RUSSIAN CENSUS

Hokitika Guardian, 20 July 1936, Page 3

RUSSIAN CENSUS

PREPARING FOR TASK

MOSCOW j u i y 15 . At 8 a.m. on Jaunary 6, 1937, the Soviet Government will begin the taking of its first nation-wide census sineo 1926. and by midnight of the same day it is expected that every one of the more than inhabitants of the world’s largest country will have been enrolled by a census inspectoi. The auls of the nomadic Kirghiz tribesmen on the desert steppes, tlm frozen igloos of the Samoydes, the mountain perches of tlie fierce Caucasians, and the huts of the taiga dwellers in the Far East, are on the routes of the ■ inspectors as well as the log cabins of the myriad provincial vil lages of Russia and the apartment houses of the populous cities. The census in 1926 required seven days in the cities and 14 days in the provinces for completion, and three years to tabulate tlie results. The use of machinery is expected to make all the data available bom the 1937 census within one year. The 1926 census showed 39 per cent of'tlie populace illiterate, the existence of a large class of unemployed and 845 persons listed as private employers of labour. The new enumeration is expected to show these three classes virtually wiped out in a decade. Tlie questionnaire for tlie new census requires the persons tabulated to state their religion. Previously in then census enrolments the Soviet Government have been indifferent on this point or preferred not to reveal the extent, of prevailing religious beliefs. The 1937 figures may serve to show how successful has been the Communists’ anti-religious campaign, especially in the remoter regions. The citizen will not be required as in the past to state their social origin, but instead will put down which Asocufl or professional group” they belong to. These groups are listed as manual .workers, office workers, collectivised farmers, individual farmers, craftsmen, free professions (doctors, dentists;, and clergymen.