No More Learning

7. "The establishment of the Jewish Autonomous Region, Birobidjan,
in the U. S. S. R. , marked the turning of a new page in the history of the
long-suffering Jewish people. "
Read the pamphlet from which this quotation was taken: Tenth
Anniversary Jewish Autonomous Region, May, 1944. (Obtainable at
American-Birobidjan Committee, 103 Park Ave. , New York City, 14,
N. Y. ) Emil Lengyel, in Siberia, pp. 348-357, describes this region. What
problems have Jews in this region faced? Why has the population re-
mained relatively small?
C. Economic Life
The characteristic feature in the economic life of the Soviet
Union is a planned, socialist system of society, provided for in
the Constitution, as opposed to a capitalist system. According
to Article 5, "Socialist property in the U. S. S. R. exists either in
the form of state property or in the form of cooperative and col-
lective farm property. " Article 6 states that "the land, its natural
deposits, forests, mills, factories, mines, rail, and water and air
transport, banks, post, telegraph and telephones, large state-
organized agricultural enterprises as well as municipal enter-
prises and the bulk of the dwelling-houses in the cities and in-
dustrial localities are state property. " In Article 12, it is stated
that "work is a duty and a matter of honor for every able-bodied
citizen, in accordance with the principle: 'He who does not
work, neither shall he eat. '"
Over-all socialist planning, in which the key organization is
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? MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS 43
the State Planning Commission, called Gosplan, is one reason
for the amazing development of the Soviet Union in the last two
decades. The aims of the Five-Year Plans were four-fold. First, the
object was to bring Russia up to the industrial standards of
the advanced capitalistic countries. As Stalin said in 1931, "We
are from fifty to one hundred years behind the advanced coun-
tries. " A second aim was to provide large-scale agricultural and
industrial production in order to develop a strong socialist
society. As a third part of this plan, the government wished to
free the country from dependence on other nations. And in the
fourth place, industrialization was necessary to fortify the Soviet
Union against war.
The practical application of science helped to carry out the
gigantic plan, which involved industry, agriculture, transporta-
tion, and, in fact, the whole way of life of the people. A Research
Institute was established in Moscow, employing over four thou-
sand experts, technicians, geologists and statisticians, whose aim
was to create a '"wasteless society. "
Three Five-Year Plans were announced, the first from 1928 to
1933, aiming to develop heavy industry and to modernize agri-
culture. The Second Plan aimed in addition to produce light
industry and some consumers' goods. And the Third Plan, which
was interrupted by the war, was to increase consumers' goods and
comforts for the people. In 1941, before the outbreak of the war,
a Fifteen-Year Plan had been announced, but this will not be at-
tempted until after the war. By the end of the First Plan, which
was accomplished in four and a half years, Russia had changed
from a primarily agricultural nation to a thoroughly industrial-
ized one. By the end of the Second Plan, the U. S. S. R. had
passed from fifth to second place in regard to total industrial
output, the United States being the only nation ahead of it.
Despite the extreme hardships upon the Russian people,
who during the first period could buy relatively few con-
sumers' goods, such as clothes, shoes, and butter, which might be
considered necessities in other countries, the citizens worked
with zeal and enthusiasm. The concerted plan for the whole
country gave them a goal, and made them feel that they were
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? 44 MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS
masters over the forces of nature. They saw four regions in
Soviet Asia transformed from almost waste land to thriving in-
dustrial or agricultural centers. They felt that they were play-
ing an active part in a great drama and helping to create a
"new world. "
One of the new regions which developed before the eyes of
the people was the Chelyabinsk region, east of the Urals, with its
thriving cities of Sverdlovsk, called the Chicago of the U. S. S. R. ,
and Magnitogorsk, meaning "Iron Mountain. " From 1920 to
1939 the population of Sverdlovsk grew from 70,000 to 500,000.
In the middle west of Soviet Asia, there grew up another im-
portant area, similar to the middle west in the U. S. A. , with the
cities of Novosibirsk and Omsk as centers. Novosibirsk increased
its population from 1900 to 1939 from 5,000 to 405,590. Farther
south in Central Asia, a phenomenal change took place in agri-
culture and industry. There are oil, coal, sulphur, lead, and
zinc deposits that have been discovered and developed there. By
scientific irrigation, and careful experimentation with seeds,
desert land has become fertile agricultural soil, so that this
section is the cotton belt of the Soviet Union, producing much
more cotton than in Tsarist days. Sugar beets, rice, and oranges
are also grown extensively in this region. Of recent years, too,
the kok-sagyz plant has been developed there, from which rubber
is extracted in large quantities. Tashkent, one of the oldest and
most important cities in this region, has a population of more
than 600,000 today.
