BACK FROM RUSSIA

Taranaki Daily News, 22 March 1935, Page 5

BACK FROM RUSSIA

SYDNEY FAMILY’S RETURN.

THREE YEARS UNDER SOVIET. Terrible conditions of hardship and privation existing in Russia were related by a family who returned to Sydney lately after living for nearly three years under Soviet rule. Early in 1932 the family, comprising Mr. W. Perry, his wife, two sons, and a daughter, left Australia for Russia, where, the father believed, working and Jiving conditions were better than they were in Australia. The mother and father were Russians by birth, having arrived in Australia some years previously. The children were bom in the Commonwealth. •

“We were glad to be back in Australia, and we find that there is no other country in the world like it,” said the daughter. “My father, however, holds different views. He remained in Moscow to endure the conditions, because he believes that the Soviet Government is honestly striving to do something for the masses.”

When they first arrived in Russia, Miss Perry said, whole provinces of peasants were dying of starvation. Peasants held out their hands at railway stations for pieces of bread. There was less starvation in the provinces to-day, but the people suffered badly from malnutrition. There were still a few individual farmers, but they were taxed heavily. The majority of the peasant population had been forced to surrender their properties to the Government under the collective farming scheme. The farm workers received no wages. They were allowed 21b. of black bread a day, together with quantities of sour cabbage soup. Miss Perry said she worked as a typist in various Moscow offices, and, because of her knowledge of the English language, she received 600 roubles a month. The average factory girl was paid only 100 roubles a month. AU her salary was spent on food and clothing. It was impossible to obtain butter or milk except at exorbitant prices. The factories supplied dwelUng-houses, in which each family was given a room. In these rooms as many as eight to 15 people lived together. No furniture was provided, and everyone slept on the floor. The Government did not encourage the cooking of meals in the rooms. The idea was to break up family life by making the people eat. all their meals in cafes. The moral standard of the people was not high, and it was just as easy to get a divorce as it was to get married. Mr. Walter Perry said he worked as a draughtsman in one of the factories for 250 roubles a month. It was impossible for a worker to pay for either meat, milk or sugar, and he was compelled to live on a staple diet of black bread. When the family arrived in Russia their Australian passports were taken from them and not returned. They had been making efforts to leave the country for the past 18 months, but they were constantly rebuffed by the authorities, they said. The family was not allowed to leave the ship until some hours after it berthed at Sydney because certain formalities in connection with their passports had to be attended to,