SOVIET RUSSIA

Southland Times, Issue 21728, 14 June 1932, Page 6

SOVIET RUSSIA

SOUTHLANDER’S VISIT STUDY OF EDUCATION SYSTEM A NATION AT WORK Interesting and candid impressions of a visit to Russia were contained in a Iter written to an Invercargill resident by Mr George Ashton, formerly a teacher at Stewart Island who went Home under the exchange of teachers system. Mr Ashton writes as follows:— Our party went to Russia primarily to make some study of the education system, but we soon discoverea that this branch of the State’s work was so closely connected with all social and economic life that it was necessary for us to study factories, theatres, cinemas, schools for adults, museums, art galleries, kindergartens—in short, everything which could be seen or found—since it appears as a truism that the Communist Party of Russia is making a valiant attempt to put 160 millions of people to school—the population of one-sixth of the earth’s surface, and a people who, previous to the revolution, were absolutely illiterate to the extent of 60 to 70 per cent. Some people go to Russia only to return with the statement that the U.S.S.R. is in a moss. And they are right. That is, the streets are dirty and in need of repair; there are no gay shops or beautifully dressed men or women. Trams and buses are jammed worse than any tin of sardines. Everything needs a coat of paint with tons of disinfectant thrown in, especially on the railways, which are slow, out-of-date and unpunctual. All food is rationed at the State and co-operative shops, while that found in the few remaining markets and private trading establishments is abominably dear. Housing is inadequate, everybody understands the meaning of overcrowding, and, according to our standard, is rather poorly dressed. But Russia is at work. A seven hour day for five days and then one day off is the maximum working week in all industries, which are truly belching smoke 24 hours a day under a system wherein every worker you meet is keen on the job; who is tightening his belt, who knows it,, and who is firmly convinced he is building economic foundations for himself and not for the boss.

So I think, too, that Russia is in a mess, but would say that it is in the kind of mess we all get into sometimes when we get really busy. The man or woman who is working out a brainwave always gets his study in horrible disorder. To you and me that is a mess. To him it is a glorious mess which doesn’t matter. So I think it is with Russia. The Schools. Of schools in Russia not much has been written. This is a pity, since Lenin’s statement that “A revolution is not a revolution unless it carries its best work out with the children,” is certainly being carried into effect. Every school is attached to a factory farm or office, all school work being related to the life and labour there, to an understanding of what the Communist Government is doing. Geography is the study of the sources of all the minerals, etc., needed to produce a tractor; history a study of revolutionary thought. Boys and girls are taught together in schoolroom and factory, are given direct sex education in mixed classes, and a full knowledge of the physiology of reproduction by the dissection of cats, frogs, rats etc. The teachers claim that with the younger generation who have been brought up entirely on these lines, there is no “sex question” whatsoever. All schools we saw had at least one full time doctor and nurse; dental inspection was made four times a year. In one school I examined about 100 children’s mouths and every one had a most marvellous set of teeth. Nearly all children have at least one meal at school in the dining-room, run by the parents who take it in turns to prepare and serve the food. In one school this parents’ committee was elected by the children—two parents from each class. Some people, of course, say that the visitor is taken only to a few show places, that you are carefully shepherded round, but I really do not think there is anything in this. Naturally you cannot get a look at the secret police “doing their stuff,” just as Scotland Yard works on the quiet or as the third degree methods of the American police, are not open to the public gaze. Marriage and Divorce. Going by what we were told, marriage is as easy as divorce, except that no two persons may have a marriage registered unless certificates of good health are produced. In the event of a divorce, the husband or wife must give one third of his or her wages to the custodian of the children. A woman gets eight weeks on full pay bsfore, and the same period after the birth of a child, with free medical attention. Nurseries and creches abound everywhere for the mother to leave the child while she is at work. If husband or wife desires to remain at home to look after the domestic arrangements instead of going to work, there is no food ticket for that member of the family. Neither is there one for any servant you may employ, since the hard rule, “Those that do not work, neither do they eat,” goes in full measure whether you have “money to live on” on not. I had a yam with a man by the name of Wickstead who went out to Russia in 1921 with the Quaker relief and who has spent the last ten years working among the young people of Moscow. He said that the “new morality” had been one of the biggest experiments Russia had made, that there had been many gains and many losses, but that in his opinion, the former had outweighed the latter. This, coming from a Quaker, must mean a great deal. Theatres, cinemas, museums and galleries always seem to be crowded. One night I went to the State Opera House in Moscow to &ee “Othello” as an opera. A seat at 15/- was the cheapest obtainable. Every seat was occupied and not one evening dress stood out I from the dullness of working clothes. I At 7.30 the doors closed and if you I were late—well you were late and that was all there was to it. You remained out until it was convenient to let you in. Between the acts everybody appeared to consume huge quantities of tea or light beer, cake or lollies. These people at least, seemed to have plenty of money to spend. Of ordinary manners in waiting to be served, they had less than an excited schoolboy, while the dog fight at the cloakroom after the show, when I searched for my coat, was the equivalent of a Rugby scrum during the last minute of an exciting game. Churches are open for those who care to go. I went to one service in Leningrad and various members of the party discovered several in other places. The congregations appear to be all elderly people. We were told that when a congregation cannot entirely support a church, the State takes it over and turns it into a club, library or gym. We saw several “ex-churchcs” of this type. Atheism is directly and consciously taught in all schools.