The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-03-29
By ANNA LOUISE STRONG (Ani.s)

SeAAHAiACA WOAh 1OOQ Ouc
residing of my boots" :. :. asked
him if he were a Communist, and he
smiled shyly and said: "A candi-
date" When Rimpalle has worked
like that for year or two, he will
be admitted to the Party.
Sever Discipline.
All Communists go under severe
discipline which enters into their
pay envelope and the kinds of work
they are allowed to do. They cam
not make money by private trade or
by exploiting the labor of another.
If they get wage higher than a
certain sum, which was once almost
nothing, but is now about fifty dol
lars month, they must divide the
surplus with the Party treasury,
which maintains hospitals, day nur-
series, sanitariums for the sick and
dependents of the Party. If they
month, they find 1t attacked by
famine assessments and other emer-
gencies, as well as by ordinary par
ty dues. / know men and women
who gave their wedding rings to the
famine, because it was voted by the
local branch of the party.
Thus the Party builds itself into
one solid family, pooling its re-
sources and uniting its forces. This
organized force is always ready for
action; it can be cast at word into
any part of Russia. When shock
troops were needed to stiffen the
battlefront, when men were needed
to stem typhus epidemics, or to fight
famine, or to increase production in
some ruined factory or flooded mine
Communists were modified and
sent to these jobs. The Commun-
lists talk always in terms of fronts"
First, there was the war OIL many
fronts: then there was the famine
'front.'; then the front Of industry"
and now the "front of education"
This means that, lacking sufficient
men for all the jobs Of cebullding
Russia, they attack one after an
other the most important and crying
needs, and throw their organized
force for a time in that direction.
A girl of my acquaintance was
"commissar" of a typhus hospital
during the height of the Polish war.
She told me how a thousand men
were brought in and laid on the floor
in the Communicated high school
building. They had no soap, no beds,
no bedding, no change of underwear
for sick, lousy men from the front.
''But we nobilized beds and bedding
and underwear" she said.
"How does one mobilize UNDER
wear?" l asked in curiosity.
at was a town of sixty thousand
souls" she answered. eve sent
word that every family should give
us one suit of underwear. Of course
we could not compel them; we had
no authority; it was a voluntary tax.
Except for the Communist; Com
munists are not permitted 20 refuse.
| We Communists are making the
Revolution; we must give whatever
is demanded"
How Graft Is Punished.
Week by week the Communists of
my acquaintance receive orders to
go on certain evenings to teach
reading and writing in factory night
schools, or to give certain Sundays
to community work. In return for
this discipline, this giving up of all
+, human rights, Communists get tho
job of ruling Russia. They are given
trusted posts and job preference in
high Offices. They do not get as
high pay as the experts and techni-
cal men employed under them, but
they get more honor. The experts
are supposed to be working for
money; the Communists are suppos-
ed to be working for loyalty.
The temptations such men are ex-
posed to can be easily imagined by
anyone Knowing the ancient habits
Of bribery in Russia, or even the
ordinary desires Of human nature.
But the Party keeps close watch of
its members. Their wages are
known; their style of living is ap-
parent. II a Communist is caught
In crinna nQainst the Ranal,lic t.no