The Washington times., 1935-01-11
'BE GAY,' ORDER
:. Of D|CTATORS
To RUSSIA
Bv n. r. KNTCKERBOCKER

By H. II. KNICkERBOCkE
Copyright, 1888 By International News
Service. Reproduction In whole or part
f0rbtdden.)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, Jan.
ii I.NS3.-''Be gayH" is. the i'm.
perative order throughout the
Soviet Union today. Everybody in,
this vast country, from the Arctic
to the subtropics. and from the
Pacific to the Baltic Sea, is des-
&. perately trying to follow the or
der. And this shows what a die
tatorship means Just as much as
6hootings.
;. Here in 1vanovo-Voznezhensk,
one of the chief textile cities o.
the Union, the amusement indus
try is going full blast. In the cir.
Gus we sat with 5000 workers and
watched a bill that contained one
astonishing act. For 80 minutes
two little boy gymnasts performed
feats that would qualify them for
the best vaudeville houses in the
world.
Soviet pride emphasizes their
humane laws prohibiting child
labor. Soviet critics excoriate
the pre-war system here which
permitted women to labor at
onerous jobs.
Women Dig bitches
Today in Moscow one of the
oldest sights is the crowd of
women dressed in quilted jackets,
canvas trousers and boots, going
down into the subway to dig.
At midnight we passed a truck
in front of a subway cut in the
center of the city. 1t was loaded
with wet concrete. Two women
were shovelling it fast to get it
out before it froze.
In the ballbearing plant in
Moscow they serve their workers
with good hot meals. We ate
with the ordinary workers and
had a dish of mutton stew for
one paper rouble. That was bet
ter than anything served in the
expensive foreigners Hotel Ma
uonal. Down in front of one of
the baIlbearing plantl furnaces
we saw frail girl apprentice of
about 18 dragging red-hot steel
rings from the NAV of the
furnace.
Other AmuSements
Here in Ivanovo we walked
down streets that four years ago
were sinkholes Of mud. Today
they are paved ss well as Mos.
cows.
Roars of a lion attracted us.
Here in the cold North wild
beasts from the tropics were as.
sembled to keep the rule, "Be
gay" The menagerie drew crowds
Two tigers, three lions, a score
of monkeys. foxes, bears and the
largest wolf your correspondent
ever laid eyes on kept several
hundred Soviet citizens amused
The menagerie is one of IL
belonging to the Moscow Amuse.
ment Trust. Besides the circus
and menagerie, the 10000 Ivanovo
textile workers have two big
movie houses, three theaters and
81 clubs. They do their best to
be gay.
One citizen is not gay. He is
resigned, humorous, but not gay
He has worked as a textile worker
for 40 years. He Is 56 years old
looks 40.
He knows prewar Russia. He
knows Soviet Russia. He has been
a workman in both. He prefers
prewar Russia.
We sat in his home and lis
tened to his instructive story. A
grin played constantly over his
ruddy face and he waved his
shock of white hair like a fan
as he expatiated, without heat
to me and his family.
81 am q skilled mechanic. 1
earn 800 rOubleS a month now.
/ used to earn II gold rOubles
q month. When the revolution
called they cOnfiscated 1000
gold rOubleS had saved.
BOYS JOIN TALK
How was I able to save
1000 gold rOubles? Very simple.
1t only took about rs rOubles
q month to live then, and live a