10
THIS IS the first of a serios of articles in which Sir Walter Citrine gives his impressions of life, conditions andchangos in Soviet Russia which he recently re-visited after ten years.
W
E entered Leningrad by the Old Harbour, with trees growing on its grassy banks, after having passed down a narrow channel marked with posts, which gave me the Impression that this magnif- cent wide river, Neva, is very shallow except in the few navi- Fable channels.
When we got near the quay, we found the piers were made of wood and were stacked with timber, mainly plt-props, the outbuildings all being of wood and unpainted. Every now and then there was a little jetty run- . ning out for the landing of small steamers,
We had taken on board a Soviet official, in addition to several uni- formed officers of the GPU, the political police. The latter were in green hats and grey-green over- coata, braided, the bats Uned with thin red stripe, All of them car- rled revolvers,
Ο
N the quay we found a group of Trade Union officials awalling
Wc were introduced to A coin- rade who represented the All- Union Central Council of Trade Unions, frum Moscow, and to various other officials of Leningrad Unions. One of them, Comrude Kapinskaya, a woman, gave my wife a beautiful bouquet.
Then we were taken to the Cus- toms shed, where our bags were standing alone. We opened them ns requested, but the Trade Union oficials uttered some words of ex- planation and the bags were not disturbed in the slightest degree, I observed that the other passengers were also treated with considera- ton, although their luggage was carefully examined.
We were then whisked into a In- Lincoln motor-car with an tourist guide sitting in front, and raced through the 'streets to the Hotel Astoria,
The hotel is situated on tl Voravakl Square immediately facing the Cathedral of St. Isaacs, a classical building with a great dome, the church now being used as an Anti-Religious Museum. The Cathedral has four, small golden dumes as well as the larger centre dome, and its façade is of red gra- nite columns. The square in front is nently laid out with grass plots.
Immediately we arrived our bags were taken up by two porters dressed in loose brown blouses,
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STREET IN A WORKERS' CITY IN THE NARYSKY DISTRICT OF LENINGRAD.
What I Saw in
RUSSIA
by SIR
WALTER CITRINE
General Secretary of the Trades Unim Congress General Council.
They both looked rather poor and hnd when they dejected, and shown me where they had put they stood together our haps,
Following walling expectantly.
the advice of Lars Moen's book, Ipped them in English money,
D
URING the journey back: to the hotel 1 had tried ing best เย Catch A limpse at the apartment houses And other buildings, My general impression was that near the docks there were in much the same con- dition as when I saw them in 1925. The surface damage did not The cem to have been repaired. pavements of the streets were badly finished, and although the centre of the roads-themselves-war asphalted, it was only a very light surfacing over granite sets.
It was now nearly noon and I gazed out from our bedroom win-
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Square. dows over the Vorovski The Square was asphalted and Was th quite clean, but there almost entire absence of traffic There, the people walking across it
I from every conceivable angle. could see down the neighbouring streets, and down the Decembrists I could see for over a quarter of a milc.
There were only two private cars I motion and two lorries, whilst there were about half a dozen Other cars standing waiting at the pavements. The only moving trame was "the tramcars, linked together in the usual continental Cars being single- style, the deckers. They had never been painted since the Revolution, I should say! At one time they had been red but now they were a dirty brown.
There were several horse vehicles, with that bigh peculiar harness which the Russians use, and under some of which there was a tuft of green grass-evidently a sort of nosebag for the horses.
We rested until after lunch when we drove to the Palace of Labour, where we mot several Trade Union officials with Mr. Alekseyeff, the President of the Leningrad Trades Council, in the Chair.
He welcomed me warmly and "Our instructions are that Bald. you are to go where you like, and
what you like, SPO
Comrade Citrino."
A
*
FTER thanking Alek- seyeff for the facilities
at my disposal, I added, “Remem- ber, I don't want to see only the best. I want to see the worst as well. I don't want to be taken to
the
how places only."
You shall see all you desire.".
the assuring reply.
win the
I
I thought we should see a shoe factory and a textile works as well as perhaps the Kirov works. wanted some knowledge of how the factories were managed, and the salaries of different categories,› not only of the workers, but of officials, management and tech- nicians.
