The Washington times., 1935-11-19
RED W0RKMEN
GAZE IN AWE
AT VISITORS
ARTICLE v
BY MICHAEL BURSTEEN
Shock Brigadier of the Five-Year
Plan in Soviet Russia and
Formerly a Commander

Formerly Commander
in the Red Army
OF all the delegations which I
helped to welcome I shall describe
as typical that of a Swedish group
Of labor leaders. An orchestra
was playing the Internationale,
and it obviously made a deep i'm
preston upon the visitors.
Banners with inscriptions in
honor of the guests and Of Com.
rade Stain, leader of the world
proletariat," were flying. One of
the visitors responded to the ad-
dress Of welcome made by our
Communist boss. The interpreter
translated it for us:
What I see here with my own
eyes has no equal in the whole
world. I see that in your Soviet
Union the workers are the owners
and masters of the factories. If
we could only achieve such prog
reSs in Sweden!"
Hes a Plain FOOP'
A slight smile appeared on the
faces Of many Of my comrades.
But it was a smile with an under
coating Of venom. A rank-and-
file Communist poked me in the
side and whispered:
"Misha, do you believe that he
really said that, or is the inter
prefer lying? And If he did, he
is a plain fool"
We had learned the trick Of
keeping our mouths closed and
muttering through our teeth. Our
master Of ceremonies resumed his
speech. He pointed out to us some
of the delegates with the words:
"You see, these men are unem-
ployed in Sweden. There are
thousands like them over there.
They are in despair and are starv-
Ing at a time when all our men
are employed, because the work
ers have the power in our land"
"Hurrah for Stain"
And he concluded with the ex.
clamationS: Long live the govern
ment Of the workers and peasants!
Long live our great leader, Com
rade Stalin!"
The thousands of us knew the
signal. We arose shouting, 'thur-
rah!" We gave the guests stormy
ovation. We cheered Stalin'a name.
Our enthusiasm" clearly i'm
pressed the Swedes. But in our
midst, in our own way, we were
stirred to different expressions.
"Unemployed!" conrad
sneered. "Just look at them!"
Many mutterings cchced the re-
mark.
IF that is how the unemployed
fare in Europe, then things are
not as bad there as they tell uS!"
Yes, look at their Shoes!"
They are baronS, not workers."
And what cigarettes they are
smoking!"
"Vanya, ask one of them for a
cigarette" whispered a comrade
to another. "I haven't tasted real
tobacco in long time"
mo, there is fine for begging
from foreign comrades!"
Back to Work, Hungry
One of our functionaries on the
platform noticed our whisperings.
He shot sharp glance in our
direction. 1t had its effect. The
orchestra began to play. The Wis.
itors were leaving in a festive
mood.
Heavy of heart and crushed in
spirit we dragged ourselves, many
on empty Stomachs, to our jobs.
We passed huge poster showing
a fat capitalist in a silk hat
smoking a trick cigar. The in
scription said that the capitalist
had been compelled by the de-
preston to close his factory. One
OF our boys wise-cracked:
Look. comrades, there is the
owner of a factory: and here I
am, also the owner of a factory!
He had to shut down his factory
because of the crisis; I did not
have to shut my factory down,
and it is working day and night.
But the other fellow is smoking
a good cigar and I am standing
in line, exhausted and hungry,
to receive a package Of foul to-
bacco as gift for putting on
q CoOd ShOyuD
The man poured out all the
bitterness that was in him. All
of us felt it whenever foreign
visitors cam to the plant and
went away without ever looking
into our real life. We had but
one wish, one hope, but we dared
not utter it.
"If the world only knew the
truth! It is high time that It
should know something Of our
fearful Suffering!"
LII Ha,,w1 IL lA~n