The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-07-07

Il
SAINTS. The White Russian peasants
of Dubrovna found it advisable to
send their children to the Jewish
school.
The Lithuanian and Latvian villages
have their own national schools which
are, however, attended also by chill
dren of White Russian peasants.
Is there in Kovno Capital of Fas-
cist Lithuania) an association OF
Lithuanian proletarian poets and writ
ers? Certainly not But in Mmsk
such an association exists and-a
strange coincidence-it sprung up
during the days when the Lithuanian
Fascists in Kovno We're mercilessly
shooting down the leaders of the Lith-
uanian proletariat.
Such is Soviet White Russia, the
republic of "Lapatsons and Serfs," the
former slaves of the Polish magnates
and czarist generals.
Revolution In Marsh.
Soviet White Russia has 100000
dessiatins of marsh land. This con-
stitutes nearly 20 per cent of the total
territorial area of the country. Short
age Of land and agrarian over-popu-
lation, together with the marshes, are
throttling peasant farming. The
marshes make work very difficult,
cutting off whole villages from the
outside world during several months.
In 1921, 10 peasant retaining as
sociations began draining the 683 des-
siatins of marsh land. In 1927, 600
reciaiming associations are draining
over $4,000 dessiatins. An army 25,-
900 strong armed with spades,
hatchets and buckets is digging
bitches, making canals and is doing
drainage work. Considering that in
the course of six years the number
of retaining associations increased
nearly so times, one can feel assured
that the time is not far distant when
the 1,650,000 dessiatins of marsh land
will become fertile land, and when
100000 new peasant farms will spring
up in White Russia possessing on an
average eight hectares of land each.
Fuel Wealth.
What can marsh land produce
Here are the harvests on the drained
marsh land: In the October" reclaim
ing association of the Bobruisk dis
trict the harvest was: Oats ITO pools,
barley ITO pools, millet 120 pools per
dessiatin. In Beresovaya Kladka, of
the Kalinin district the first plough
! ing of the wild marsh land yielded 90
pools of oats and 100 pools of millet
per dessiatin. Never before has White
Russia experienced such harvests!
Following in the footsteps of the re-
claiming associations, there spring up
like mushrooms machinery, seed,
dairy, fire proof building and peat as
sociations.
There are huge deposits Of peat in
the marshes, over Z milliard cubic
metres, enormous fuel wealth guaran-
teeing to the White Russian industry
cheap fuel for hundreds of years.
Strange Legends.
The future of the White Russian
peasantry lies in the marshes, partial
salvation from landlessness and desti-
tuition, sphere of work for an enor-
NOUS surplus Of human energy.
Strange legends were told about the
marshes; they were supposed to be
inhabited by devils, the marshes in
fected the population with marsh"
fever. Now legends are told by the
White Russian villages about the
marshes which are kept in subsection
by the hand of man, on which steel
oxen march to and fro, which yield
miraculous harvests.
Past and Present.
White Russia has always been a
country of home industries. 1t had
very few factories and works and also
very few skilled workers.
At present this little Jewish local
ity is gradually dying. The local Jews
are looking for new sources Of exis-
tence, they go to the factories and are
on the land. At present 10000 Jews
are WOThiiS Oil tic ldiu, nave utSOtuS
cultured peasants, for out Of the 1863
agricultural collective farms in White
Russia, 1876 are Jewish, provided with
tractors, modern machinery and are
model farms. They come from the
adjoining villages to the Jewish pea
SAINTS, White Russian peasants, who,
as of old, keep to the three-crop sys-
tenn. They come to see and learn, to
adopt what is useful. In the Borisov