The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1921-12-28
Soviet Republic in no
Mood to Celebrate


21.-The fourth anniversary of the
establishment of the Soviet Republic
in Russia found this peasant village
of 600 people in no mood for celebrat.
ing. Foodless and cheerless, tho
starving population could have nc
heart for any sort Of jubilation. even
if it knew what the political maneu,.
ers at Moscow mean. Like most Rus
sian peasants, the unhappy folks of
Ludogovka have neither the learning
nor the will to study politics. Bread.
wood and warm clothing are their
three desires. They haven't enough
of any of these.
Winter has laid its first heavy coat
ing of snow on the fiat prairies, and
the peasants have started, grim faced
on their endurance test to see how
many can survive the six months OF
cold and privation. Many of the
younger children have been decrNnd So
completely underfed by the doccrS III
the employ Of the American Relief
Administration that they will hc CIV
en- one good hot meal day.
Ludogovka is typical peasant viii
lage of the poorer class. 1t is col
miles from Kazan and many miles
from the Volga and railway commm-
ication. Unpainted log houses are
scattered along main street. The
houses generally have two rooms.
Some have three. Frequently the ami
NAL sheds are built against the houses
for warmth. Many of the stables are
at the back end of long vegetable
gardens which yielded few potatoes
and cabbages this year because of the
drought. The stables are chiefly de-
serted. There is no forage, no grain
for the animals which have survived
which will soon be under several feet
Of snow.
Russia doesn't have blizzards such
as are known in America. In late Oc-
tober or early November the SHOWS |
begin and continue gently nearly cv
cry day until the earth is covered to a
depth of three or four feet.
This winter will not bring it's Gus
tomary round of winter sports and
recreations. There are no horses to
draw the troikas and jingle the bells
which ordinarily enliven Russian
highway through the short days and
long nights of frost.
The home of Ivan Ivanovich Pc
troff is typical of the most poverty |
stricken houses visited by the CORE
spondent. Petroff is farmer, as
practically all the villagers are. He
has the use of several dissiatines of
land, more than he was able to cult
vate because of lack of animals and
and seed. He had once been sturdy
giant, over six feet tall. But his rag
ged trousers show his legs have
shrunken to mere bones and his
scraggly beard cannpt conceal the
emaciation and sallowness of his face
His wife is lying i'll above a large
masonry stove. A gangling, hollow
eyed boy of 16 stands listlessly and
gapes at the strangers. A little girl
Of eight, who is getting the Ameri-
can meals and two others, slightly
older, who were not designated for the
foreign food, stand near their mother.
The furnishings of the room are al
most nil. 1t has the smell Of poverty
and neglect. In good seasons Russian
They are never ventilated. But the
smell of cabbage soup and tea make
the less offensive in normal years.
When asked what the family had
to eat Petroff pointed to two loaves
of green bread which lay on the stove
and said there had been nothing else
for his family in ten days. He threw
open an adjoining room and pointed to
pile of the improvised "hour" out of
which the bread was made. 1t was
nothing but ground up grass, leaves,
sun-fower seed and other trash of a
similar character.
The visitors offered him money. He
took it unwillingly and asked: "But
what shall I do with it? There is
nothing to buy in this village and l
can't go in search of food. Neither
can my family"
One of the American relief work
ers thereupon offered to buy some
flour in village many miles away.
Throughout the remote villages of the
Tartar Republic and the Samar gov
ernment American workers have
found the same lack of food.