Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-04-10

WI hC1 oOsVOV 4obASo q AAAOAaSAA'
He and his wife paraded in
heavy fur coats and drove a
horse and buggy, a great luxury
in Vorkuta. Bulbenkov called
himself "a true Communist"
The young Communist depart
ment managers, most Of whom
are graduates of the Komsomol
(the young Communist organir
zation) and of the Soviet techl
nical schools, received about
3,500-4,500 rubles a month. In
purchasing power this should
make their lot about equal to
that of the average American
worker. But they, too, were dis
satisfied.
Third of Pay for Taxes
A third of their pay went for
taxes. In addition, one Of them
told me. he had to pay 800 rubles
a month for party dues, youth
fees, etc. Room and laundry
were cheap. about so rubles a
month each, but after food and
clothes they had nothing left. In
fact, when / began receiving 100
rubles a month pay, the Red
executives borrowed money from
me.
An important factor in the
Soviet economy, which shouldn't
be underestimate, is that vodka
costs about so rubles a bottle, a
tremendous price for a very
hard drinking and poor people.
One of the department man
ayers. a member of the Commu-
mist Party, got married while I
was there. He was happy be-
cause now he could leave the
room he shared with three other
men and get room of his own.
Prisoners working in the lumber
yard made him some crude fur
niture for his home. /"
Some of the "free" people of
Vorkuta had short-wave radios
and listened to the Voice of
America, Radio Free Europe, the
West German stations and the
BIC. But most Russians are
quite ignorant of the outside
world. (The average Russian
three-tube radio can't pierce the
Iron Curtain. However, the
trusted people can buy short
wave sets. There is no law
against listening to foreign
broadcasts.)
Know of U. S. Prosperity
But there is one thing most
Russian people do know about
the world: Rumors of the pros
perity of the American worker
and the development of Western
Europe have reached every por-
ton Of the Soviet Union.
Even in propaganda films, the
Russians portray Americans as
better dressed than they are. In
Vorkuta there used to be sign:
Follow the example of Amer
lean technical genius" When I
left there were still posters:
Approach, reach, and pass cap
italist production"
The Red executives asked me
question after question about
America. What does a worker
make? How much do shoes cost?
How long do you have to work
to buy a radio? They knew the
American workers were better
off. but some Of the more stall
wart Reds called it "a bubble
that will burst"
When we get prosperity here.
1t will be forever one said. "It
may be five or six generations
more but then it will be perma-
nent. Perhaps it is not so good
here, but budit, budit-it will be,
it will be-
Hypnotic Process
Actually they try to hypnotic
themselves. When asked them:
What about life in Russia
meanwhile?" they shrugged and
conceded of the hardship: THAT
is true"
One thing they wouldn't be-
lieve was that so many Ameri-
cans had their own cars. And
they had never heard that we
had such safeguards as social
security, workmen's compensa-
ton. unemployment insurance
disqualification and. pension
plans.
They have a confused picture
OF America. They have heard
how rich the American people
are-yet they have also heard
about exploitation. Gorki's hor-
rible descriptions of our slums,
and a lot about discrimination.
Some question about the Negro
was the first thing every Rus
sian asked me. 1t hurts us badly.
They openly admitted that
there Is no freedom in Russia,
but some half-heartedly defend
this. THE government could
not control If the people had