The Far East, too, has developed north of Vladivostok. Here,
two important cities are Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk. The youth
of the Soviet Union, whose organizations are known as Komso-
mols, took up the challenge in 1932 of building this latter city,
and literally hewed it from dense forests and overgrown swamp-
land. From 1939 to 1944 this city grew from 70,000 to 300,000
people, and it is an important center, not only for shipbuild-
ing and the steel industry, but a focal point for rail and water
transportation.
Due to the great distances within the country, transportation
is one of the most difficult problems of the U. S. S. R. Although
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? MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS 45
present planning calls for much more building of railroads, and
although the mileage was increased by 50% from 1913 to 1940,
there is still a serious shortage of rail lines and railroad cars.
The mileage is very low, the Soviet Union having one-fifth the
railway mileage of the U. S. A. Most of the trackage, too, is still
located in Soviet Europe, and there are sections of the
U. S. S. R. where there is no railroad transportation for a distance
of hundreds of miles. Good roads are also relatively scarce in
the country. It is easy to understand why, with lack of good
rail and road transportation, the U. S. S. R. has taken great in-
terest in air transportation. Across Arctic and wooded areas,
where no other method of transportation is easily used, air-
planes are of especial value. The Soviet Union in 1932 was
eighteenth in the world in air transport; by 1938, the country
was ninth in this respect. As part of the transportation develop-
ment, many canals have been dug connecting rivers or inland
waterways with seas, thus making a continuous water route
through the country. The Stalin Canal between the White and
Baltic Seas has shortened the distance between those bodies of
water by 2,160 miles. Another large canal under construction is
the Volga-Don Canal, which will connect those rivers and open
the Volga to the Black Sea.
Agriculture, too, was part of this gigantic economic scheme of
the Five-Year Plans. All but a fraction of the peasants, after
much opposition from wealthier peasants, known as "kulaks,"
were organized as groups on the collective farms (kolkhozes) and
on the state farms. Provision was made for individual ownership
of houses and other articles for personal use, so long as these were
not used for profit. And "the law permits the small private econo-
my of individual peasants and handicraftsmen based on their per-
sonal labor and precluding the exploitation of the labor of others. "
(Article 9 of the Constitution. ) As a result of the efficiency and
modernization of agriculture, 71 f0 of the work of tilling the land
was mechanized in 1937 as compared to 1% in 1928.
Science was applied, not only in speeding up industrial and
agricultural efficiency, but in draining the marshes, such as
the Pripet marshes in Eastern Poland; sending explorers to
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? 46
MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS
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? MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS 47
. the Arctic, and opening up a northern sea route with the aid
of ice-breakers; using airplanes to spray certain regions, thus
ridding them of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, or locusts which
damaged the crops; discovering herds of seals and guiding ships
to them by plane and in countless other ways.
Success in the tremendous economic development of the
U. S. S. R. is a result, not only of the planned economy, but also
of the attitude of the Soviet citizens, including the new motives
that they have adopted. The people have discovered that
when they work for others, they work also for themselves, and
the motto, "Each for all and all for each" has real meaning
for them. Their personal ambitions, even of criminals in jail,
are channeled into useful work for the community. With their
standard of living raised, these motives of group welfare and
social prestige impel the citizens to work with zeal, without the
motive of profit. Wendell Willkie, Eric Johnston, and other
Americans who have visited the Soviet Union recently, have com-
mented on this spirit among the people.
In the cities, the factory is the cultural and recreational cen-
ter, as the collective or state farm is in the rural areas. A differ-
ential wage scale is used, depending on the amount of work
produced in the factory; also the share of each collective farmer
varies with his output. The trade unions play an important
role in industry, administering social security benefits in each
factory, and representing the workers' interests. Women have
entered industry in greater numbers, and hold important
positions on the collective farms, particularly during the war,
with most of the men in the armed forces. As a result of
the planned economy, the standard of living has been raised
throughout the country, though it is still low as compared to
that of the more advanced industrial countries.
The industrial efficiency of the U. S. S. R. was demonstrated dur-
ing the German invasion in 1941 when production was increased,
the army supplied with necessities; the transportation system,
which was supposed to be weak, functioned well, proving a
great contrast to the inefficient transportation system in Russia
in World War I during the Tsarist regime. In addition to these
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? 48 MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS
proofs of efficiency, whole industrial plants, with their machinery
and workers, were transported from the invaded areas to places
of safety farther east. Today, far-reaching plans for reconstruc-
tion are being made, and as soon as areas are reconquered, these
plans are being put into effect.
References on Economic Life:
Constitution of 1936.
Williams, The Soviets, pp. 134-158; 172-188.
Mikhailov, Land of the Soviets, p. 26 to end of book.
Davies and Steiger, Soviet Asia, whole book.
