The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-08-06
RUSSIAN LIVING
 STANDARDS NOT ON SAME LEVEL
Distinction Greater Than at First Appears
 on Surface
BY EUGENE LYONS United Press Stnff COrrcspOndcnt

united ErcsS SthU tOffctpOnucnt
 Moscow, (UPt--ft would be wrong to suppose that living standards in the Soviet Union have been reduced to n dead level of equality. Nobody lives opu- iently. But there are numerous degrees of poverty.
 The division of the population into categories in itself establishes serious diffcrcntintions The dis tinction between these cateRorics is greater than appears at first.
 Inequalities in earning power provide even greater contrasts stalin himself has just demanded an abandonment of Utopian no- tons of equality of income. order ing higher pay for better work Tho "Communist Youth Prnvdn" recently described a toy factory in which workers receiev 27 rublct a month. At the other extreme are specialists drawing 800 or 600 rublcs monthly and authors net ting royalties of 1000 rubles q month. Between these is the great working mass. averaging about 100 rubIes n month.
 Rulers Not Exempt
 The ruling Communists are not exempt from the hardnhips. Like everyone else they stand in lines subsist on rations and patch their clothes.
 The income of Communist party members. indeed, and of the communist youth members n, well, cannot exceed tho party maximum" of 300 rubles q month This scarcely gives them financial scope for high living. There are about 100000 in the party and over 100000 in It's youth auxili- ary.
 Nevertheless the advantages of the higher administrative per sonnel in government and indus try need not be minimized. Ger tainly the head of a great busi- ness trust. or of an important gov ernment department. does not live in IL style remotely comparable to that of a person in q similar posi- ton abroad. But such things are relative. Under Soviet conditions the fact that such people do have special privileges in transportn- ton, first call upon desirable liv- ing quarters, etc. puts them fin Il privileged position.
 Tagged Men and Women. There are n good many fan tastically ragged men and women barefootcd, in tattered burla r garments, like characters out of q beggar'a opera; they are part ol the daily scene and attract not the slighcst attention. At the other end of the scale here are reasonably well-drcssed Russians in western clothes. the men ofter wearing the flat hats of the en- gineering fraternity. But the great in-bctween mass is n gray monotone. sufficiently but poorl, | dressed
 Follow any of these into theii homes and you find a repetition of the swnrming. the jostllng. th' discomforta, the m0notony of tho streets. What formerly served aI apartments for single famil,
 now house perhaps half IL dozen. | From n western standpoint th'
 most distressing phase of Russian
 life to-day is the thorough subor
 dination of tho individual to tn
 state. Every move and though
 is documented. prescribed, nn'
 controlled. We cnn leave out 0
 consideration tho hundreds o
 thousands of kulaks and othej "class enemies" actually exilet and interned in brutally inhospi able regions. These are "prison' CTS of war" The ordinary sov. ereign worker. too. moves through his days in accordance with in. structions.
 Everything Arranged The work he does, tho amount he is given to eat. everything is arranged by commissions and regulations. Under a voluntary plcdEe--which he dare not refuse to make---to stick to his job he is in effect chained to it. The pen nltics for n breach, sometimes in- volving tho loss of the ration book, nre too harsh to be fooled with. Tho needs of the state are paramount. and the individual iH u helpless cog in the states ma chinery. In the war for indus trlalizntion absolute discipline in the ranks is the basic rule. IIJc lS uo piCiii' j'i'' P'e s'S human animal adjusts itself to anything. The tureIans. in nddi- ton. have known worse. They re- member horrible holes which served as living quarters for fac- tory hands in the pre-rcVolution- ary days and famine periods compared with which tho present ratloned regime seems plenty. Youth Hopeful.
 Tho old are for the most part roconciled to their lot and the young are brimful of hope. All around them are signs of q new era dnwninE for their country. They do not permit tho slightest doubt of this to intrude, and im- mediate sacrifices arc treated aS m invcntm against the future. One thing at least the rovolu- ton hns done. It has removed the fear of tomorrow which elac- where weighs upon the working people. old age. Illness. ma tcrnity. everything is provided against
 Tho government is extracting ms much work as it can from tho Russian people. deploying hs population nH needed on the in- duatrinl ma agricultural fronts with small regard for tho prefer encca of tho individual. In return it guarantees them tho minimum of iifea necessities.