The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-06-14

w ASUooAa 6bAAl lCAudluH inherent
from any place in the world. AS soon
as l crossed the border noticed the
change. In place of the beer and
wines of Poland, bottles of Marian
began to appear on the dining-car
tables, a sparkling mineral water bear
ing snow-clad mountain on its label
with the inscription showing that it
is bottled by the Department of
Health Of Russia. Beer and wine are
of course not forbidden, but Marian
is the favorite and very delicious
drink
l picked up newspaper in Minsk
incidentally, there was a very com
Portable sleeping-car from the frontier,
and dining-car from Minsk to Mos
cow One whole page of the paper
was devoted to letters from local
correspondents in the country around
and all of them breathed an atmos-
phere of energy and reconstructive
labor. A writer from Bobruisk was
Dragging about how the town got its
new electric station, and how the
peasants for miles around helped with
labor and contributions, because the
electric station would carry light for
thirty versts. 1t was hard job, and
money was very hard to get, but now
they are opening the station on May
Day.
Another letter describes the seed
help" campaign in little township
and tells how sixteen tons of grain
were collected, and given as seed to
widows, and families of absent
soldiers and war-injured men. Still
a third announces that "our town
ship is far from the center and even
from railway connections, none the
less our classes against illiteracy and
for training in civics are doing wel'';
and proceeds to prove it. :. And
letters like these have been going on
in all the months that | have been
away steady continuous interest in
reconstruction.
On my first evening in Moscow
it was Easter Sunday was invited
to see the collaborating" of baby,
to be held in a Jewish Communist
Club This is a ceremony which is
beginning to take the place of the
circumcision rites with the Jews and
the baptism with the Christians. The
hall was packed and the door were
jammed with young people, obviously
working-class, energetic, much alive.
There was much seriousness but no
solemnity After an address by the
chairman, the father held the child
aloof to the crowd amid much APP
plause and said that he wished to
call him "Lenid," a contraction of
'Lenin' and "Id", the latter meaning
Jew. The name was ratified by the
assembly, and various factory delega-
tions proceeded to make gifts of baby
blankets embroidered with the Ham
mer and Sickle. of books and member
ship cards in their clubs. The father
also presented in the name of the
child two books to the club library.
The ceremony has not taken any
artistic or symbolic form as yet; it
was crude; the chairman Numbered
and the crowd joyously laughed. But
there was in it vitality of belief and
Of dedication which was very impress
sive. Certainly the Russians have
not lost their firm conviction that the
World Revolution is on its way. The
father announced that he had four
older children, one in the Commun-
ist Youth, and three in the Young |
Pioneers, the younger preliminary |
organization. He expected them all
to be ready for the tasks to be given
them, "either to fight on the battle
front against the world bourgeoisie,
or to build afterwards in peace the
structure of Communism.
The special excitement in Moscow I
just now is the cleaning of the Com
munist party which is going on most
drastically. Everyone is being ex-
amined as to the details of his life