Some Suggested Activities on Economic Life:
1. Make a map of the Soviet Union, naming and indicating the regions
where industry was carried on before 1917, and those which are in-
dustrialized today. Show with appropriate symbols the mineral and
agricultural resources, as well as the forested sections of the Soviet
Union. Write in the name of one important city in each industrial
region.
2. Misha, a Soviet peasant, owns his dwelling-house, a pig, and some
sheep, but the State Farm on which he works, and the machinery on
the Farm are owned by the Soviet Government. How would you answer
someone who says that private ownership has been abolished in
Russia? Write a paper citing articles from the Constitution of 1936
to show the truth or fallacy in this statement.
3. The chief product necessary for industry, lacking both in the U. S. A. and
in the U. S. S. R. , is rubber.
Find out what each country has done about
this shortage and report to the class. (References for U. S. S. R. :
Mikhailov, Land of the Soviets, and Steiger and Davies, Soviet Asia. )
4. Read about the Stakhanov Movement in Williams, The Soviets, p. 220,
or in the pamphlet by Alexie Stakhanov entitled The Stakhanov Move-
ment Explained. Write a short paper about this, and show how it ex-
plains the industrial development in the U. S. S. R.
5. Look up the figures on industrial production in 1914 and 1933 in
Soviet Russia, on pages 34-35 in Mikhailov, Land of the Soviets, and
make two circle graphs showing how the Soviet Union has increased
her proportion in relation to other countries.
6. Cite from Chapter I of the Constitution the article explaining the atti-
tude of the State toward people who work. Be ready to discuss this
article in class, explaining how it is carried out. Consider whether the
attitude toward useful work has changed since 1917, and give ex-
amples from the events of 1917-1920 to support your discussion.
7. Imagine yourself a worker in a factory in the U. S. S. R. You have a
cousin who came to the U. S. A. twenty years ago, and he is employed
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? MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS 49
in a local factory. Write a letter to your cousin comparing the two
systems of management and the workers' relation to them.
8. Arrange for a showing of the films entitled '"Harvest Festival" and
"Impressions of Moscow. " (See Brandon Film catalogue. ) After the
films have been shown, have a class discussion about the modern farmer
and the industrial worker in the Soviet Union.
9. 19OO 1939 NAME OF TOWN
5,000 405,590 Novosibirsk
6,000 500,000 Sverdlovsk
o 70,000 Komsomolsk
Draw figures of men proportionate to the size of these populations in
1900 and 1939. Prepare a statement for the class explaining why each
of these particular cities grew with such rapidity. (See Survey Graphic,
February, 1944. )
10. Was the Stalin Canal as long, as costly, or as difficult to build as the
Erie, the Panama, or the Suez Canals? Find the important facts con-
cerning these canals, and draw a bar graph showing the mileage of
each and cost of building.
11. Read in the Survey Graphic for February, 1944, the article on the
Soviet Far East. Make a report to the class on this.
12. How would your father's business, or the business in which your
father is employed, be conducted in the Soviet Union? Make a chart
comparing such a business in the U. S. A. and the U. S. S. R. as regards:
profits, management, inventions, employer, trade unions.
13. "The pioneer movement in the U. S. A. westward is similar to the east-
ward expansion of the U. S. S. R. In fact, Siberia is sometimes called
'Russia's middle west. '"
Write a paper giving examples from American and Russian history to
illustrate this statement. Name regions developed in each migration.
For reference, read Pares, Russia and the Peace, Chapter 2o, and Hindus,
Russia and Japan, Chapters 8, 9, and 10.
14. Walter Duranty in an article in the magazine section of the New
York Times for July 30, 1944, stated:
"Three years of war have clearly and tremendously hastened and em-
phasized Russia's progression toward nationalism and patriotic unity,
and its apparent retrogression from the original principles of com-
munism or Marxist socialism. " In another part of the same article,
Mr. Duranty says: '"Russia has definitely, if not Wholly successfully,
adopted a socialist or collective system. "
Read the whole article from which these quotations are taken, and
write an explanation of the apparent contradictions in these two state-
ments.
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? 50 MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS
D. Provision for Social Welfare
Article 120 of the Constitution of 1936 provides for free medi-
cal services for the working people. Practically all nurses and
doctors are civil servants. Special provisions of the labor code
protect women workers, and special grants are made for the care
of mother and child. Social insurance is provided for in Article
120. It includes compensation because of illness or injury, and
provision for old-age pensions. Funds are set aside by the en-
terprise where the worker is employed, and are not built up
by deductions from wages or salaries. These funds are admin-
istered by the trade unions. Group and individual insurance
to cover other hazards may be bought. Rest homes are provided
where workers may rest under medical supervision, although
the number of these is not yet adequate to serve all workers.
