The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-03-27

I
Action set up by the Transport
Workers affiliated to the Red
international of Labor Unions
in cooperation with those af-
filiated to the Amsterdam In
ternational, thought that 1
would be able also to explain
Russia to the I. w. w. member
ship as an ordinary worker
like myself saw it, but I was
not given the opportunity.
Pm going to get a JOB on boat
that will take me back to Russia.
But before going / want to tell the
members Of the l. W. w. the simple
story of what I, as an ordinary
worker, saw when / went to Rus
STA, and how things there compared
with conditions l found elsewhere.
The United States government
had turned over to the "ARCOS"
or All Russian Cooperative Socie-
ties, the ship "Tobolsk," which
sailed in February 1928 with a crew
Of which / was a member. When
we reached Blythe, England, the
London representative of ARGOS put
the ship up for repairs while the
crew was sent on to Petrograd.
Treated to the Best.
The Russian conductor on the
train from Riga to Leningrad told
US he was instructed by telegram to
tell the "crew committee" to phone
Zinoviev's secretary when we ar
rived at Leningrad. We did, and
bunch of automobiles were sent for
us in which we sailors, fremen, oil
eFs and so on were driven to what
used to he the chief hang-out for
rich foreigners, the Hotel Interna-
tional. For US rough working stiffs
of the "Tobolsk" crew, the elegant
dining room and tables looked very
unusual, but the workers are given
the best there is in Russia, and
hungry as we were we forty-five
men enjoyed the supper of steaks,
chops and other things to order on
menu like a fine hotel in the
States, printed in English and Rus
sian.
1t was in the middle of March,
an anniversary Of the French Com
mune, and singing crowds filled the
streets that night, while Russian
gypsies were dancing in the hotel
ballroom until a. M, at an en-
tertainment the crew arrived early
enough to attend.
Ex-I. w. w. Secretary In Charge.
A few days later / got a job on
the "Trans-Baltic," fixing her up
for a trip to Odessa, but after the
ice broke up / shipped on another,
"The Red Profntern." On it and
other boats l made a few trips to
London and several to Hamburg.
Between voyages I made three
trips, with free fare, to Moscow,
where l met a number of old l. w.
WIS. In Petrograd, Lipshitz, once
/. w. w. secretary at Detroit, is
secretary of the Petrograd govern
ment stores, both wholesale and
retail.
BY agreement made collectively
between the Russian Union and the
government, sailors pay is made in
English money as soon as their ship
passes Kronstad outward bound. In
German waters, where the German
sailors get only 60 gold marks, or
about S12, Russian sailors are paid
five pound ten shillings a month, in
English waters they are paid six
pound ten shillings and in western
waters, ten pounds a month. What
I &f..,0 4 &c IN DntrN
grad, the Union supported me from
fund raised by deductions of from
two to five per cent (never over
| fve) from the wages of those EN-
tployed. The unemployed get from
the Union daily ration Of one good
warm meal, an additional pound of
bread, a comfortable place to live,
free theatre tickets by turn and
money for subsistence equal to
about one pound English money per
month.
Seamen's Committees.
On the Russian ships all the old
conditions so infamous in the old
days of brutality are gone. The
captain is a navigator, and there
his authority stops. He has nothing
to say about the crew, its behavior,
organization, hours, food wages or
anything else. The collective agree
ment Of the Union with the govern
ment covers all that by fixing the
general conditions, like wages and
hours, and the crew governs itself
by an elected committee of five.
This Committee sees TO supplying
quarters and food and regulating
the shifts. When a ship reaches