A GLIMPSE OF RUSSIA

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4814, 24 July 1939, Page 2

A GLIMPSE OF RUSSIA

A VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS.

POVERTY STILL PREVALENT. While he was attending Oxford University Mr. Lester Moller spent a brief holiday in Russia. In a talk to the University Association at Invercargill he gave a few personal impressions of his visit, states the Southland Daily News. ' He emphasised that he had seen only Moscow and Leningrad and he made no pretence to being an authority on a country in which he had spent little more than a fortnight as a tourist.

Two things he noticed might or might not be significant—one was the large number of cracked windows which were left unrepaired, and another was that many people went about with their heads bandaged. The climate probably accounted for the cracked windows and a form of skin disease for the bandaged heads.

Although class distinctions, had been officially abolished under the Soviet, there were marked discrepancies between the wealth and well-' being of sections of the community. Artisans receiving perhaps 150 roubles a month were certainly feeling the pinch of poverty, since such things as boots and butter were extremely dear. There was about this class of worker a dispirited air. On the other hand officials and others who belonged to the “intelligentsia” were much better off, receiving perhaps 6000 roubles a month, and able to afford motor cars, good living, and often country homes. Hotels and train carriages were classified “first category” and “second category.” The word “class” had gone, but the distinction remained.