both technical schools in the factory and special technical schools. Through the educational department of the union he moderate sized spor participate in handball, field events, ment, the union leaders, etc.) and also acts All unions have official organs, while some operate daily newspapers. All the educational work is supported from two sources—the funds supplied by the gov- funds built up by the unions out of a part of the income from members’ dues. One trade union leader expressed the atti- tude of the unions toward cultural-educational work when he said, workers every hour of the twenty-four. work, at play, at home, in the club, the union The cultural work of the unions is one of most impressive achievemepts of the new Russia. There is no precedent or parallel for the office of the pro-Jewish newsna- per Azest, but were finally dispersed. | A number of Jewish students were | severely beaten and expelled from the university building. off by about $3,000,000. Metals and chemical products showed a substan- tial gain. Large Fur Import. | Tmports showed a falling off in furs and flax and substantial gains in cas- ings, precious metals, hides, cavi and fish. The principal imports were: Furs $5,665,605, precious metals $2,- 607,281, casings $2,377,688, flax and tow $807,879, hides and skins $814,896, bristles $702,288, licorice root $589,-! 710, fish $385,575, ce ' $333,60) | m: |that the p n New Book for November 7 The DAILY WORKER (Book Dept.) 33 First St., New York from spelling to in- | “red | re Car- io, out of contemporary He also partici- ummer gardens belonging tainments arid lec- t stadiums in Europe are an unions. The workers water editing wall news- papers containing criticism of the manage- to his own union journal. | 99 230. economic institutions un- agreement, and special “We plan to be with the At and influence the life of world today. pre-war rubles a month. 1927, was 203. included , and Wages HE first impression given by the study i a of the wages in Soviet Russia is that they are extremely low. * and “living|ings of the two and a half million workers engaged in manufacturing and mining in May, ;1927, was 62.6 present-day rubles, or Thus the average average of the United States, which will run from $100 to $110 a month, and is also below drawn that the present regime is responsible for these Wages in Russia have always been low. result of the revolution on the well-being of 3 the Russian workers must be tested not by contrast with American standards, but by the relative economic position of the workers now | as compared with that before the war. | low wages. This is (qualifies to enter the labor high schools lea J | cultural-edu.| (Rabfacs) and higher educational institu-| | Fortunately it is peeve to Le such Bis a tions. comparison. The Russian census for 1913|se The union lead- Giiecinitee pace cnt all (aortetor suerte and shows that the average earnings for all large |! physical culture games. Some of the finest manufacturing and mining industries was In tran The important question, however, is wheth- er the worker can buy more with his wages now than he could before. To determine this|tained for trade union members, amounting/new construction and rep: the movement of living costs must be mea-| + | sured. Fortunately, a very accurate index of | the cost of living is kept, figures from cities for 40 commodities, weighing each by|" its relative importance in the family budget} o,. of the working man. If we take 1913 as 100, | ¢ Riff Tribes Holding French, Suffered From Imperialist Air Raids PARIS, Oct. 25.—Altho negotiations nave been opened with Riff chiefs for the ransom of the two nephews of Theodore Steeg, French governor-gen- ral of Morocco, it is said in official cireles here to be doubtful if the na- tive chiefs will negotiate. The tribe which captured the pair suffered heay- ily as the result of French air raids. It is suggested here that the Moores y hold the prisoners as hostages in event of another French campaign cf repression in Morocco. Chiefs of the tribe notified French slonial troops ti.at followed them, mers and their two fe- ons were in good health. male compan Preacher’s Wife Wanders. Washington, Oct. 25.—Led by two baying blocdhounds, a posse of home town neighbors from Canandaguia, N. Y., beat the wooded hills of Rock Creek Park this morning, searching for Mrs. Anne Ramsey Forbush, wife of the pastor of the First Congrega- tional Church of Canandaguia who suffers from occasional lapses of memory. The TENTH YEAR The Rise and Achievements of Soviet Russia Louis Encpauu The first of a series of new publications to be issued by | The Workers Library Pub- lishers. 10¢ ONE EACH IN LOTS OF HUNDRED OR MORE MAKES MOVE T0 OUTLAW STRIKES Watson-Parker Tactics Adopted by Morones MEXICO CITY, Oct. 25.—President | Calles has issued a decree establishing | a Federa! Board of Conciliation and Arbitration, to be located ih the can tal. Regional conciliation boards will be set up in state capitals when re- quired by industrial disputes. Morones Made Dictator. The federal board is compose:] of equal numbers of workers and em- ployers, with an odd member to be named by the ministry of commerce, industry and labor. The head of this ministry is Luis N. Morones, the real head of the Regional Confederation of Labor. Morones, in his cabine' capacity, is to issue the regulations under which the new board will oper- ate. The board is established “to pre-j; vent and settle the collective and in- dividual conflicts arising between em- ployers and laborers, and it shall have | the power to enforce its decisions.” It may intervene where a federal! contract or concession is affected, or} in federal zones, or in conflicts affect~ ing two or more states or a state and a federal zone, or in connection with | labor contracts for continual service | same nature in two™or more} of the states at the same time, cr where by written consent of a majority on hoth sides the dispute is submitted for 2d- § tment. This decree means that the Mexican | it is undertaking to prevent ility of a strike on the rail- or in any other basic industry. roads, 3 Convicted For Fatal Fire. MONTREAL, Que, Oct. Ameen Lawland, Camil Michael Arlie, all connected with the Palace Theatre at Laurier, Que., in which 79 children lost their lives last January 9 in a fire which destroyed 25 the theatre, were found guilty of man-|¥ slaughter today by a jury in Kings Bench Court, The jury deliberated $8 Lban 20 minutes, erroneous. A Another indepen-; | T dent study arrived at 25 rubles a month. Thu if we take the average money earnings for all manufacturing in 1913 as 100, in May,|mately one-fifth of the wo 1927, they had risen to 250. tion, where a million are employed, the in-|a 4 per cent inc crease is much smaller, the figure being 187.