Evening star., 1933-05-07

THE hotel In Leningrad was second rata
but sufficiently comfortable. me
hotel in Moscow, advertised as having
excellent bed rooms and views, six ele-
vators and q roof dining room seating
1000 persons, fell q bit short in that
there were only two elevators ready, and
the dining room was unfinished. In
the one we used there was plethora Of
flies, no window screens and not even
hy-paper. The hotel in Kiev was gener-
ally inexcusable.
My stay in Russia was profitable but
not happy. Just as sure as lost myself
in beauty something painful would In
trude.
In a.large food factory serving great
region Of workers, We saw three dining
rooms, one for the $50 employees; one for
workers with low wages who seemed
mostly to be eating rich soup, and one
for the better paid, where the tables
had white cloths and attractive china.
One worker said, desperately:
what am to do? I earn ruble and
a half day. I come here and eat it up
and am still hungry and have nothing
for shoes and clothes"
Yet in the same factory another wom-
an told us that the Soviet had given her
a happiness she had never before known.
She and her husband were each getting
200 rubles a month. They had a big
room. She left her child in school all
day, sure that he would be well fed and
well taught. Her husband, who had
never been able to get an education, now
could study.
What minded most was the bread
lines. I saw them in Baku in 1920, and
in IL years the Soviet had not found q
way of abolishing this drain on the ener-
gies Of the workers.
Visiting markets and churches was
not part Of our routine, but went when
I was supposed to be resting. Some Of
the traders I saw were pathetic Gre
atures trying to exchange a few potatoes
for a threadbare coat, or a couple of
shabby dresses for a pair of shoes. But
there were touches of prosperity, people
selling white bread or butter for plenty
Of rubles. One man said he would
rather buy in the open market when he
could afford it, as he had been over.
charged in certain government stores.
In Leningrad we visited an admirable
clinic which took care of people who,
in the old regime, would have been left
to die. One of the Russian tourists asked
a tubercular looking man what was
wrong with him, and he replied:
Hunger. The job was on ended three
days ago. I went next day and was In
line four hours at the employment bu-
reau. They said they had nothing and
to return next day. So I didn't eat.
Yesterday went and they said to come
back. When went today and they said
come back tomorrow, tainted. They
brought me here and when I came to
myself asked the nurse if she couldn't
give me something to eat. She said, MY
poor man, I have nothing for myself.'-
The Russian girl offered him two
rubles, but he refused them. IF took
the money" he said, "they would think
had stolen it for they know I have no
work."
HERE certainly isn't liberty in Russia,
and apparently equality is not ex-
pected in the first stages of Communism.
From each according to his ability; to
each according to his work" is the
slogan. Some day it may be: From each
according to his ability; to each accord
ing to his needs" Perhaps am wrcng
in deploring the heaviness of the pftce
the people are paying children who
don't laugh enough, the men who fail at
the machines not from stupidity, but