HOW RUSSIANS LIVE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25177, 7 May 1947, Page 7

HOW RUSSIANS LIVE

British Reporters’ Impressions

CONDITIONS IN SOVIET CAPITAL (Special Correspondent N.Z.PA.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 6. A number of British newspaper correspondents who attended the conference of Foreign Ministers are now busy writing about their visit to Moscow and those parts of Russia they were able to reach. Balanced against each other, these impressions form an interesting picture of conditions in the Russian capital. Without exception, the correspondents who have already summarised their views express the opinion that there was no discernible desire for war among the ordinary Russians with whom they came in contact. They likewise agreed, however, that there is general ignorance of conditions outside Russia and that the views end opinions of the ordinary Russian are largely, if not entirely, dominated by the views of the Government press and radio.

The correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” speaks of the “stupendous mass build-up” of Lenin as the founder of the Soviet State, and described the “wide-eyed, spell-bound listeners” who attend lectures in the Lenin Museum, where every possible article of personal possessions, furniture, or clothing connected with Lenin is displayed. After pointing out that Lenin s words, “Religion is the opium of the people.” are still displayed in this museum above the spot where the ikon was torn from the wall, this correspondent says it is true there is reasonable freedom of religious worship in Stalin’s Russia, but that this worship is under close surveillance. It is, however, freedom of worship only-re-ligious instructibn and proselytising are forbidden. This means that though many of the older generation of Russians remain devoted to the Church, the younger generation cannot be taught to carry on the faith. “Spies Attend Services” It is also true, this correspondent says, that while there is freedom of worship there is also complete freedom to indulge in anti-religious propaganda. The correspondent says that he himself saw a man described as a police spy, photographing people entering a Moscow church, and he found that police spies regularly attended Roman Catholic services and reported, upon them. In the Roman Catholic Church of St. Louis, all the sermons must be preached in English, French, and Russian, and must be read from a manuscript in case there is argument about the text. The correspondent of the * News Chronicle” says that while all the signs seemed to him to indicate that the Russian people dreaded and detested the thought of another war, there was no doubt it was not what the people wanted, but what the regime wanted, which would prevail. There was also no doubt that means existed by which the regime could persuade the people to reach almost any conclusion officially decided upon. The chief preoccupation of the Government, however, is undoubtedly the progress of the present five-year plan and its determination to make up the ground lost as a result of the war. While the present sense of emergency lasts in Russia it is probably useless to expect the Russian Government to care very much about what is happening in countries outside the Soviet Union. Later, when the strain has been relieved, the regime might be more anxious to make friends in the west. The correspondent comments upon the earnest conviction of the majority of the Russians that unanimity is a most desirable state of mind. He was frequently assured that the most wonderful thing about Russia was that there were no differences of opinion anywhere. Divergence of Incomes The correspondent of the "Daily Herald,” who visited Moscow last 20 years ago, said that although" he was frequently assured that there were no social classes in Russia, there were certainly a lot of people who were ragged, appallingly ill-housed, and obviously under-nourished, and there were equally obviously a few who were very well fed, well housed, well clad, and able to eat, drink, and amuse themselves in extremely expensive restaurants. He found the divergence of incomes astonishingly wide, varying between 275 roubles a month for a woman street worker to 40,000 roubles a month for a lawyer or a doctor with a good practice. The old ideas of levelling incomes were regarded as anathema in Russia. A recent article in the official newspaper “Bolshevik” described it as a “petty bourgeois notion of Socialism.” To-day great inequalities of income were defended as a powerful instrument in increasing production; in other words, as incentive. He found the gap between the new rich and the new poor in Russia not merely one of income but one of privileges, for all the higher paid groups obtained important privileges as well as more money.