HISTORY OF SUBWAY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 210, 18 August 1934, Page 15

HISTORY OF SUBWAY

Soviet Writers’ Task A novel experiment m the compilation of a “living history” written by the workers themselves is being undertaken on Moscow’s subway, whose first line is expected to open for traffic on November 7. The 70.000 subway workers, men and women, boys and girls, have been invited to contribute material tor the history, and 200 volunteers are keeping daily diaries, while hundreds of others are jotting down occasional impressions or unusual incidents in ledgers kept for the purpose at several shaft-heads. The idea of a “workers’ history” of the “Metrostroi’’ or subway, was suggested last December by Mr Maxim Gorky, Soviet Russia’s foremost literary artist, and by Mr L. JI. Kaganovitch, Mr Joseph's Stalin’s chief assistant in tho Communist Party. A small group of professional writers was assigned to explain to workers the kind of material which would be useful and to edit- volunteer contributions. Tho history is designed to cover several volumes, and the first volume will be published on the day when the first line of the subway is opened next November. Copies will be presented to the first passengers. This volume will give an account of all previous attempts to build subways in Russia, and will cover the construction of tho first line then opened. Histories of industrial projects have been regularly written and published in tho Soviet Union. There is such a history for every large factory or plant, and for such projects as the BalticWhite Sea canal. But all previous histories bare been written by “writers’ brigades.” professional journalists who hare been assigned to tho task after the ndustria! project was finished. But on the siibwnv tho experiment is being tried for the first time of writing a history as the work proceeds, for which actual workers are recording their imnressioiis in nnrtn- mid prose.