The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-11-11

side of the Soviet regime after the Oc~
tober revolution. Those groups of in
tellectuals whose WORK was more
closely bound up with the working and
peasant masses, specially the village
intelllgentsia, adhered sooner to the
new order; those groups, however,
who stood nearer the old czarist re-
gime or the order established by the
bourgeois provisional government,
resisted the Soviet regime during al
most whole year, either actively (by
means Of boycott and sabotage), or
passively (striking on the job. The
particularly irreconcilable section of
the intellectuals-the active workers
of the anti-Soviet parties-emigrated
abroad.
Now Support Socialist State.
TT can now be quite definitely as
L serted that not a single intellectual
profession has remained, the workers
of which have not recognized the So
Wet regime, exception being extremely
rare. Not single congress Of pro
fessional workers takes place (teach-
ers, doctors, engineers, agronomists,
etc. at which there are not resolu-
tons in which the participants express
their readiness to devote all their
strength and knowledge to the cause
Of the new socialist construction.
The difficult years experienced by
our country during the period of war,
blockade and famine was naturally re-
aected in the position of the intel
lectuals. During those times the life
of the rural intelligentsia was rela-
lively easier, as the village workers
| doctors, teachers, agronomists) were
nearer to the food stocks than the
town workers. Therefore in those
days the task Of the Soviet regime
was to give main support to the town
workers and specially the most highly
qualified scientific forces. In the
| towns special rations were instituted,
little more nurritive than those of
the ordinary population, for doctors.
engineers and technicians and for
those serving in Soviet institutions.
But particular care was taken to i'm
prove the position of scientific work
ers.
intellectual Commission.
TN 1921, on the initiative of V. L.
Lenin, commission was formed for
improving the life of scientists The
members of this commission were:
NJ. Gorky, Khalakov Good Commits
sariat), Semashko (Commissar of
health, Pokrovsky education COM
missariat) and the late Prof. Karpov
(supreme economic counciD. At the
time of formation the tasks of this
commission included: alleviating the
material position of scientists (supply
Of clothing, footwear and also in
creased rations, fairly high for those
days), as well as improving the living
conditions of the scientists defense
Of their housing rights, reductions and
privileges in accommodation, supply
Of articles for scientific work, etc.)
Besides this the central commission
for improving the life of scientists
gave every scientist supplementary
monetary grant in addition to his sal
airy; the dimensions of this monetary
grant depended upon the qualifications
of the scientists.
1t is generally recognized that this
commission rendered invaluable SER
vices to the scientists during those
difficult years. 1t will remain a his
toric fact that the workers and peas
ants regime, at a moment when the
population was starving, displayed ex-
ceptional solicitude in respect to the
scientists; the workers and peasants.
tho themselves starving, paid special
attention to the material and spiritual
needs of scientific workers.
After Civil War.
WHEN the civil war came to an end
w and the economic and cultural life
of the country began to revive, the
central commission for improving the
position of scientists was not dis
solved. 1t still functions to this very
day, having changed of course, the
methods of its work in accordance
with the changed conditions.
The direct supply of food and cloth
ing naturally stopped; but activity in
serving the material and mental needs
Of the scientists were brought to the
forefront.
Mobilize Mental Resources.
EoR this purpose the commission
L had, above all, to commence inves-
tigating the existing scientific forces
in the U. S. S. r. A special qualifca-
ton commission was formed from
among the most prominent specialists
in various branches of learning, which
examined the personal qualifications
OF every scientific worker and dis
tributed them according to categories;
first two categories. scientific begin
ners; third category, professors and
teachers Of the usual kind; fourth cat
egory scientific specialists and teach.
ers who have already formed their own