The Yale expositor., 1920-04-08
HERRING SOUP !
RUSSIAN FOOD
PAUL DUKES, WHO SERVED IN
RED ARMY, TELLS OF coNDl-
TIoNs UNDER BoLsHEviK
rEGlME.
ALL CLASSES CRIPPLED BY POVERTY
Householders Forced to Give Up Their
Choicest Rooms to Communist
Workers and Sailors and Live
In Kitchens.

Paul Dukes, Russian who lived ten
months under soviet rule. served in
the red army, and then escaped to
England, writes Of his experiences In
the London Illustrated News That
portion of Mr.. Dukes recital having
to do with living conditions under the
new order of things is particularly In
teresting. He says:
Both my companion and were at
tached' to a communal dining room at
the other end Of the Nevsky Prospect,
which meant that a stamp was put on
our dinner cards saying that was the
dining room we could take our dinner
at.
"As we walked down the street we
passed the lines Of wretched people
standing patiently at the edge OF the
pavements, disposing OF all sorts OF
wares, or food of which they had pos
sessed themselves by speculation or
by going on foraging excursions into
the country. Some of these people
make large sums OF money by what Is
really speculation; but most are sell
ing off their last possessions in the
effort to scrape together sufficient to
buy food for themselves and their
families. Either they are unable to
find any paid occupation. or else they
come out here in the intervals OF
work Most of them are women, large
ly of the educated class; but one finds
also all sorts and conditions of men,
peasants. servant girls and street
urchins. Old clothing, crockery, toys,
knickknacks, clocks, books, pencils,
pens, pictures. pots, pans, pals and
postcards, the entire paraphcrnalia OF
antiquarian and secondhand dealers
shops, are turned out into the street,
and disposed of at prices a hundred
times higher than the same articles
would have cost new two years ago.
"But it is time we hurried into our
communal dining room, or there will
be nothing left. We line up in the
cue, pay our six rubles, and pass along
to the counter where the dinners are
being served. Here we receive bowl
of soup and a plate Of Cruel, which
we carry TO our table.
There is not much to tell about the
eating of our dinner. which took much
less time than it does to read about
it. We fetched out our spoons and
forks, which are not supplied at the
dining room, and fell to. The soup
consisted of half a herring in boiling
water. The herring was not scraped
or cleaned, but put into the soup,
head, bones, scales and all. l had a
tail end, my companion had a head.
But the dinner was good one, we
thought because we got Cruel, which
is rare luxury. After we had picked
the chaff out, about two tablespoon
fuls were left.
Complaints are always being made
even in the Bolshevik (the only press
about the filthy and unhygienic state
of these communal dining rooms. But
nothing seems ever TO be done TO i'm
prove them. The dirty rooms look as
IL they had not been swept for months.
The ingredients are put into the soup
unscraped and unclaimed The dishes
look as though they were never
washed. But cleanliness is necessarily
a secondary consideration. The main
thing Is to get something to eat. The
dinner Is the only meal served"
"In crowded towns of central Rus
STA the system of compression also
prevails, which consists In the COM
pulsory thrusting upon middle-class
tenants of members Of the proletaria.
Middle-class fiat owners have In many
cases been ev1cted altogether from
their fats. which are handed over
mainly to members of the Communist
party. You can find lots Of flats where
the owners and their families are
cooped UP in the kitchen, and perhaps
one other room, while the rest of the
rooms are occupied by Communist
workmen or-in Petrograd-- sailors.
OF course, the incomers are given the
right to choose which rooms shall be
at their disposal, and, furniture being
declared communal property, the own
efS nave 10 SLllb Win WhhOcNCi ~ iclt
them in the kitchen.
Few mothers are able to devote
their former attention TO domestic
duties. Life being. so exorbitantly ex.
pensive as the result Of the attempts
to suppress private, trading upon
which every one is nevertheless forced
to rely for professionally, mothers also
are compelled to work. generally In
some Government institution, in order
to increase the family income by even
the miserable pittance usually paid 10
women. The standard OF pay for wo-
men In sedentary occupations Is con.
siderably below that OF the working.
men.
Children under II are fed at the ex.
pense OF the state, but the cost still
falls on the adult population. for the
expense can only be met by further
output of paper money. This In its
turn implies still greater irregularity
in payment of salaries. and also ad.