The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-11-27
Some Facts about the Soviet
Union
By Labor Research Association.


THE worker who is bewildered by the current
flood of vicious SANDER and abuse against the
Soviet Union has but to turn to the Current
History magazine for October. 1t would be diff
ficut to compile set of statistics more effective
IN demoliShing the picture painted by the New
York Evening Post in its ptiful efforts to achieve
scoop" The accuracy of the statements In
the Current History article was verified by the
RusSian-American Chamber of Comerce. What
are some of these statements2
THE workers wages have risen relatively and
absolutely since the war. Real wages in 1880
were 40 per cent higher; the benefits which the
worker derives from social insurance legislation
and social welfare provisions are equivalent to
a rise of IS per cent in wages and living
standards.
1T Is generally agreed that the workers In
Russia now have plenty to eat" Cbold face ours)
Their dress is adequate and presentable Some
receive from their industries free fuel free sup
ply of water free electric light free Transports
ton to and from work, free special working
clothes, free medical and dental service.
IF the workers wife is employed in industry
and becomes pregnant, she receives two months
OF rest and full pay before the birth of her child
After the child is born, she remains two weeks in
the hospital with competent nurses and ply
sicians at her disposal all at the expense of the
government. When she leaves the hospital she
receives a lump sum for the layette, and is gran
ted two more months of rest with full pay For
the following nine months she receives 25 per
cent extra on her wages to cover the expense of
child nursing. On returning to work, she finds
creches for the baby and nurses to minister to
her needs In some factories there are special
nurseries, now numbering thousands all over
Russia, where children are taken care of while
the mother works. During working hours
mntharS IAN to
three and a half hours to feed their babies"
Compare this state of affairs with the finding
OF Agnes de Lima, a competent social worker
who investigated conditions in the wooden mills
at PasSalc, N j.: Three women told of witness
ing births OF children in the mills, and several
confessed to having worked I'D to the last dav
or two before giving birth to their children In
families where children come quickly the moth
ers return to their machines when babies are two
or three months old Several women ascribed
the death or weakness of their children to the
strain OF heavy mill work during pregnancy but
asked with the cynical strug SO common among
these workers, what can we do?"
Returning to the Russian article we read. IN
contrast: Within thirteen years infant mortality
IN Russia has been reduced very considerably
In l9ll-l3, 27.3 infants out of every 100 died
In 1924 only 2l.7 out of every hundred died and
In 1926 the mortality dropped to 1877 The Soviet.
child is now physically superior to the child of
the czarist regime His weight has risen 10 per
cent MS chest measurment has expanded per
cent and his height has grown per cent"
Education is now compulsory all over Russia.
At the beginning of 1880 there were 10000 OOo
children in the elementary schools of Soviet
Russia, so per cent more than in pre- revolution
days"
And while tens Of thousands of American
farmers are losing their heavily mortgaged
farms, only to swell the ranks of the industrial
unemployed, here's what this capitalist maya