Further, I would like to know whether there were any balance- shoets actually showing how the factories wore faring economically. I was told there would be no dim- culty in getting the necessary in- formation. We mapped out-our- programme, and after a little. further conversation we went off sightseeing.
It was difficult for me to make up my mind whether the people were really better dressed than when I was hero in 1925. We saw many wrotchedly dressed, mostly middle-aged or olderly folk. Thoro Was mixture on the streets.
Hero we could see a peasant girl with a milk-can, who we were told. was on her way to sell milk at the collective market. She had on a rough cloth coat, skirt three- quarter length, with grey and white cotton stockings and rubber shoes, something like goloshes. Bcarcely any of tho women wo saw wore hats. They had either white cotton shawls or red hand- kerchiefs on their heads. None the less, I felt that there was more
colour, although, as closely an I could judge, the texture of the clothes was poor.
Many of the younger people were carrying attache-cases of various kinds. The men wore caps, and I saw only two people wearing soft hat. Quite a number of men wore soft collars, but senrenly any wore att ones.
Impressions on these points were confirmed in the even- ing during a visit to the State Opera House.
We saw probably thy cyclists dur Ing our entire jourswy and euch bleyele carried a number plate, 1 learned later cyclists pay a tax of two roulites a year. I was told subsequently by Alekseyell thnt, levele enus from 200 to 300 roubles, which 1 approximately month's wages of skilled workmen,
We came to Iwony, the workers' quarters, Here We saw some well- designed tenement Inuktings. They linf Kras plota nit and plts for the chil diren to play. They were entoured in different shades, pale green, grey, red and so on and they broked very nice.
Τ
*
une could not give AV details as to A anal numbers of families, but she said there were Latin nor was there any hot water.
I went into one of thegend the first Elance I took showed tinet, the buildinst work was seamed and the material I did not know how long the Bour. bukling bad wen tip but it was rapidly depreciating intérimlly and was
tirty and ill-cared, for.
Near by in the courtyard there was n-store-fildings-sopalnted,computed. of bravy kops of Mmber. It was a State shop, so we were told, and I noticed the food that the people were purchas ing. It was mostly tiny frh, like whit- To, in such a condition. however, that I would not have eaten it. There were few very inferior apples and some gherking. Which the people were buy ing freely.
Then we saw a notice outside, adver Using a chema performance. On ask- Ing about this, I was told that the price of admission was one rouble. I thoughL this was rather stiff, but the guldo anid workers paid H quite readily.
th
We went back to the hotel, where we and foot, and thence to the Opera Hou, They were playing "La Tray- inta And it was finely produced. I counted 30 performers on the stage at que tine, and an orchestra of 80, and A brass band playing occasionally at the rear of the stage, We were a iktio late and entered by the Into Taar's private stairense into the tax of the Leningrad Soviet.
I was told that the former Royal Dox is now sold to people at very high prices, but that to-night one of the works had sent some 600 people to the theatre and they had taken this bos, There were five tlers of galleries, nudi- ating fan-shaped from the. stage, tho better sent being in the well The theatre holds something like 1,000 people,
LOOKED carefully at the people in the foyer "in one of the intervals. The colour of the dresses was more varled, but the texture of the cloth appeared rather inferior. I could not say that the audience looked dull or drab..
A better description would be that there was not enough varicly of colour or style in the dresses or the women, und the men, for the most part, although clean, did not look smart. Many of the women had marcelled hair, I noticed the prices of some of the refreshments. Sandwich - 18 k. or Fruit three-quarter of a rouble. drinks of syrup from 22 k. to 63 k. I thought these prices were pretty high. and it was admitted that they were..
The theatre director told me the Government subsidises the Opera ns they regard it as part of the educa- Donal work of the State. Judging from Use enthusiastic appreciation of the audience, they were right,
Sir Walter Citrine's diary, from which the above is an extract, was published on July 6 bý Monera. George Routledge and Sons, under the title "I Search for Truth in Russia?"
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