The Washington times., 1935-05-08

men JnTeW QOWu CIleIE picks anu
Shovels and said:
"Here come the women. Let
THEM do the work. They're
used to It,"
AS I looked about me, saw
that the women truly were the
work horses, with men busting
about harranguing them. But
the women asserted independence
occasionally, sitting down to
gnaw at hunks of black bread,
regardless of the mems shouts
and threats.
Women in factories seemed to
me to be divided into two
classes: .
First-The drudges who
cleared debris in the yard,
pushed carts of metal, car
ried heavy implements, etc.
They received the lowest of
pay and had no illusions about
lettering their lot.
Second-The sharp-tongued
"girl comrades" who were
learning to operate lathes,
stoke roasting ovens, cast
molten metal.
Dynamos of energy, they par.
rotted speeches about their
glorious part in fulfilling the
second five-year plan" To them,
was a poor American com.
rade," mercilessly oppressed by
my capitalistic bosses at home.
And they acclaimed about their
"equality"-but the fact remained
that in the zinc plant above
mentioned, few even achieved
the rank of "brigadiers"-or Of
Sub-foremen over a small "bri-
gade" of workers.
No Equality Found
My job on a state farm was
in the bakery. It was headed by
a man. Men also directed the
dining room and bath house.
Only one woman held a job Of
any Importance there.
1 looked for equality among
the brain workers. I worked in
the publishing house of the
Communist International. Girls
outnumbered men two to one;
but the men were editors, man.
ayers and translatorS, and the
girls held the clerical jobs.
With tears Of joy in her eyes,
one of the street workers Of Mos
COW told me she was to be pro-
NOTED to street car conductreSS
when an accident caused another
vacancy. How long would it take
her to work up to a job of motor
man. She was amused at my
naivete.
"But that is q responsible
post and must be held by .
man," she said.
And that is story throughout
"socialized economy"
Famine-Driven Peasants
Many of these, Street-working
women were peasants, driven from
the provinces into Moscow by
famine. They established their
families in Easements. woodsheds
and novels on the outskirts Of the
citv
They still prepared the scant
meals which were eaten at home.
But they no longer could find, or
pay for, ingredients for a days
baking. nor obtain even the meat
stock for a good pot of "boursch."
They labored seven hours:
waited at least two hours in line
for bread or kerosene, or occa-
Sionally for some such delicacy as
driel fish or yeast: and spent at
least another hour going to and
from the cooperative store.
Finally, they were obliged to
attend meetings regularly to hear
how much better off they were
than their sister in capitalistic
countries.
AS brain workers" our hours
at the Red International were
from 10 until 4:3O o'clock. That
seemed quite Utopion. After a
while had checked up and
found that on 20 days Of the
month we were expected to at
tend conferences and meetings
lasting until 10 p. m.
But, said the Russian girls,
that was all right; their homes
we're mere cubicles, without priv
acy, and they could not afford
heat, or the theater.
Such is the life of the freed"
women of Russia.
u. S. Horses Eaten
It was one of these, at the
nursery of the link plant who
mystified me one day by saying:
at must be awful in America
without horses"
I answered, not realizing the
meaning of her remark. that we
really had enough automobiles to
take the place of carriage horses
in the cities, and that of course
there were still a good many
work horses on the farms.
ooh no, there aren't" she
replied positively, "the unem-
plOyed have eaten them ALL"
The nursery superintendent
nodded in agreement-and I
thought of the many horse-meat
balls for which we had paid a
high price at workers restaurants
in the USSR.
On another day, when the super
intendent was safely out of the
way I showed the Sisters" a roto
section picture of hunger march