The Washington times., 1935-01-05
BY H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
Copyright, 1885, by International News
Service. Reproduction in Whole
or Part FOFbidden)

Service. Reproduction in Whole
or Part FOrbidden)
MOSCOW, Jan. 5.-After II
years of the dictatorship of tn:
Proletaria, a Soviet workman, fo1
whom the Soviet government was
founded, and for whom the Gov
ernment is doing everything with
in its power, has to work a mini
mum of II hours to obtain the
same amount Of food an American
workman can obtain for a maxi
mum Of four hours work.
This comparison Of the wage OF
the Soviet workman with that of
the American and their respective
purchasing power has to do with
food alone. The cost of rent, cloth
ing and other necessities is an.
other matter, and in the absolute
cost of rent the Soviet workman
pays much less than the Amer.
ican.
OkuCE OGuC1ItS AAu
Social insurance and other ben
efits provided outside his budget
also play a role for the Soviet
workman. But for the moment
1t is an actual fact that for his
food alone. for just enough to keep
him comfortably going. he has to
render more than four times more
labor than his American equva-
lent.
1t is practically impossible to
strike a statistical average for
prices in the Soviet Union, but it
Is quite possible to let the aver
age go and investigate what the
position of the Soviet workman
would be in regard to how many
labor hours he has to spend for
food under the most favorable cir.
cumstanceS.
The position in regard to food
prices in the Soviet Union is that
there are, roughly speaking, five
sources of food. The first is the
So-called "Torgsin" stores, where
plentiful supplies of everything
may be bought for foreign cur
cency or for gold or silver.
The second source is the fac
tory kitchens which serve hot
meals to the workers.
Commercial Stores
The third source is the so-called
commercial stores, run by the
government or by cooperatives,
wherein anyone may buy for
paper rubles. These stores are
precisely like our own foodshops
save that they are governmental
with prices fixed according to
plan.
The fourth source is the ba-
Zaars or open markets where
peasants from the collective farms
come to sell whatever commodi-
ties they may have left over
after they have delivered their
taxes in kind to the government.
Prices on these bazaars follow
closely the prices in the CONNER
cial stores.
The fifth source, and still the
most important for Soviet work
men, Is the so-called "cloSed co.
operatives" selling only in limited
quantities to workmen and their
families employed in the factory
or other enterprise which runs the
"closed cooperative.
These closed cooperativeS differ
widely in their supply of food and
other goods. The best are the
ones for the Red army and for the
employees Of the commissariat of
the interior, the police ministry
(until recently called the G. P. u
and for the upper class of govern
ment employees. Eventually the
government hopes to abolish the
multiple system and route all So
Wet food and goods through the
commercial stores, with the same
price to all citizens.
Prices Are Quoted
Closed cooperative prices in the
store of the great ball-bearing fac.
tory named after Kaganovich, on
the outskirts of Moscow, show the
cost of food to the most favored
workers. The choice of the ball.
bearing factory is significant be,
cause it is a pride of the Soviet
Union and it's cooperative is one of
the best with the cheapest prices.
AS may be seen from the table,
the ball-bearing factory worker
would pay roubles 1882 for his bas-
ket of provisions. The average
pay of industrial workers through
out the Soviet Union was roubles
148.47 a month, according to the
latest trades unions statistics, but
add another ten per cent for the
raise that accompanied the switch
of bread and flour to the CONNER.
cial shops, and we get an average
Of roubles 1881. Add another
ten per cent to that for the privi-
legged position of the ball-bearing
factory and we get an average
wage Of roubles 1884. Call it
ITO roubles a month or 2,04O
roubles a year.
Average working time in the
Soviet Union is seven hours a
day, but owing to their six-day
week system, the average mum.
ber Of hours worked per year is
about 2,100. So average pay is
a little less than a rouble an