1948-12-21 — Page 4

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skwith Sir Ledric HARDWICKE Judith ANDERSON

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1948.

What they earn

What they spend, and

How they live

IN

RUSSIA TODAY

TT is true that in the Soviet Union today there are no classes as we know them. But it would be wrong to describe the U.S.S.R. BA A classicas society.

The Soviet system has form- ed two classes, one which might be described as the Communist aristocracy, and the other the working masses.

Those classes are separated by an exceedingly wide gulf.

has How a privileged clasa come into existence?

It is composed, generally speak ing, of two types. First there is the Communist Party member.

In Russia, wherever possible, all key jobs industry and agricul- ture are given to Communists.

This is not simply favouritism, because the Communist Party in Hussin is different from the politi- cal parties we know in the West.

It was set up by Lenin as a

driving force, a nucleus of well- trained people who knew both their jobs and who also were tried and true Marxists.

Each party member is, as it were. a political leader and skilled at his job, an example to others.

In this way the party can be sure of having an obedient industry.

Privileged Class

THE

THE other type of person in the privileged class is the man who has something to contribute to the country's well-being or cul- ture-a wilter, composer, selentist. and so on.

A writer or scientist will get as much as 3,000 roubles a montli, and sometimes much more. An ordinary worker gets

only 400 roubles Bonth,

16

by

BRUNTON BEATTIE

who has recently returned from Russia

every worker In his factory was Leninism for alx hours a week. compelled to.. study Marxism-

I learned afterwards that each

factory, no matter how small, has a party committee, which is repre- scuted by the Communist Party workers in that factory.

small

They are generally minority of the total number (this can be understood when one re- Soviet members that of the total population of 200,000,000, only op- proximately 4,000,000 acc parly members).

Marxist Study

CHIEF task of the factory party

committee is to supervise the Ideological purity of the workers.. and to "guide" the political thought of all employees, thereby assuring that every worker will learn not how to think, but what to think.

Although Russian soldiers were particularly reluctant to converse with forelguera I did meet one who told me that he was also compelled to study Marxism for eight hours a week.

He told me that he had en in Vienna for but six weeks. I asked him how he had liked it, but he replied that he did not see much of it, as, like all his comrades, he had been forbidden to have any contacts with foreigners there. He said that he had not been allowed, out of his camp often.

Great precautions are taken to make sure that Soviet soldiers do not become infected by contacts with "bourgeois and deendent Wes terniers."

1 Needless

For writing his book "The Storm" ilye Ehrenburg last year got Stalin prize and 30.000 roubles, apart from payment by the pub- Bshing house and royalties.."

One may consider the spending power of a rouble to be equivalent to roughly Bd.

It is therefore easy to see why this separate class came into exis- tence.

But a person of this class, who is rich, can do little with his money other than spend it on himself or keep it in the bank.

He may choose to buy Govern- ment bonds, but he cannot start a business of his own, unless he is going to run it single-handed, for it is forbidden to exploit the labour of others.

'Free' Cobblers

IN Moscow one finds that cobblers*

shops are the only ones, not State-owned. A cobbler works on his own to earn his own livelihood, ~A ̃ ̄munwilli"money""can"get "at"""

the most anything he wants, but hardships of the working class are many.

worker gets 100 roubles a week, but workers in vital Industries, like coal and fron, get 250 roubles

A skilled a week, werker can earn more.

That

the unskilled means that worker gets £2 10s, for his week's work.

An unskilled

Even although rents are very low this is sumelent to keep only one person living at a very low stan- dard.

Such a person lives on simple foods, and he can hardly afford to buy ittle luxuries such as sweets, tinned foods, cakes.

seat in

The price of a cinema usually between three and seven roubles (1s. Od. to 3. Od.), while a theatre seat in Moscow costs from five to 20 roubles, and, in the case Theatre up to 30 of the Bolshol roubles (16%).

An ordinary working man thus finds himself unable to support a wife; and if he marries his wife must go out and work, too.

Equal With Men

of course, are on an equal basis with men.

L

A women,

pected

That means that the same is ex-

of women. A woman work-

ing alongside a man in a street- be expected to digging gang will

do the same work.

I remember talking with a worku foreman in a Moscow third-class restaurant.

After telling mo that he workeu

a 10-hour day six days a week, ho surprised me by saying that.

NANCY Scream Test

(OH, SLUGGO:---WE'VE

GOT ONE OF THOSE NEW MAGNIFIERS FOR OUR TELEVISION

SCREEN

to say, the purity of Soviet citizens at home is also close- ly guarded.

