1936-08-05 — Page 22

10

WHAT

THE HONGKONG

TELEGRAPH.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5,

1936;

I SAW IN RUSSIA-2

by Sir Walter

Citrine

General Secretary of the Trades Union

W

Congress General Council.

E went to the Kirov works, formerly known as the Putilov factory, well knowi in pre-Revolutionary days for armaments manufacture. We drovo through the Kirov district again, passing once more some wretched properly of the old wooden houses, many of them still occupied, and saw several queuer of drab women waiting with jugs, jars and bottles out- side the co-operative storen.

It was now II a.m. and we saw, in addition to the quenes, many workers standing waiting to buy vegetable and frull which were offered from street cara. Some people were buying from hawkers' barrow, and it was hard for me to reconelle myself to the idea that these were State depots.

19 turned off from the mal road into a side street and found ourselves outside the Klroy factory. There was some

waste and opposite

the factory, and the management had made an effort to minke a green border of grass and free down this road. We were admitted into The factory after a runch, and

With

.usd bayonet,

WAGES and

had at:fed himself as to our credentials

We crossed a fairly large square and my attention was called to the gardens which had been put there. In every part of the factory, where- ever possible, a green fringe had been introduced and trees planted round the walls of the factory, na as to shade its erudifies from the eye. G

We went to an oflice and met the aw-istant commercial director, who was a member of the Communist

The head director Party. away on sick leave. He said that they now employed 30,000 people, of whom 8,000 were women.

were

Was

Their technieni stall, including foremen, was approximately 3,000, or 10 per cent, of the total. They

tractors.

heavy making nuchinery, some locomotives and wagons, and they had built a few They experimental motor-cars. hud eight categories of workers, the the Revolution and since factory had enormously increased in area, probably by 50 per cent. They had their own State farms helping to supply the workers with the food they needed.

The average earings were 250 roubles per month for the manual workers and 470 roubles for tech- nical people. About 50 per cent, of the workers were very young people, many of whom came from the peasantry.

S WC were discussing earnings, I asked what the nailetant director's salary was. I was told that ho, as a member of the Communist Party, for merly had been allowed 800 roubles per month as a maximum. Next month, However, due to a recent dectalan, he was to receive 1,000 roubles. The chief constructional engineer, who was not a party man, received 1,800 roubles a month, did also the chief draughts- masi. The ordinary draughtsmen were In we categories. the average earnings in the third or middle categories being about 700 roubles.

Workers on general unskilled work, which could not be put on a pleco buds, reocired about 150 roubles a month. Even they were given task work and some of them received up to 400 roubles.

We went on to discuss shift work and I was informed that the hours were:-

First Shirt #am.4 p.. Second Shlit 6 pm-13 midnight. Third Shift 12 midoight-8 a.m. One hour was taken for meals. Under the re-day week, there was always one rest day on the sixil day. I co- quired whether those employed on shift work received any extra payment · far this: I found that the evening shift received an extra 125 per cent. after 10 p. and also the night shift. This is included in the earnings which I have given.

truc comparison The British earnings would be not day- work only, but rotating shift-workers

plecowork which in Britain 1 usually paid from 25 per cent, to 33 per cent. higher than the day rates.

Then we find a long discussion as to how the undertaking was fuanced. It was most confusing because it seemed that some figures were in cur- rent roubles, which they frankly,nd- nitted had depreelaled during the period of the Five Year Plan,

G

T

With

our

HE capitai was calcu

ated in 1026 roubles which were of higher value. The commercial director said that last year they had about 3,000,000

Fifty

cent. рег roubles surplus.

paid to the Bate of this was bank and the undertaking had no further claim on it. The remain- ing 20 per cent. was at the disposal of the Director to utilise for welfare work. Filicen per cent of the pay roll in this works was pald as an average to the Social Insurance Fund, but the atiual percentage varled from depart ment to department.

The capital required was supplied by the State. I pointed out that under this system it was impossible for out- nidors to ascertain whether the indus tries - were ́economie or not, as the ́capital charges were concealed in this "way.

The Director, sald, "that" ond, of" the

.

WELFARE

Meulles was that in the middle of the Five Year Plan they had to pay for higher for their electricity thinn they had calculated,

Iactory.

Consequently,

they had to raise the prices of the com- modities supplied by the factory, nhough these were supposed to be fixed by the State Planning Commi Alon.

We

Loveral hours looking spent round the different departments of the My general impression waŁA that the workers were working very hard, particularly in those departmenty: where the conveyer system and very great mechanisation were in operation. The speed of some of these girls ke wildered me. They inshed about on. electrically driven 'trucks at a reckless

pice.

Like most Trade Unionists, I have an instinctive dislike of bouus systems, piecework, nnd the rest of the para- phernalia which characterises the speeding up of operations in modern industry.

Well, here it was in the Soviet Union. They tell me that everybody who can be put on piecework here is paid on the basis of results.

The management had done every- thing possible they could do to mcchatase the processes in accordance with the latest American practice. It Was as good as Ventiation, too, could be. But nothing could make con ditions really agreeable in such a pisce. The Improvement in output will even- turally reflect itself, no doubt, in a higher standard of life for the people, Still, I hope that when we arrive at the Socialist State, it will be to find something which comes much nearer to Ruskin's conception of joy in work: than seems to be possible here.

As I looked at some of these people working in the flerce hent nt break- Beck speed, I felt that they were spurred on with the knowledge that they were waging a war with poverty. Everywhere I could exhortations to Increase output. Those who succeed in doing so are regarded as heroes and shat, no doubt, also provides a great stimulus.

