Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-28
BY ELIAS TOBENKIN.

sun rises over a vast snow-covered hor-
lion. 1t is 10 o'clock daylight saving
time in mid-February. The train Is
speeding eastward toward Moscow.
Every four or five minutes village
comes into view-60 or 80 peasant hutS
strung out in single file. The snow on
their straw roofs is a foot deep; 1t Is
three feet high on the ground.
The weather is 80 below zero and the
smoke from the chimneys ascends in
fiery columns or spirals. There Is an
unbroken brooding over the land; man
and beast are indoors. 1t is Russia,
the traditional, white. epic Russia. An
ecdotes of Peter the Great come to
mind.
Abruptly the scene changes.
With no warning the skeletonized
form of a modern, almost American
city. springs from the frozen plain:
Factories in various stages of con-
struction, homes in the making; a
school house, hospital, public bath.
On scaffolds men in sheepskin tunics
and shaggy felt hats drawn over their
ears are swinging hammers, plying riv-
citing machines, working with unnatu-
raj haste.
The small railway platform is
crowded with bales. crates, boxes-ma-
terials, tools. machinery, bearing la
bels and inscriptions in half dozen
languages. These are being loaded
upon SledS by peasants unaccustomed
to the handling of such objects, who
shout and gesticulate excitedly.
Bonfires Warm Workers.
Along the tracks bonfires are blaz-
ing. and every few seconds one or an
other of the peasants rusheS up TO
warm his hands. There Is wireless
station and a Red soldier stands guard
in front of 1t.
For an instant one has the Sensa-
ton OF having run into weird. unreal
world. The defiance of nature seems so
unreaSoned, the entire picture chimer-
ical. But the illusion dies and one
Is gripped with the reality Of the spec
tacle. What one stands face TO face
with is an outpost of the Five Year
Plan, Russia'S, or more properly. Stall
ms ladder to an industrial millennium
such as hitherto had existed only in
the pages Of books on utopias.
For the past two and q half years
II will soon be three-RuSsia's 60,000,-
600 inhabitants have been living on
bread and dreams The bread is ra-
toned: the dreams are supplied in I'M
limited quantities. The bread is made
Of mixture part -four ard part com
meal. or some other cheaper substitute
for -four. OF what consistency are
their hopes and dreams?
Dreams Woven Of Steel
Three -fourths Of the dreams the
Kremlin feeds the Russian people on
consist of steel Steel in the literal
sense; steel from which plowS are
made, which goes into the construc-
ton of tanks and tractors and harvest
ing combines; steel from which ma
-.
Land and machines-these were the
two things the Russion people hungered
and prayed for under the old regime.
Lenin converted his Bolshevist coup
d'etat, which many Of his coworkerS
scarcely expected to last more than
a few months, into a stable, political
order by the simple eXpedient of CIV
ing the peasants the land they asked
for Stain has made himself dictator
though he denies being anything but
leader-by promising the Russian
people machines.
The Five Year Plan is the concrete
form this promise has taken.
Bread is not the only thing rationed
in the Soviet Union Meat and fish.
tea and sugar. next to bread the most
imported staples in the Russian home,
are rationed. Milk, eggs and butter
are rationed to children only. Wood is
TdIlODeu, SOdD IN I9tlOIlcu. JODdCCO Is
rationed. Living space Is rationed.
School privileges, at least for secondary
education, are rationed Women stand
In line for hours to obtain a kilo Of
potatoes, a litre Of kerosene. three
yards of flannel. Medical service is
rationed and there are waiting lists for
hospital beds.
These are not the only sacrifices the
Stain regime has imposed upon the
Russian people for the sake of the Five
Year Plan.
Great Sacrifices Made.
Millions of men have been dislodged
from their homes temporarily, some
permanently. Huge forests have been
cleared, marshes drained and vast
areas Of steppe and swamp put under
cultivation by armies of workmen
transported two, three or even five
thousand miles for the purpose.
Those who stayed behind have
found their regimen completely
changed. They have submitted to the
taking of their Sundays (the great
ma jority in spite Of deep-seated re-
ligious convictions) and the substitu-
ton of other days Of rest that the
work of the Five Year Plan may go
on uninterruptedly.
They have allowed their habits of
rest, amusement, sleep. to be changed.
transposed by the introduction into
many industries Of the twenty-four
hour day, which requires the employees
Of such industries to alternate regular
ly between day and night work. They
have been trained to disregard the
seasons. and construction work in open.