The averago Russian man in the street has no contact at all with any country outside the Soviet Union. The sula of all foreign news? s strictly forbidden. papers

In the Lonin Library In Moscow, a Soviet citizen cán, with permis- sion from his technical institute, and by illțing up one or two forms, have access to certain British and American technical publications.

But apart from this no foreign publications whatsoever are allow- ed Into that country.

T

It should be pointed oft here, however, that Soviet trade unioni have nothing at all in common with the trade union movement in ДПУ other country.

Between trade unions lost their liberties, and by 1933 they had been con- verted into branch of State ad- ministration.

1020 and 1033, the

an ór

canisation which ensured the carry- ing out of party orders.

Now the only chance which a

They had no

had no kay at all in the Soviet

Axation of wages or working con cltizen has

hearing lions, and were merely of what goes on outside his country is by wireless, but here again the prices of radios are such that only those who have sufficient money, or in other words are politically re- liable, are able to afford a wireless which can pick up foreign stations. The cheapest receiver is the speaker, which can be plugged in to Moscow radio. It costs just over 200 roubles (£5).

The cheapest wireless set is the "Record," an all-wave aet which can pick up foreign stations with, lifeulty. It cost Just year 585 roubles, but its price was raised to 630 roubles in September of last year,

Since then its price has been re- duced by Government decree to 600 roubles.

The other sets which do pick up foreign stations fairly clearly urc those like the "Riga" and the "Leningrad," which cost anything from 1,600 to 2,000 roubles.

Isolated Sect

MOST foreigners in the Soviet A Union aro confined to Mos cow. For the past two years they have not been allowed to go any Now even this privilege has where else other thari Leningrad. withdrawn.

been

The foreign colony is compelled to live in a segregated society, com- pletely cut off from the Soviet people and Soviet life. In this way the authorities guard the

people against alien influences.

To make the segregation of the Soviet people from countries out- akde the Soviet Union complete, no Soviet citizen is allowed to cortes.

pond with any foreigner outside the U.S.S.R.

A Soviet citizen may only, write abroad when his correspondent is another Soviet citizen resident in o foreign country. Telephone abroad arc forbidden.

calls

Social insurance in the U.S.S.R. is run differently from social in- surance to any other country.

Soviet social Insurance was hand- ed over to the trade unions in 1833 to be administered completely by them.

American Men Demand

Thus the authorities naw fit to hand over the administration 'ol social insurance to the trade unions.

This position

is significant. be cause although the constitution of the U.S.S.R. ntates that, in theory, every Soviet citizen is entitled to social insurance. In practice 17 means that only people who are trade union members get the bene- fits of the social Insurance scheme, and only people who work can be. come members of a trade union.

In other words, if one does not work, there can be no guarantee of benefits under the social Insuranca scheme.

any

* They say the Guarda wcor peaked capi down over their faces to slop 'the' women seeing each other's. husbands-

Demoniacal Wife Was A Tycoon's Downfall

CEVENTY-YEAR-OLD Itall- Glulio cotton king Brusadelli is to be fined £7,500,- 900, the highest fine in Italian history, for tax evasions. The scandal has rocked Italy for weeks.

The funds of the scheme cone

It began when Brusadelli Indirectly from the workers. lodged a lawsuit demanding

They do not make

direct cancellation of a business trans- contribution, but a percentage la action he made Just July, deducted from 4 factory's wage At that time he sold to m fund, that is, the amount of money Swiss cotton manufacturer, which that factory permitted to Werner Abegg, the shares of spend on wageş in one month. his dell'Aequa cotton mills for

Some of the funds come from £1,250,000,

False Unions

the trade union contributions which He stipulated that the pay- the workers themselves pay direct.ments, spread over two years, he anchored to foreign gold currency, and he retained CO the only reason why the Soviet | directorship of the mills at a

worker joins a trade unfor is anlary of £16,000 a year. not, as in other countries, so that, When he sold out, the Italian he may have protection for his In-1 Communist leader, Togliatti, had terests, but only because without Just been shot and was lying in joining a trade union he would not hospital in Itome between life and

entitled to any social Insurance

death. Northern Italy's "Red Belt" was cething with rumours of a benefits whatever.

Communist Insurrection.

be

The Soviel trade union move- ment, as it is in practice 'non-cler tive, cannot have any grounds for claiming, as it does, that it repre- sents the Soviet worker.

