The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-29
Gunnar Gets the Point

y
as to what the Soviet Union would
be like. When the first Soviet bat
tleship was sighted, the cooks and
everybody got out on deck and
watched the American flag on. the
Utah" dip in salute to the Bolshe-
vik flag, and the red flag return the
salute. Then th:y passed couple
more battleships anchored outside
the roads. And a bunch of cruisers
and submarines tied up off of Kron-
stadt E,ai
Not much of a Navy" remarked
the second cook TO the scullion.
NO." returned the lanky galley boy
from Maine, "otrs is much bigger
than that" ..os
"Oh, the Bolsheviks have others,
too; they got plenty more down the
Black Sea-" 5l-
Yeah, but we got two more than
them anyhow" insisted the Yankee.
Up on the saloon deck, the few
passengers left were leaning idly
over the railing, taking in this Red
scenery with funny feeling.
What's that old ship over there?"
young winchester asked the Chief
Engineer.
That? That's the Cars private
yacht; that is, the Gar which used
to be-"
What did they do; take it away
from him?"
Well, you see it tied up over
,th3re, and the Czar-he's 40 fathoms
below
Well, why are they letting it
stand there and rust like that? Why
don't they paint it over or some
,thing?"
YOUNG WINCHESTER sounded
l peeved. The fact is, he was
Z scared. He was conscious of his
/ class; he had heard so much of how
or starye in Russia that he shrank
more and more together, the cbser
the ship got to Russia. The Chief,
on the other hand, had worked in
textile mill in California as a child
of 10, Shaving 10 to IA hours day
for Is cents" as he frequently told
He was sympathetic to the Soviet
Union, and enjoyed teasing the
bankers son.
why should they paint it? All
the parasites have been cleaned out"
You think you're smart" whim-
pered the boy. He always felt self
conscious at such remarks. And the
Cadets peajacket, which he was
now wearing in order to look some
thing like worker, wasn't thick
enough to ward off such stings.
, What struck the crew was the
amount of shipping being done in
and out of Leningrad The channel
was filled with traffic, and as they
neared the docks, they could de-
scribe vessels of all nations and
descriptions There were freighters
from England, Holland, Denmark,
Norway, Esthonia, Sweden; passen-
ger ships and vacation yachts from
Germany and Sweden. Countless
barges, scows, tugs and fishing yes
sells being t. I'd and pulled. A lot
of Soviet ships with foreign sound
ing names written in indecipherable
Russian letters. There we're Soviet
whaling ships under construction,
and brand new motor-d driven freight
and passenger vessels with elevated
electric winches
"Look!" called Barney. There's
that icebreaker Krassin." You
know the time she rescued Mobile up
there in the Arctic!' :
NAVAL chasers and patrols dashed
~ in and out. Little ferries, carry
ing loads of workers, skipped by. The
women wore red kerchiefs, which
they took off and waved at the fellow
workers on the American ship. Most
of the crew were backward about
waving back; they weren't used to
such friendliness and hilarity. Be-
sides, they felt the eyes of the skip
per and mate up on the bridge, who
looked at the scene with cold, masked
friendliness.
Some good lockers, hey?' re-
marked Gunnar, pointing to a group
of young girl workers, who were
leaning happily over the railing with
their arms around each others
necks. so,, 4
Stanley nodded, his eyes atwinkie.
Women workers on ships were some
thing new to him. Say do they
have women in the deck gang, too?"
Sure" answered Gunnar WHO
wasn't sure. They even have
women mates"
ooh, boy, me for Russian ship!"
They continued passing through
Endless rows of ships, all busily load
Ing and unloading lumber, machin-
cry, hides. lead, iron ore, rags, rail-
road equipment, nelons-everything
imaginable"
"Geez" exclaimed Bobby, "thisc Is
the busiest port we've been to vet"
Probably the busiest port in Eu-
rope today" answered Shorty. s
It was pretty late by the time they
tied up and raining hard, so no-one
went ashore. At noon the next day
they heard CHEEKY voice:
Hello, fellow workers. Welcome
to the Soviet Union!" It was dele
gate from the International Sea-
mems Club Of Leningrad. He pulled
out a bunch Of English newspapers,
published In Moscow.
"A Baseball scores in there?" asked
t5lackie. 400
Eyes" smiled the delegate, "also
Ehe latest returns on the Fiye-Year
Plan. And don't forget to come over
to the Interklub tonight; there's
dance on
''Yeah?' asked the Polack, what's
1t cost to get in?"
Nothing. It's your clubp'