LIFE IN RUSSIA

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 282, 13 November 1929, Page 4

LIFE IN RUSSIA

THE COMMUNIST PARADISE

MINERS’ EXPERIENCES.

Accounts of the attractive conditions in Soviet Russia have appeared in the New Zealand papers written by local Communists, which strictly follow the line propaganda issued from Moscow. Recently a mineowner in Kent sent two Communist miners, together with a schoolmaster friend, to Russia on the understanding that if they decided not to stay in that country they would give a truthful account of their experiences on their return. On September 22 these men at a meeting of their fellow miners described some of their experiences. Bitter Disappointment.—All three men expressed bitter disappointment with what they had seen. Mr. W. Roome, a miner, said that on arrival in Moscow, although they were ravenously hungry, they could not eat the food, which comprised chunks ot beef, through which a steel skewer was passed to roast it, black bread, and water. Revolting Sights.—“We saw a sight that made us turn cold,’’ he continued. “So revolting was it, in fact, that it was indescribable. Cripples and aged beggars of both sexes were standing, sitting, or lying on the pavements, or in the gutter. We felt that a Government which preached the brotherhood of men and spent enormous sums on spreading propaganda abroad would do much better with that money in looking after its aged cripples and infirm.” They saw bread queues where thousands stood from morning to night to obtain their daily ration. “The housing accommodation is very bad,” Mr Roome declared, “and in some cases the families live and sleep in one room. There are many thousands of unemployed in Moscow. Sanitation is dreadful, and there are flies by the million.”

Life in the Mines.—Describing a visit to a mine in the neighbourhood of Artinovst, Mr. Roome remarked: “On oui way through the village we were shown shacks, which we were told used to house the miners in the old days, and the officials who were conducting us told us that they were kept standing as a reminder to the people of bygone times. On going a little further we saw exactly the same shaeks occupied by miners, thereby leading me to believe that they took us to be green.” Communists Awakening. — Eggs were lid each, butter was 4/- per lb., the soling of a pair of boots cost 10/6, and a bicycle £3O. On a visit to the new economic mines, forty miles from Artinovst, engineers told them that the men were working for nothing that day, the money going to the Government for industrialisation purposes. The average output per collier was three tons, and this had to be obtained before the minimum wage was reached. Should less be produced, their wages were reduced in proportion. Mr. John Crane, another working miner and an avowed Communist, described their visit to a coal mine near Artinovst. After descending 300 feet, he said, they came to a hole about a yard square in the ground, down which they had to slide on their backs. They had not gone far before Roome said to him, “Crane, I am not going further.” They asked the guide how many hours a day the miners worked in this pit. He replied, “Six hours,” and he (Mr. Crane) commented. “British miners would not work there for three hours.”

Referring to the loose marriage laws. Mr. Crane remarked that they all could have been married while in Russia. The marriage could have been continued for the duration of their visit, and then dissolved. Swarms of Beggars.—Mr. Southan, headmaster of Eythorne School, near Dover, who accompanied the miners, said that they found food very dear in Russia. “While waiting for their meals,” he added, “they observed beggars come into the restaurant and take scraps of food and even bones left on the tables. “We had sometimes to step over prostrate starving people lying on the pavements,” he continued. “Hundreds of poor, ragged beggars line the streets and able bodied men were selling flowers in the gutters. The men’s pay in the mines was 4} roubles per day, which purchased less than three shillings worth of food. Everyone seemed to hate MacDonald and all were expecting England to fight Russia.”