Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-08-28
jim BISHOP:
REPORTER


The world went to war in
September, 1889, to protect the
Poles against Hitler, then
gave the country to Russia.
Poland has won and lost its
independence against strong
neighbors for centuries. Now
it has completed 10 years of
Servitude under the banner
of Soviet socialism.
WHAT is 1T LIKE? There
is a keyhole in the Iron Cur
tain. It consists of stories
buried in Polish newspapers,
items which are collected by
the Assembly of Captive Eu-
ropean Nations in New York
and, when pieced together,
permit a brief peek at Poland
today.
In March, the Communist
Clos Piracy polled hundreds of
Polish mothers about their
daily lives. The average wom-
an, according to the news
paper, arises at 4:45 am. She
makes breakfast for her fami-
ly, but rarely has time to eat.
Her job averages 7.57 hours
per day, not counting 40 min
uteS getting factory machines
ready. Time to and from work
requires l hour and IL min
utes."
Cooking for the family aver
ages hour, "a minutes on
ekdays, on Sundays, 2
hours, 16 minutes. On week
days, she stands in queues
waiting to buy food an aver
age of So minutes. "She can
not spend much time with the
older children" says Clos
Piracy. "It is enough that she
cooks, washes and darns for
them. All the women who an
Swered the poll left blank
spaces in the column Time
spent on helping with home
work and playing"
The working mother spends
a total of as minutes on lunch
and dinner. Daily grooming
takes 81 minutes. The only
time for complete personal
care is on Saturday, when the
mother uses II minutes for a
bath, shampoo, and setting of
hair. (Only one of the hun
dreds of women polled had
been to a beauty shop.)
There is also entertain
ment: Is minutes on back
fence chats, IL minutes daily
for television. Radio music is
combined with h Gus e hold
work g.. on holidays, she Wis
its friends with her family.
This comes to l hour, 81 min
uteS. How much tim e for
sleep? Six hours, % minutes.
Almost all Polish women
work, because the combined
incomes Of husband and wife
are barely sufficient to sup
port a family. Life is difficult,
but the one thing which irri-
tates the Polish mother more
than anything else is waiting
in line to get food. The Kurier
Polski published a sad poem
about it.
Socialized medicine does not
work well in Poland, where
the doctor gets a small fee at
public clinics and a bigger
one in his private office. ''Pa-
tients cannot understand why
some doctors have two faces"
writes Zycie Warszawy. Zone,
severe and repulsive in the
State clinic. The other, Lit up
with a friendly smile, in the
private reception room.
Zone does not have to
search long for the reason. It
is the money that decides,
since a certain underlined
number of doctors have decid-
ed to wax fat as soon as pos
sible. For that reason, private
care is better than Socialized
care"
Powszechny, a Polish week
ly, sympathizes with newly
weds: "Even if all available
apartments were allocated to
the newly m arri e d (Which
they are mott, SOL percent
would still be without places
of their own. Young couples
are forced to share their lives
with in-laws, or to live sepa-
rately with the respective
parents, or in student and
workers hoStels. In either
case, lack of privacy or physi-
cal separation, tends to weak
en- family bonds"
ONLY THE PARTY is per-
mitted to use loudspeakers.
They use them on streets at
all hours Of the day and night.
In the heat of summer, men
try to sleep with blankets over
their heads to shut out the
noise.
ALI Of this testimony to the
Joy Of living under Soviet so
cialism applies also to Bull
garia, Czechoslovakia, Hun
gary, Estonia, Latvia, Lith-
uania, Romania and Albania.
Copyright. 1858. King FeatureO