The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-12-05
What the Russian Worker
Has Gained

the famous Marian springs. Kislov-
! cdsk was once the most fashionable
watering place in Russia; the beauti-
ful park and gardens are now throng-
/ cd with workers dressed in their noll-
day best or in hospital garb. In the
Kursaal in the evening for few
( pence one can go and hear the "Peo-
! pies Orchestra" once the Imperial
Orchestra; the musicians who used
to play for the car and for society"
now give delight to thousands of fac
tory and office workers. Next to me
at meals was an old Lesgbian "a Mo-
homedan tribe Of the Caucasus) oil
worker from Baku. He said that be-
fore the war he had worked nine hours
day but that he had been one of
the lucky ones, as nearly everyone
had tc work eleven. As regards holt
days, he never had any unless he left
work altogether and went back to
try and get his living in his mountain
home.
When 4 man or woman is i'll, but
not i'll enough to leave work, he or
she car go to a might sanatorium."
visited one of these at Moscow in
the evening just after the patients
had arrived. They came in straight
from their work, took off their own
clothes, and after a bath put on the
white linen clothing provided by the
@anatorium. They all had their own
! diet and treatment prescribed, and
after supper went to bed in cool
Wh!tCWashed rooms with open Win
dows. | was impressed both here and
at Kislovodsk with the great hygienic
and cultural" education the patients
must receive. To live for some six
weeks ir beautiful surroundings and
to enjoy the comfort of perfect clean
Illness and fresh air must radically
improve the habits of many peasants
and workers who in their childhood
and youth before the revolution never
had occasion to know anything about
this aspect of civilization and Ger
tainly never had an opportunity to
( S'(Nd4lt CREAMY EdO-NS.
Special provisions have been made
since the revolution for women ard
children. All mothers employed in in
dustry are given two months leave
with full pay before the birth Of their
child and two months afterwards. In
addition they receive a sum for the
layette and rs per cent extra on their
wages for nine months while feeding
the child. When she returns tc work
the mother must be allowe,! tina off
at least every 31a hours to feed her
child, and this period counts as work
ing time. In all the factories one sees
creches where women can leave their
babies in competent hands while they
go to work. Not ell babies can vet
be accommodated of funds pre-
cludes The complete realization Of
many an ideal in Russia-but the
babies are chosen first from the moth
ers specially burdened. There is also
often kindergarten on the factory
premises, and frequently one finds
the former owners house turned into
a school.
Space precludes an account of the
enormous educational work being
done in Russia, but if one tries to
reckon the various benefits which the
revolution has brought to the worker
and his family one must not omit the
important fact that nearly ali work
ers can now have their children edu-
Gated and can see them go on to Ehe
university if they are specially gifted,
Besides these workers children who
proceed to the university there are
those workers themselves who are
chosen by their Trade Union to enter
a "Rabfac," where they receive four
years education to prepare them for
the university. Whilst at the univer-
sity they receive subsistence allow
ance as well as free instruction. In
this way the Soviet state is training
it's own working class specialists" to
take the place Of the old bourgeois
ones.
The social insurance funds which
provide the sanatoria and other ser.
vices, such as maternity benefits, are
derived from payments made by the
factories over and above the wages
paid to the workers. Each factory
also pays / per cent to per cent or
the wages bill to the trade unior
funds, and also pays for the mainten
ence of clubrooms and lighthouses or
the factory premises, for some cul
tural work and even sometimes fol
the upkeep Of technical school.
The trade unions supply many Of
the amenities of life free to thei,
members. Each union has clubs II
the town or in the factories them
selves, and in the big towns they also
own gardens or camping grounds out
side the town. Here their members
can go in the evening to talk, to hav,
cheap meals sd. buys good dinner)
to listen to concerts, plays and lcc.
/ L