I

WAB glad to got out into the fresh air once again. As we crossed

the yard to visit one of the social centres of the factory, I came acrost samo peasant women digging away Acw vigorously, inying out some gardens,

They were working as hard as any navvies I have seen in England. We came to a fina passed them and restaurant and library, and later in- speeled a large recreation-room. Every department had its own restaurant and they were quite good on the whole.; I brought away with me several The fare varied from “a menus. quarter of a rouble to 180 roubles. Some very plain cakes were priced at 15. or three-quarters of a rouble, which at our official rate of exchange would work out at 2s. Bd. to. the foreigner Clearly the value of the

uble is very different from the off- cial exchange. Such a caka in Eng- land would cost 24, or 3d, at the very highest. On this ratio, the Internal value of the rouble would be come- where between 3d. and 44.

Next we visited the crèches, situated In old wooden buildings. We a proached by a dejected avenue of slush: and fith which we were assured would be asphalted next year.

These buildings were quite unsuit- able for the purpose, but the best hind been made of them, and the interior had been completely redecorated. There were pleasant ruoint for the children, who were happy-looking and quite well cared for.

Then we went to a sort of polytechnic for those children whose parents were at work. This was used, I think, only during out-of-school hours. There were boys working at carpentry, others. learning German, others reading learning photo- studiously, others

graphy,

One rather frail-looking le fel- low was reading a fairy tale illustrated Most of the by coloured pictures. other boys wero poring over some OF or utilitarian treatise scientific other.

It is not so long ago since it used to be regarded as bourgeois education

to teach children fairy tales, and 1 was glad to see this welcome change. Wo went into another room a w Roma le girls dancing to a t- played by one of them on the plane, They were all very prowly clad, but they seemed happy nd full of 191*,

I was later told that this lostitute could only deal with 500 children i day, so goodness knows what happened to the other children whose parents Wero among the 20,000 workers em played at the factory. The Social In surance Funda subsidised this work to the extent of 400.000 zoubire a year,

N

EXT WC went to the Leningrad Hall of Cul- ture with seating capa- city for 3000 people in the great ball. It is magnificent hall, fitted w wooden p-up seals and bulit nó that everyone can obtain a splendid view of the stage. The Moscow Art Theatre, players were there this week, and tim prices for admiston wear from 3 t 10 roubles per seat. There were may unte-rogus in which cultural work was being carried on.

We saw some delightful little girls. being taught ballet dancing. They had already been under training for twelve months, and they were still doing exercises, twisting; and lösung“their little bodies into every conceivable position to induce grace and flexibility.

We went to the etheins there for about half an hour, where a m-a Hungarian imported product, called "Peter"-was being shown. I thought it was decidedly second-rate, but the The people thoroughly enjoyed it, charge here was 1 rouble, and it seems Lo be the general charge for tho cheaper seats

L!"

The cinema was litted with tip-up wooden chaire, and I was told that nu where in Russia do they have the upholstered seats, such na ln British cinemas. I found the seats,

Our guides surprisingly comfortable. elained that they were more bygienic they than upholstered seats. but smiled when I asked them did they apply that principle to their

"Somo people were buying hou hawkors' barrows, and it was hard for me to reconcile myself to the idea that these ware State depok "

homes. The seats in the Lenbigrud Opera House were well upholstered, an why not the cinemas?

After his we went Hirosgth the Unh verrni Stores, immediately facing the Hall of Culture, and exploded the myth about the 5.60 to the pound soubles exchange. The geoda displayed ere were fantastically hugh in price, taken at the oflet rade of exchange. A airing of beads which would cont about 15, in London was here priced at 480 roubles, which works gut at about 24. whilst Indies' artificial silk blouses, and not very good quality at that. priced at 42,48 runtsfe, would cert about £7 125, at the plicial rate.

We were interested in peering in at the shop windows in the Necky Pros- pect. It was apposed to be called the October Prospect, but nobody seemeil to take any notice of the new name, White bread we found priced at 220 roubles a kilù, which worked out, at the official rate, at about 78. Gu,

The shop on the Nevsky were far more cominodbour aid earned much more extensive storks than any we had Rvery up to now. We saw many small cates where prople were drinking; beer and vodka. Both cafes and people moked rather dowdy and we were amazed at the number of cracked window panes, dur. I was informed, to the shortage of glass in Russla

In the poorer districts there were few shops and these were definitely terior

tu those we saw on the Nevsky Pr0"- pert, but then you always expect to In the best shops in the priorler streets of the city

B

What UT the people? am I to say? I could -not-may-they are well dressed or even better dressed than when I was here last.

The one exception which made me doubt is generalisation was at c Opera, where I saw far more colour than and seen on the streets. I saw no traces of food shortage, and the people must have been buying more food than in 1025, whet re were scarcely any shops open at all.

Sir Walter Citrine's diary, from which the abure is an extract, will be pub ished on July 6 by Messrs. George Routledge and Sons, under the title, "I Search for Truth in Russia.

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General Average

S/S "Kamo Maru".

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Nov, 18 Nov, 201 Nav, 27 Dec.

1Dec. 3.

29 Dec.

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Eri, 18th Sept.

Heian Maru (Starts from Kobe) Sat, 16th Aug. Hikawa Maru (Starts from

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Mon, 31st Aug.

Fri., 11th Sept.

South America (West Coast) via Japan, Honolulu.

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3. J. WADDINGTON, Imekong, 17th Aprli," 1816. -