Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-29

hotel to a nearby golf course
cree holds aloft the bloody arm of the
Caucasian.
So even in this most personal of
sports there is an effort to cloak 1t in q
theory making 1t, alphabetically at least,
compatible with Communist philosophy
and of some use In the tremendous Job
OF forcing a new mental and emotional
background upon 150O0O,O00 people.
But despite the odd significance given
the fight and the fact that a crowd
brought together for amusement Is con-
verted into laboratory to -emake their
habits, prize fighting is least affected
of all advertisements by the social use
to which it Is put.
The nation Is anxious to learn all
games and the government dispatches
athletes into the provinces to instruct
teachers in the rules and methods of
coaching the sports. In remote Sibe-
rian town I met an American sailor who
was in great demand throughout the
countryside as a basket ball coach.
Track meets held between the teams
OF the various trade unions attract
great crowds and show the fine physical
condition of both the men and the
women. During the Communist games
in 1928 10000 athletes of both sexes
crowded Red Square for the formal
opening Of the event, in which men and
women from every part OF Russia were
entered. This vast collection of work.
srs drilled with the precision and en-
tnusiasm Of the Red army, and dis
tinctly set out the success of the plan
to make every citizen a potential and
fundamentally trained soldier by in
structing him under the guise of amuse-
ment.
Movies Burden Heavy.
The movies" have taken up a heavy
burden of entertainment and propa-
ganda. AS the great bulk of the Rus
sian people are still illiterate, this pow
erful means of bringing before them the
virtues of tho new regime, its goals and
its methods Is utilized to the fullest
extent.
From the sedate old concert halls of
Moscow that have been converted into
motion picture theaterS to the thatch-
rooted peasants clubs on the edge of a
tracklesS Siberian forest visited by q
travelling motion picture outfit, the
cinema has stretched its celluloid trail
OF amusement and propaganda over
RuSSla'S asst land. No other form of
the uses Of propaganda as the motion
picture. 1t has bee carried to such
extremes in this direction that loyal
workers councils have petitioned for a
let-up OF pictures with q purpose. not
on the grounds that they object to the
doctrines taught, but that educational
motives have been heaped on so heavily
that the amusement value of the Aim is
reaching the zero point.
Most of the pictures have to do with
clarifying the lot of the worker and the
peasant under the new regime by con-
trasttng the present with the past. Di-
rectors never tire of making pictures
showing the mercileSS expressions of
the cars and the harsh lot of the
people under the autocratS, and ending
the MIN with the flashes OF the fateful
October when their chains were broken.
Ten Days That Shook the World and
Gorky's Mother" both shown in this
country. are mild examples of the sort
of film upon which the emotional and
illiterate Russian Is fed. .
Doctrines In Background.
In keeping with the soviets' confused
notions Of the place Of sex in the eoSmic
scene, the love interest in Russian pic
lures may take many different slants,
but it Is always subordinated to the
characters obligation to the state and
his trade union. When an amOrous sit
uation is made the main theme of a
photoplay it is always set out to teach
a Communist doctrine pertaining to 1t.
saw only one picture that was built
completely around love interest. It
tenSively throughout Russia, and told
the story Of Communist party member
who still harbored what the Soviets
term "bourjui ideas" concerning his
wife's obligations to him. When he
learns he Is not the father of her child
he sulks and chides her until she at
temptS suicide, from which he saves her.
He asks her forgiveness for his petty
and the picture comes to q
happy G, umunist ending. with the
child gurgling in public nursery while
the mother and her husband return to
the whirling steel wheels of industry.
happy at serving their state by eficient
labor and untroubled by trivial con-
cepts Of personal relations.
The cinema theaters are increasing
in number in the rural districts every
month, having shown an increase Of sos
per cent in three years. Only l per
cent Of them are owned by private en-
terprise, the department of education
operating % per cent, TRADE unions AZ
per cent and the various other govern
ment agencies and joint stock COM
panies the remainder.
AL branches of the theater are en-
gagged in the production of plays that,
in the words of Lunarcharsky shall
express ideals. accomplishments and
aims Of the new social order" From
Mierholtz, producing masterpieces Of
propaganda, to the humblest tap
dancer, the theories of politics, eco
Monies and social problems are Of fore
most consideration In q vaudeville
performance at a Moscow amusement
park saw an eccentric dancer who In
terpreted his antics In terms Of world
movements. First he whirled for sew
eral minutes, gaining in speed and ac-
ton until he slumped to the stage. He
rose again and continued at faster
tempo until he once more fell exhaust
ed. A third time he revived and spun
with greatest fury until he dropped and
was carried from the stage. The per-
former explained his act as dance Of
capitalism, which he pictured to the
audience ~ In the last frenxied stage
before its final downfall. A tuggler
carried through . similar theme by
balancing q number Of Synonymous
. Il