The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-17
An AmericanWOrker on
a Soviet State Farm
Life on Russian Collective Offers Sharp Con-
trast to Growing Misery of u S. Farmers

had won the highest honors for
good work for three years running.
She received a bonus for her extra
productivity, badge of honor and
various privileges. But she seemed
proudest of all of her badge. For
she understood what it means to be
in the vanguard of the great work
being done in the Soviet Union. To
win the title of "udar1lik" and the
honorS and privileges that go with
it, worker must not only set
high mark as a producer but he
must also show by his social activ-
ity that he knows what it is all
about. He must show that he is
worthy to be a leader in the strug-
gle to build up Socialism in the
Soviet Union.
ANOTHER worker we met had
II just returned from years
course at an agricultural college.
He had been an ordinary farm la
borer, but had shown a special in
terest and ability in farm problems.
So he had been sent away to study.
Not only were all his expenses paid,
but he received pocket money as
well while he studied, and his fam
lily were provided for during his
absence. If ever there was 'land
of opportunity" it is the Soviet
Union today. Everywhere the
search goes on for any workers
who show ability for more skilled
work. or leadership in any particu-
lar field. There is nothing to hold
down those who have. Lack of
money does not sentence a man for
life to work for which he is not
fitted, as it does in capitalist Amer
lea.
WORKING CONDITIONS
AS TO working conditions on this
farm, there was no "sun-up to sun
down and the chores in your spare
time" as on American farms The
workers all belong to the union and
have union conditions. Hours are
eight day, and every sixth day
is a day Of rest. If overtime is
sometimes necessary - at harvest
time, for instance-time and a half
is paid, and the number of hours
overtime any worker may put in
is strictly limited. Wages have been
steadily increased and now average
close to those of a Soviet factory
worker (unlike the United States
where farm wages average about
half those of factory workers, &C
cording to government statistics).
what happens to the seasonal
workers here?" I asked one of the
directors. In my mind was pic
ture of the American harvest stiff"
the jobless, penniless worker who
must bum his way on freight
trains, often for thousands of miles,
to fird at most a few months work,
after which he is back in the ranks
of the penniless city unemployed
once his small harvest earnings are
spent. 1 thought that even here it
must be pretty tough on these
workers, laid off in the fall until
they landed other jobs.
"Well, we naturally employ sew
eral hundred fewer workers in the
winter than in the summer" he re-
piled. But we never lay off a
single worker until arrangements
have been made for another Job.
So it's just a matter of changing
from one job to another"
THE future looks very black TO
striking farmers in the Ameri-
can Middle West, to harvest hands
facing a bitter winter of unemploy-
ment, to California fruit-pickers
who are terrorized and jailed il
they attempt to organize, to Negro
share-croppers in the South, to the
drought-Stricken farm populations
of Arkansas and Colorado. In fact,
the last place one would look for
optimism today is in any of the
| farm homes of America The only
toilers of the land who can look to
| the future with any such justified
confidence as the workers Of the
farm "Voskhod" are those who can
see beyond capitalism, those who
are joining hands with the work.
ing class in the struggle to over
| throw it.
STANDARDS RISING
IN U. S. S. r.