MODERN RUSSIA

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 89, 15 April 1935, Page 10

MODERN RUSSIA

COUNTRY FOR WORKERS

IMPRESSIONS OF VISIT

MR. EISKE EETUKiMS

Impressions of Russia formed during his visit there, with particular reference to the education system and schools he inspected, were given to Press representatives today by Mr. Max Riske, A Wellington school teacher, who with Mr. P. E. Warner, re^ turned by the Makura. One did not pretend, said Mr. Riske, -that Russia today was a paradise without inefficiency in many of its works, but one did definitely make the statement that it was a country where only useful working people could live. Moreover, Russia was making greater progress'in social, intellectual, arid economic life than any country in Europe they saw. Mr. Riske's visit to Russia was the result of his election to represent the Friends of the Soviet Union. Mr. Warner was selected and financed by the men in the Hutt and Otahuhu railway workshops. They left Wellington in October.

Mr. Riske said he spent some time in England. He also visited Holland and Germany. Eight weeks were spent by him in Russia, and Mr. Warner was in the country not quite so long. While in Moscow Mr. Riske took ill and was confined to his hotel | for a fortnight, during which time he had a number of visitors, including Miss Louisa Todd, of Invercargill, who has been teaching in Russia for three years, and Mr. H. ("Dido") Millar, a New Zealand miner, who was well known in Waihi in pre-war days. It was very difficult to give briefly one's general impressions of Russia, said Mr. Riske. He said he saw Russia under winter conditions, which naturally gave the place a drab appearance and tended to unco.ver any weaknesses in the whole organisation of the country. That he considered was an advantage, as it was not possible to gloss over living conditions there. The Russians were extremely honest about their ways of living, and made no attempt to hide any weaknesses. No restrictions whatever were placed on his seeing any phase of the life of the-country, except the necessity of obtaining permits—as one would .expect in any country—to visit factories, schools, etc. Unfortunate as'it was that he was overtaken by sickness, caused by the extreme cold, it was of advantage, in that being confined to Moscow he .was able to see various phases of educational life in the town.

VISITS TO SCHOOLS

Mr. Riske said he asked to see schools of various types, which the authorities were quite agreeable for him to do. The first school he visited was of a very inferior nature, as he had requested. No attempt was made to guide him to the show places. He also visited some of the best schools in the city, and found that, the knowledge of teaching, organisation, and care of children was of the highest possible order. • In every. school the health of the children was in the hands of medical practitioners and nurses, specially attached to the staff. Iri any case of sickness, under-nour-ishment; or anything of that kind the greatest care was taken to remedy the defects. There-were"dining-rooms in the schools, where ample meals were served to the children at a very cheap price. All round, the children seemed very well fed, well clothed, and an extremely happy, laughing lot. Physical culture was almost a mania, the children taking, as keen an interest as adults in the care of the body and the development of it to the highest pitch.

Great attention, continued Mr. Riske, was being paid to the study of the English language, which had become the alternative foreign language for all children over the age of twelve. The standard of teaching among the students he met. was very high, their speech, and their knowledge of English literature being an eye-opener to him. There was an intense interest in English from a technological point of view and also from the point of view of literature. English classics, as well as the more popular novels, were being translated in great numbers. Shakespeare and Dickens were extremely popular, even more so, he should, say, than in Britain. Every night in the week there was a Shakespearean play on somewhere in Moscow. The popularity of Shakespeare was remarkable. Children's literature, such as Kipling's "Just So" stories and Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" were being translated in huge editions, excellenty bound and printed. Contrary to common belief, there was a tremendous interest in literature as such rather than literature from the point of view of politics.

PLAYS AND FILMS.

"I had the privilege of seeing some extremely fine films and plays," said Mr. Riske, ''the acting being universally of an extraordinary high standard and the theatres invariably being crowded. I would have seen more plays had I been able to. book ahead —an absolute necessity in Moscow if you wish to get a seat. The night before I left Moscow I heard "Rigoletto" sung by an excellent company, and the performance was perfectly staged. The Opera House was crowded out half an hour before the performance commenced, and at least 60 per cent, of the audience was under 21. I was astonished to see the younger children, of 14 and 15 years of age, crowding to the stage to applaud the singers at the end of the performance.

"As far as living conditions are concerned, it cannot be claimed that the average Moscow housing can compare with the average housing,in this country. Rapidly as' they are rebuilding the town, it is impossible for them to keep up in the immediate present with the tremendous increase of population. Under the new housing, the conditions are definitely good, but in the older houses people are living crowded and often in insanitary conditions. The new houses are model flats in the city. The houses almost invariably in Moscow are flats, as they are in London. Food abounds and prices are constantly becoming cheaper. We saw no signs of hunger, and I would be so bold as to make the definite statement that those people without sufficient food are thoroughly undeserving, lazy, and backward people, relics of the old regime."

CROWDS IN STORES,

Wages had been increased by 10 and 25 per cent. In the last few months, and the abolition of the bread ticket, which had occurred on January 1, had made the whole of the food supplies and the buying of the staple food very much easier, and had raised the cultural level of that side of life. In the stores, which had been opened to such a great extent in the last two years, they saw. crowds of people buying all manner of things, and seemingly they had plenty of money to spend on the necessaries of life. The quality of goods did not reach the high standard of Western countries in some respects, but it was constantly improving, and they saw some goods in every way up to the standard to which they were accustomed.