MODERN RUSSIA

Franklin Times, Volume XXV, Issue 57, 20 May 1935, Page 6

MODERN RUSSIA

COUNTRY FOR WORKERS. IMPRESSIONS OF VISIT. Impressions of Russia formed during- his visit there, with particular reference to the education system and schools he inspected, were given to Press representatives at Wellington by Mr. Max Riske, a Wellington school teacher, who with Mr. P. E. Warner, returned by the Makura. One did not pretend, said Mr. Rislce, that Russia to-day 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, and 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 bv 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 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 apjrearance and tended to uncover 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 weakness. 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—l:> 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. 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 bad 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. In 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-o;:ener to him. There was an intense interest in English and also 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 ex tremely 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 “Treasuse Island” were beihg translated in huge editions, excellently 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.

“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 ringers 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 iiving crowded and often in insanitary i conditions. The new houses are model | fiats in the city. The houses almost | invariably in Moscow are flats, as they | are in London. Food abounds and | prices are constantly becoming cheapj er. We saw no signs of hunger, and I would be so bold as to make the definite statement that those people 1 without sufficient food are thoroughly undeserving, lazy, and backward people, relics of the old regime.”