The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-11-16
1.-The New Russia, No. TO-
RECREATION is
BIG POINT IN
RUSSIAN LIFE
Government Great Exponent
OF Play; Opportunities
Are UneXCeIIed.
BY JULIA BLANSHARD
STAN Writer for NEA Service and The
Times, Sent to Soviet Russia Especial
" for This Series

" for This Series.
fCopvrght. 1881. NEA Service Incl
If you lived in Russia today you
would find innumerable opportun-
tiles to play. The government it.
self would make you sports con-
scious. It would offer you play
grounds and vacations and sporting
equipment as part Of its national
plan.
But it would not offer you any
thing like an amusement park. The
Soviet government begins and ends
its code Of recreation with the ques-
ton: What benefit does the citizen
get out of it2
The government has sold the
people on the idea that leisure is
given them for constructive pur-
poses. Rest and care for the sick
and tired, sports for all youngsters;
culture for every one. The govern
ment considers it Just as important
TO supply ways for workers to spend
their spare time proftably as it is
to see that the factories turn out
their quota Of goods.
Government Deadly Serious
SO deadly serious is the workers
government that it even insists that
the dog shows should be for work
ers only! The day I left Moscow
one Of the open air parks displayed
sign: "Proletarian Dog Show,
Only Useful, Working Dogs Allowed
NO Useless Pets" Dobermann-
pincers and other watch dogs, GPU
(secret police hounds, sheep dogs
and others with legitimate work to
do were admitted. I saw a medal
pinned on one dobermann-p incer
pup who could take orders in four
languages-Russian, German, Eng
lish and Norwegian
Moscow has a half million per-
cons on holiday every day in the
year, under the present plan Of one
day rest in every five.
When I visited a few of the gov
ernment-owned factory parks, scat
tered through the city, 1 saw in one
of them one single torrid twenty
four hours in August this year 100,-
600 men, women and children.
The day I arrived in Moscow
Turkey played Russia at soccer at
the Dynamo sports ground An en-
thusiastic horde of youngsters,
many of them in shorts and shirts,
were occupying the impressive new
modern stadium, built to accommo-
date 100000
Everything Is Equal
Here every summer evening,
crowds of store workers, Office or
factory employees, and students meet
to swim, compete on soccer teams,
at volley ball, track meets and
races or to join calisthenics or gym
nasium classes. The girls and boys
play on the same teams. Sex equal
ity extends to the sporting world.
You can spend a week at the Mos
COW Park of Culture and Rest" and
hardly get birds-eye view. Here
a union members buys an entrance
ticket for seven and a half cents,
but outsiders pay ten times that.
If a man or woman is tired, he
may enter a rest home for twenty
four hours, with sunbaths furnished,
quiet maintained, and meals served
in bed
A mother can check her boy or
girl at the Children's Village for 25
cents for the whole day, sure that
he will be washed, given a clean
rink or yellow apron to wear, and
his whole day supervised by experts.
He will be fed a noon meal and
given nap afterward, with a drink
of milk or chocolate at 5 o'clock.
There Are No Movie Stars
On the wide verandas built atop
the buildings thanking a river front
parkway, I passed dozens Of work
ers lounging in deck chairs reading,
chatting, or just resting. They had
a magnificent view of the river, and
the swimming park across the way.
If you lived in Russia you would
not be a personal worshiper OF
movie star. Russia has some superb
films, but the emphasis is always
upon the play and not the player.
The same rule applies to the
legitimate theater. There are a
dozen legitimate theaters in Moscow
alone. Most of the plays are con-
cerned with present-day life.
Bread" which I saw for IS cents,
showed how the Communists won
the peasants over to contributing
their quota of wheat for the city
workers. 1 saw "Passto Life" the
new movie which depicts the story
of how the government built a
commune to rehabilitate the "bea-
prisorni" homeless waifs).
Next--Justice in Soviet Russia
Courts without lawyers, workers as
judges. no legal presidents to bind
them. Murder isn't so grave, un-
less you happen TO commit