The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-16
The Facts About "Red Gold"

the levies for the assistance Of the
strikers, there now began stream of
Individual contributions, which poured
INTO the offices of the newspapers in
Leningrad, Moscow and the provincial
towns. These contributions were
made by workers and employees, and
those who made them invited others
to follow their example. AS charac-
teristic instance of the frame of mind
among the masses in the U. s. S. r.
At this date, we quote from Pogodin's
article in Pravda on May II;
crumpIed Notes.
She came to us yesterday very
early, an old working woman OF
Moscow, Burova by name.
Great numbers of them come to
Pravda from the outlying districts,
bringing their crumpled, dirty notes
men, women and children. Quite
on their own, they come to give
their money or send their children
with it. Here is girl whose father,
a tiler, has a vivid memory of the
incidents of one of our own great
strikes in former days (19O5l. That
is why he has sent the girl with this
half-rouble.
Here, little father" she says,
there is something for the British
workers"
She is shy, and nervously rubs
her small red fists together as she
speaks.
We might never have seen old
Burova, unless she had set out very
early yesterday before the impress
sion produced by the official answer
of the trade unions to the workers
of the U. s. S. R. and the workers
of all the world had become acute
the answer to offers Of help, an
unprecedented answer, dry as a d.
plomatic note.
Old Burova had heard nothing of
this answer. Thru the rain, In the
teeth of the north wind, she came
all the way across Moscow, bring
ing us rouble note wrapped up in
a handkerchief, a ragged, greasy
note taken out of the box where
she was wont to keep the money to
buy bread and potatoes.
Having found No 4S in the Tver-
skaya, she climbed the stairs to the
third floor, knocked at the door, and
came in. =
rs it here that one gives the
money to the English miners?"
yes, this is the place"
With great earnestness, she quiet
ly took out her rouble note, unfold
ed it, cleared her throat, and said;
There isn't any more; that's ALL"
Taking the receipt, she added:
81 remember when we had
strike. We should have been glad
enough of help. but there wasn't
any"
That's seventeen years ago, eh?"
Seventeen years, less two" she
answered. 1--WE not forgotten what
we had to suffer then. We were
beaten because our fellow workers
couldn't help us. That's why I've
brot along this rouble. know all
about it."
She went out again into the rain
and the north wind, to make her
way back to her home on the other
side of Moscow, this old working
woman who had so clear an under
standing of what was happening In
a far land across the sea, who pic
tured the sufferings of the British
miners children, and hoped that
her rouble would help to dry their
tears.
Burova, this woman of three-score
years and ten, bringing her last rou-
BILE, symbolizes the feeling of solidari.
ty which has always been extraordi
,narily vigorous among the Russian
workers.
All Participate.
EURTHERMORE, this crumpled
L note given by a working woman
is a slap in the face for Tweed and
Birkenhead, and for all those who
have slandered the Russian workers
denying their class solidarity. The
Russian gold" sent to the British
is not supplied from profit
rent, or interest, but is freely given
by the workers out Of their earnings
is a voluntary levy made by millions
of proletarians turnout the land. This
money is the blood and sweat of work
ers. Out Of their scanty wages 1--WE
do not pretend that the wages are
other than scanty as yeti, the Rus
sian workers put aside "crumpled
notes" for their class brothers. They
themselves have struggled so long
so many of them have been victims
and it is by natural impulse thai
they give what aid they can to the
workers of other lands who are still
at grips with capital.
This movement OF working class
solidarity Is not confined TO the in
dustrial workers. The employees one
and all are involved in 1t, so are tn,
members OF the working intelligentsia
the school teachers, the university