|power for the worke The properly weighted average for both, coy-| increased sums * ering three and a half million workers, is| health by the local government authorities In. this | workers. Bazzy and|¥ Additions To Wages. IE increasing purchasing worker’s pay envelope since the revolu- not, however, include all the ma- terial progress which they have made. They now receive gratuitously a number of sé ces and benefits which they formerly eitk had to pay for or were totally unable to se 7 meant a more than proportionate increase amount of for the For if a ten-hour day leaves but half hours * recreation or im provement, a seven-and-a-half-hour day will leave five he th purposes and thus .|double the amount of f leisure available in workers. two and a power of the ae tion does > earn- s for 1 Wage Increase Per Hour. 4. Libraries are actively used by the work-|month; for transportation 70.5 rubles, or $35 cure. 1ese should be added if we fully actory libraries, those of sepa- pono Dy Berne employes, in 1926, to measure the improvement in the material Hii salient fact thus emerges that the '65.3 rubles or $31.50-a month. The average oo. gitions of the industrial wage-earners. Russian in ! workers are receiving secures reduced rates. to|~°" *l! industrial workers SEE ay | The first noteworthy addition is the pro-|#pproximately 35 per cent more commodities concerts, entertainmen month. This is in sharp contrast to the! tection given by the system of social insur-|and services with at lee 5 per cent short- ‘ance. Contributions-to this fund are made|er working week. Ti that for each to museums and other Rae ‘ ‘OW | only from industrial budgets, and now amount hot . of working time t are obtaining ap- ievestin He naricibnies in| the general level for most of the industrial- | ;, 13.2 per cent of the payroll. After de proximately 80 per ¢ te purchasing ical and musical organiz, lized Oe of Europe. From this, the) qucting the amount spent on administration, Power than before. It 18 therefore not an {superficial conclusion has frequently been! Jightiy over 12.5 per cent is actually used | exe on to state that in no country sinee orld war have the industrial wage earn- Je the relative progress which has re- cently been made in Russia. The workers are better fed than before the revolution and are buying new articles of clothing and other commodities which they formerly did not pur- chase. Departments of the government and of the trade unions take great pains to dis- seminate information concerning the values of recreation and out-of-d ife. Every in- i dustrial center of ar summer parks amounts to several per cent. and out-of-door clubs, w , from all obser- ty per cent of the industrial workers Vation, workers are enjoying to the full. ished with absolutely free rent by the, To the above conclusions, which are based for the workers. the A md is that of vacations with | ¢?s pay. These 2 unt to approximately 5 per sent of the working time. Thirdly, the work- have ed by the utilization of the jhomes and country estates of the former aris- tocracy indoor and outdoor clubs, rest |homes and sanatoria. It is difficult to place a money estimate on the ly value of the ; wi the workers sure in this , but it is considerable and probably! The ers as S€ state tru Since housing formed approxi-;on what we believe to be authoritative fig- ng class expen-/ ures, certain qualifications, not susceptible tc statistical measurement, are in order. First the quality of the current industrial output. ‘textiles, shoes, etc., is on the whole, poor, and universally agreed to be below the pre-wa1 level. Second, we should not lose sight of the fact that to date, in those facilities which the workers use—old houses, parks, streets, rest homes, sanatoria—total depreciation may not yet be covered by the aggregate outlays for sporta-|ditures prior to the war, this is equivalent to in average purchasing as a whole. Greatly also now being spent on| |which do not enter into the social insurance jbudget and hence have not previously been included. There should also be added the re- duced prices on theater tickets which are ob- o from 40 to 75 per cent of the box office, In so far as this he true, it acts as an offset ice and totaling several million dollars ato a computed increase in real wages. Alsc ar. relatively high wages ought not to be con- On the whole, these additions to the work-|fused with a high standard of living for the income which are not put in his pay en-;Whole people. Unemployment is seriously per cent, | Prevalent ; high wages for one individual may 221], 23 sJope will amount to at least the index for the country as a whole in May, When to this is added the 12 per cent increase|Still leave the family in difficult cireum- _ The relation between the jn the purchasing power of money earnin present cost of living of 203 and ‘the present |there is a total increase of 35 per cent above| (To be continued in tomorrow’s DAILY WORKER.) money wage of 225 gives an actual increase in';he pre-war level for 3,600,000 industrial |- real wages of about 12 per cent. figure the low rents, but not free rents, ar such considerations as free work-clothes, shoes and tools for the miners working day has decreased by approximatel are not included. stances. (The full report of the American Trade jable for other classes of workers. Union Delegation to Soviet Russia, as pub- | Furthermore the average length of the| lished here by courtesy of International y| Publishers, can also be obtained in book |25 per cent from 9.9 hours a day to 7.4, which | form at all bookstores.) Comparative figures are not avail-| ot To Be Published in the Special November 7 Issue of the DAILY WORKER on the OF TRE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Send not less than 25 cents with every name to Thé Daily Worker, 33 First St., New York, N. Y. FULL NAME FULL NAME TOTAL GREETINGS—Accepted from workingclass organizations at $200 per full page (frac- tions of a page on this basis) and $1.50 per inch. Be sure your organization sends its greetings. ORDER A BUNDLE OF THE DAILY WORKER For the November 7th Meetings and for Distribution. RATES—$1.50 per hundred copies