The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-20
Breaking Down the Old Barriers

Chicago. But it is more than Chi
cago, it is the capital of an enor-
nous country. At one end of the
stretch of wall that has Just been
torn down stands the Peoples Com
missariat of the Interior building,
at the other end is the building of
the Peoples Commissariat of Heavy
Industry.
Furthermore, MOSCOW, unlike Chi
cago, has more than doubled in size
since 1926.
So there is here both housing
and traffic problem. With in
dustry booming, great crowds strug-
gle through the narrow, medieval
alleys, Moscow's famous "pereuloks.
Moscow's millions of workers have
money, unlike the workers of cap
italist cities, and they surge in
masses to the stores to do their
shopping
Now, imagine what even Chicago
with its broad streets, with its busi-
ness ruined by the crisis, would be
like if there were a solid brick wall
fifteen feet thick starting from the
Public Library, running down West
Madison Street to Houston Street,
then south to Roosevelt Boulevard,
then at an angle toward the loop,
and through it, and up to the water
'front.'
The wall had to come down.
Palace of Culture
Where the enormous Palace OF
Culture, with its meeting rooms for
thousands of workers, with its null
titude of class and study circle
rooms, with it's buffets and Chill
dren's city" stands in the ''Prole-
(, tartan District" of Moscow, there
was until recently an ancient dark
walled monastery The most dis
tinctive tower is all that is left
of the monastery, and that tower
has become an integral part of the
Palace of Culture grounds.
That is the way it has been 60
ing since the Chapel of the Iberiar
Virgin was removed from the main
entrance to the Red Square several
years ago, and room made fol
millions to march on May Day anc
Nov. Z. Whatever of the old is Of
real historical value, they find some
way to save. Moscow workers are
SO careful of real archaeological anc
traditional things that they ever
leave the gilded Czarist eagles or
the spires of the Kremlin. But The
Chinese Walls, the Sukharevsk!
Towers, and such like nuisance
have to get out of the way.
The rebuilding of the city is goinl
on at tremendous pace, and will
remarkable little injury to the olde
city. The new subway, the frs
stretch of which has already beef
tested and will be open soon, wa
tunneled under squares and street
and buildings, in straight lines un
der a city that is built like cart
wheel with streets like the spoke
and tire of the wheel, like severa
tires, to be more exact, and not
building collapsed. Only some o
the smaller ones, doomed anywa
to make room for more moder1
structures, were torn down.
I was here during most of tn
subway building period. and all tina
one could see of the construction
job, project in which more cubi
feet of concrete we're poured thai
even at Dnieprostroy, the bigges
dam in the world, was the pres
ence of some AZ board fences aroun
the chief shafts of the subway
That, and the thousands of worker
pouring in and out of these en-
closures.
Wider Streets
The streets downtown are bein
widened and Strengthened. Along
side are going up fine new build
ings. in a new kind of architectur
for Moscow, a distinctive architec
ture. They are not skyscrapors, 70
Moscow has not good bedrock I'm
derneath to support very tall struc