SOVIET RUSSIA

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 92, 12 January 1929, Page 11

SOVIET RUSSIA

■'Sir—ln your issue of January S you Miblish a summary of an address by Bishop Bury in which the good Bishop mates predictions of an "early and drastic change, in Russia,” Such predictions have been made so many times for the last ten or eleven years that even the ■worst enemies of Soviet Russia must look upon them as. mere expressions of hope. The predictions of the. Bishop are based as far as one can learn on the concluding statement which he makes; ?’The great danger was the food shortage. Absence of food brought down the cld regime and it would bring down the present regime .unless a mn'U.cle happened'.” I suppose the Bis’aop concluded the “age of miracles is. past, hence we must expect the “early and drastic change” as the. result of this ■“food shortage.” It seems hardly correct to question the truthfulness ot a Bishop, but facts compel one to do so. I have just returned from a visit to Soviet Russia which lasted over three months, from July to the end of October last year. I saw no signs of food shortage there. I was well fed during the whole of the time and visited many street restaurants (co-operative) in Moscow, Tula, Kharkov, Dinepropstrosk, btalino, Sevastopol, Odessa and Kiev, (ihe last seven towns are the central cities of the Ukraine and the Crimea, stretching frbm Moscow to the Black Sea.) The selection of food in the restaurants, allowing, for national differences, left nothing to be desired, and the price ot a substantial meal not more than a rouble (25.) in any one of them. The same meal could be procured in the co-opera-tive restaurants of the factories by the workers for approximately half the price, “45 to. 50 kopeks.” The Russian workers and peasants are to-day consuming huge quantities of bread made from white flour, also 'butter and cheese, Itior to the revolution white bread and nutter were practically unknown amongst them. The increasing consumption ot dairy produce means that any slight disorganisation of transport sometimes results in a shortage and even queues, but not because ol an actual shortage but because of the difficulty of keeping the grain and dairy production, up to the increasing demand- ...... The grain question; which is really the peasant question, remains the greatest difficulty with which the Soviet, Government is faced. Yeii the following figures are an indication that the 9M Acuities are being overcome. Takin o at 100 (since that was the year in which industry sunk to its lowest point), w can make the following comparisons of the position to-day; production of yheat in ,the Soviet Union 36 a, in the United States 107, England 7C>, Germany 112. The same applies to the production of rye. The output of manufactured goods shows even a greater difference. - The total output of agricultural produce is shown as follows: — 1

(*ln millions of roubles at pre-war Pl The value of the output of industry is as follow: 1024-25, 5000 million roubles; 1925-20, 6900 million roubles; 1926-27, 7600 million roubles; 1927-28, 8900 million roubles. , , The real wages of the workers have increased as follow: 1922-23, 49.3 per cent, of 1913 standard; 1923-24, 67,1; 1924-25, 82.6; 1925-26, 93,7; 1926-27, 105.3. . -097 The average working day was in, 1921, 7hr/26min.—in 1913 it was 9hr. 36mm. At the beginning of this year the sevenhour day is to be universal throughout Russian industry, with six hours for mine workers and even less for dangerous occupations. ' ■ y In addition the Russian workers have enormous benefits' in "the way of free social-insurance, education, holidays, free medical attention, rest homes, low rents (free housing in many industries, such as mining), working clothes supplied, and a thousand and. one other concessions, as well as a high level of social life provided by the workers’ clubs, in-

door and outdoor, of which every trade union and many factories make available. It may be objected that the figures for production are Russian, but we can refer to the League of Nation’s figures; we find that, taking 1913 as 100, that the total production for Europe ip 1926 equals 95, a drop of 5 per cent, as compared with 1913. For Europe, including the Soviet Union, the index for 1926 is 100. This shows that while Europe is still 5 per cent, below the pre-war level the Soviet Union is so far above it that its inclusion raises the index from 95 to 100 for the whole of Europe. These figures’and my own observations combined with the observations of thousands of independent persons all over the world dispose of the bishop’s notions of “terrible’priva.tions,” In . the course of his address the bishop makes several other remarks which equally expose his ideas as to what, is taking place in Russia. « My experience in passing through factories and mines of Soviet Russia is that the Russian worker’s faith in the Soviet Government is absolute. The Russian 'Worker takes an active part in the control of industry and is pfoud of the increase of production about the pre-war level and the material gains to himself as the result of the revolution. Difficulties exist and they are not small, but they are, in the main, due to the isolated position in which the workers’ republic is placed by surrounding capitalist powers. Russia needs machinery but will not get credits, so must depend on herself alone. Workers’ rule- exists and there are illustrations of what it means on all sides. This is what the bishop and those like him regret. This is the cause of their gloom. One of them—Dr. Hagberg Wright—returned from the Tolstoy anniversary celebrations (in an article in the London “Times;” October 31, 1928) in which he bewailed the fact that “Carriages and their elegant occupants have disappeared”—-along with “well-dressed women in rich furs,” etc., says the following: “Only in the public gardens in the various parts of Moscow could one escape the prevailing air of gloom, for these are well cared for, and sand-hills are provided for the' children. Many gardens have also been added to the city from confiscated demesnes, and several waste places reclaimed and the boulevards adorned with flower beds. Another innovation worthy of note is the opening of workmen’s and peasants hostels where a man may get bed and food, either free of all payment, or for a very small sum for some days while ho goes about his business, or seeks, legal advice which is all given free, and for which there is considerable demand in consequence of the redistribution of the land. Noteworthy, too, are the creches enabling mothers to deposit their babies while they work or while they visit the cinemas.” Surely a horrible picture, a suggestion that aristocracy and the privileges of the wealthy have faded. There are many other innovations in Soviet Russia which were overlooked by the doctor, and space forbids me to detail. I may say- that returned Russians, who speak English,, are to- be found in many factories and mines, and nowhere did they express a desire to return to England or America. I made my own investigations without interference.—I am, etc., R. F. GRIFFIN. Wellington, December 11.

Year, 1013 Output. . 11,700 . 6,000 .Cattle.* 84,300,000 57,300,000 1024-25 . 10,203 71,800,000 1027-28 (Eat.) . 13,180 88,600,000