A Soviet trade union official tried

to justify the position to me by saying that in a Socialist society ine workers did not require protection. But worker should have an at-

Ratisation to protect his interests

against the employer, no matter whether that employer be a private individual or the State.

As Togliatti recovered, the shares Brusadelli had sold doubled in. value.

So

'COLOSSAL ERROR'

Brusadell fled lawsuit demanding cancellation of the deal. He described the transaction as a colossal error in business judgment, for which he blamed his wife, Anna,

years younger than himselt.

13

He charged that Anna had worn him to a frazzle by "incessant an demoniacal" love demands which.

Ly his argument British railway-proved far too much for his ad-

men and miners should dissolve their unions because their Indus- trles have been nationalised.

‘Muscular Look’

A Tailor's 'Skeleton' Earns

TEN tailors from London, in teams of two, are using a skeleton coat to sell British made-to-measure clothes to men in America.

Dollars For Britain

1.

THE LONDON LABEL

Iesz

́and reported that American ..., men British: Tighter fittings, veering

were used to

Victorian choosing ready-made towards

styles; The skeleton which is made of clothes from an enormous range of padding: higher and shorter lapels, tape-measures fitted by swivelling cloth styles and patterns.

Narrower trousers and sleeve cuffs rivels to metal "bones," is a foolproof measuring device for sults

are returning to popularity. and

Transatlantic Summary—from one overcoats. Skeleton "readings" of

of the tear

teams; The average English- each customer arc air-mailed 10 So the first team was sent out man is not sure what he wants and London for the suit to be made. -with a range of 500 patterns. The takes about 20 minutes to mako up men immediately ran into snags. his mind. An American knows what Tho pioneering work

for the They arrived on a public holiday he wants, and takes about three teams Was done by Mr E. L.

and could not see a single customer times as long to “decido. Richardson, Scottish director of the from Friday to Tuesday. Then they Regent-street Kirm behind the found Americans prefer light-weight invention. He made a survey trip, cloth, even in winter. Most of their pattern cloths were too heavy-and the designs too bold. Americans pialn material for their London-made" sults.

Americon

BRITISH

The Two Styles

AMERICAN

tailore

Dre worried. over the Invasion. The American Gentleman magazine reports: "This activity on the part of the English appears to have several disturbing faclors....*

It points out three: The selling Dower of the "London-mado" label;, the price, which compares with U.S. ready-to-wear suits; the speed with which suits can be delivered.

CHIEF DIFFERENCES

Here are the main differences. between American and British men's - .sulta:---

American; Loose-fitting jackets which must suggest a muscular malo inside; brand, well-padded shoulders, law-Bet sleeve; "long lapel ant zhoulder drape; brilliant "ties, and soft collars.

★The man inside the "skéletơn ? ven have a score `of measure-· - menia taken at the same time....

.!

vanced years.

A

A

the

wave of mirth swept country on reading the charge:" found myself whirled into a mael- strom of excitement... i suffered: a progressive sapping of my nervous health

"He said exciting Ilterature was forced upon him by his wife in order to arouse his interest in her.

He charged that, as a reward for "her activity, she had received from bis business rivals at least £125,000...

The howl and cry raised by the Press spurred the Government' into- action.

£2,500,000 TOTAL DE A Custom Guards general was sent to Milan to look into Brusa- delli's book-keeping. Hu discovered that the financier had been evading taxes on an enormous scale.

The court confiscated cash, shares, villa, apartments; on art collec- tian, cars and a yacht belonging.

to Brusadell, for an estimated total of £2,500,000 for overdue taxes.

Brusadelli has been one of

''Italy's·

most powerful business mon.

AB

sa youth he became travelling salesman for an important textile

concern. He forged to the top by the simple expedient of marrying

the boss's daughter. He got as u dowry a cotton mill.

In 1945 his career was almost ended when partisans went to fetch Film- In

bad his home. They carmarked him for execution.

CAME BACK.SMILING Before leaving the house Bruse- delli asked to be permitted to take A few things with him. Ha, took his cheque-book and a fountain pen. After a few hours he was back. emiling and unruffled,

Brusadelli's first wife died in 1942. Anno, his second wife,, was in her younger days *

belle of Milan society.

Her husband's accusations dls- tressed Anna. She tools to bed with nervous. shock. She describes her husband's charges as "a pack of

Je

Olullo is thankless," she says. "I have always helped him. All T want now is a small house in the country and a really nice husband,

By Ernie Bushmiller

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