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

favorites, in the order named. Vodka,
a colorlesS, highly alcoholic liquor that
Is usually made from rye, but in case
of a rye shortage can be distilled from
mash of either barley or potatoes,
Is the national drink today, as it was
under the empire. If aged, vodka has
q fine flavor ano an aroma OF old
brandy. But all that Is to be had in
public cafes today is raw and new and
suggestive of synthetic gin. For the
stores of old vodka were consumed dur
ing the period in which the Car pro-
hibited its manufacture as q war meas
ure and while the Soviet government
was attempting TO retain the regulation.
When the government found it was
an easier task to destroy a monarchy
and set up a new social order than 1t
was to curb the appetites Of the people
arbitrarily, they abandoned the anti
vodka law. Instead of using their
energies to suppress the universal illicit
manufacture and illegal sale Of the
drink the state took over the manu-
facture OF 1t themselves, and stimuli
taneously began an intensive education
al campaign against its use. Hanging
in the provision shops and cafes where
the worker buys a green tabled bottle
OF vodka from his government for
ruble are threatening posters. issued
by the same government describing the
dire fates that will overtake him If
he drinks the stuff.
MiddIe-Aged Are Drinkers.
In spite of the war on alcohol, drink
ing is general throughout the country
and in some cities there is an amazing
amount of intoxication. But the excess
Sive drinking is done largely by people
beyond middle age. The youth Of the
land, having been affected by the anti
alcohol propaganda correlated with all
Their educational works, seems less in
sterested in drink than the younger
generation in Western countries. In
Leningrad saw more drunkenness than
in any other city Of Europe or the Far
East. Whether one went into the
sorcid, reeking eating houses of the old
slumS, where the derelicts of a poor
mans world gather around dirt-in-
crusted pine benches and imbibe cheap
flaming vodka, or visited the better
cafes on and near Nevesky Prospect
and found the workers sitting at tables
covered with red and white checked
linen, slipping their favorite drink, there
was startling number Of drunken men
and women.
1t is in the more sanitary atmosphere
of workers clubs, peasants clubs and
village and city reading and lecture
rooms that the proletariat find great
part of their amusements. There Is
little opportunity in the crowded cities
for. the home becoming a center Of
social life. In Moscow there is an
average of AZ persons to every room
Such cramped quarters do not en-
courage the worker to spend his play
time with his family and friends
around the samovar at home. And
there is little incentive to try adjusting
ones self to a stuffy, chaotic room when
the club houses offer more space, COM
partnership and entertainment. This Is
as the government would have 1t, for
the home and family is regarded by
the Communist as smugly bourgeoiSie
and individualistic social unit which
they seek to destroy and supplant with
the larger community group. BY bring
ing the worker from his flreside to
the clubs for social activity the home
ties are weakened and his play can
Of educating the masses in the habits
and skills profitable to the state.
Learn Gun Nomenclature.
Though the games played at the
clubs are not always exciting, they are
as loaded with motives as play in
Kindergarten. A favorite type Of con-
test is one that involves knowledge Of
a special sort valuable to the nation.
One popular game of this kind requires
elaborate equipment. A complete pic
ture of a machine gun and all of its
divisions is painted on q huge board.
The separate parts Of the gun are
marked with metal buttons, and along
the side in a column are listed the
names Of every segment, with metal
button after each word. Across the
top of the plaque are two rows Of cleo
trio lights.
Teams made up Of both men and
women are chosen. A leader with an
electrically wired pointer touches the
button on a particular segment OF the
gun. The player tries to point to the
. correct name Of the part indicated With
another wired rod. If he succeeds,
circuit is established. and as a reward
a light flashes on for his side. Upon
failing to identify an item, another
member of the team has an opportunity
to test his knowledge. When one side
has set burning all the lights 1t can, the
opposite group then goes through the
same routine and the team having the
largest number of lighted bulbs wins.
AS the correctness is recorded electri-
cally, no expert is needed to conduct
the contest.
There are other devices of this sort
where a rife, a gasoline motor or q dy-
name is employed as subject matter.
amused and painlessly trained in tech
nical knowledge of practical value to
the army and industry. while at the
same time the ever-preSent ideal OF col
lective accomplishment is set out as
compensation for individual ability.
Clubs Have Libraries.
In addition to games, basket ball
courts, radios and lecture halls, the aV-
erage clubhouse is equipped with q Ii
brary Of some description. For the new
Russia finds great amusement in books.
The Soviet governments reports for 1929
show more books bought in Russia, de-
spite the high rate Of illiteracy, than in
the United States. And O survey of the
workers libraries points out interesting
facts concerning the type Of books on
the crest Of current popularity. There
is almost equal demand for translations
from foreign languages and for Russian
literature. American fiction Ia more
widely read than that Of any other
foreign country. Jack London ranks
first as having the most general appeal
to the workers. James Oliver Curwood
comes second. and Upton Sinclair third
in favor among the American story
tellers. Among the clerical and in
stellectual workers Theodore Dresser,
Sinclair Lewis, Sherwood Anderson,
John Dos PaSsos, o, Henry and Edna
Ferber all find large reading public.
Maxim Gorky Is the most popular con-
temporary writer, and Tolstoy the most
popular Of all In the fields of eco
Monies and sociology there is little free
dom given to the circulation o; works
on capitalism unless they have been
given q Communist Interpretation. FIJI
teen per cent Of all books read are on
technical subjects.
ss Posters Confront Workers.
Should the worker tire of games or
reading in his clubhouse and recline In