Special aid is being provided for the rehabilitation of war veter-
ans, and for the care of veterans' families.
The Soviets claim that neuroses and mental disorders have de-
creased sharply because of the provision of economic security.
They cite figures to show that their proportion of mental dis-
orders is lower than that of the western countries. This is due,
they say, to the removal of worry over loss of employment, over
a poverty-stricken old age, and over the inability to provide
medical and hospital care in case of illness. The number of
mental disorders in the army has been lower than in World
War I. This is attributed to the better conditioning of the
nervous systems of the people and the strengthening of morale
by an understanding of the issues of the war. The death rate in
the Soviet Union has been reduced by forty per cent in compari-
son with Tsarist Russia.
The remarkable success of the health program has been dem-
onstrated by the war. In spite of the terrific problems involved
in the care of the wounded, the evacuation of large numbers of
people eastward, longer working hours for everyone, and an
inadequate food supply, not one disease has reached epidemic
proportions. In 1941, at the height of the German attack, the
infant mortality rate in Moscow was less than ten per cent,
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? MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS 51
whereas in 1914 in that city the rate was twenty-three per cent.
Although this is a remarkable advance, the figure is still about
double the infant mortality rate in the United States. Soviet
medical research has contributed many new practices, only one
of which is the blood bank now being generally used.
References on Social Welfare:
Kingsbury, John, "Soviet Health Lines Ahead," Survey Graphic, Feb-
ruary, 1944.
Maurer, Rose, "Soviet Health Care in Peace and War," American Rus-
sian Institute pamphlet.
Sigerist, Henry E. , Socialized Medicine in the Soviet Union.
Webb, Beatrice and Webb, Sidney, Soviet Communism: A New Civili-
zation? Part II, pp. 805-862.
Some Suggested Activities on Social Welfare:
1. An American visitor to the Soviet Union developed a cough and she
decided to buy some cod liver oil at a drug store. She was told that
she must have a doctor's prescription, and when she had secured it,
the cod liver oil was given to her free of charge.
Several of you may like to study the subject of health protection in the
Soviet Union, and present a discussion to the class. For this presenta-
tion, be sure that group members present both the favorable and
unfavorable aspects of the program.
s. Arrange for a showing of the Russian film, "The Road to Life. " This
film depicts the problem of homeless children in the Soviet Union
in the period after the dvil war. You will need to preview the film
and also find some material on this topic in reference books. Tell the
class something in advance about the problem of the "wild boys. " After
the film has been shown, conduct a class discussion on it. Do you
know what the Soviets are doing now to try to prevent a recurrence of
the problem of homeless children?
3. Read We Didn't Ask Utopia by Harry and Rebecca Timbres to get
an idea of one man's experience in the medical profession in Russia.
Write a brief discussion of the things in this book which interested
you most. Would you recommend it to other members of the class?
Why, or why not?
E. Cultural Life
1. Education
The Soviet Government has placed particular emphasis upon
public education and the development of schools. It has been
anxious to introduce universal, free, compulsory education
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? 5* MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS
throughout the Soviet Union as rapidly as possible. Elementary
education is compulsory for everyone, and among all peoples.
Until the war interfered, plans were well under way for making
education compulsory for everyone up to the age of eighteen.
Soviet education aims primarily to give all the people of the
U. S. S. R. a many-sided individual development, an understand-
ing of socialism, and preparation for taking their places in a
collective society. Education is for the whole population, and
every institution is utilized to that end. Educational opportuni-
ties of many kinds are provided by the factory and by the farm.
Illiteracy has been reduced from seventy per cent in Tsarist
Russia to nineteen per cent in the Soviet Union. It is especially
important to note the growth of literacy among the peoples in
the northern and eastern regions, and among women. One of
the most important measures for the establishment of equal
rights for women has been the opening of all types of education
to them.
Expansion of schools has been so rapid that at times there has
been difficulty in providing adequately trained teachers. There
has been a great increase in the number of secondary schools in
country districts and in the new industrial settlements. Until
the end of 1939 tuition was free in all primary and secondary
schools and in most of the institutes for higher education, but
this provision was modified as war approached. Character de-
velopment and the development of a well-rounded personality
are emphasized as well as mastery of subject matter. Pupils are
given physical training, aesthetic training, and moral training.
The latter includes a cultivation of the love of country.
Emphasis has been placed upon adult education, rural educa-
tion, the education of minor nationalities, and upon vocational
information in its broader sense. There has been a great increase
in the number of institutions of higher learning, and an even
greater increase in vocational and apprenticeship schools. There
is constant interaction between formal education and community
work, with stress upon the education of the average citizen in
science and in machine techniques. This training of the whole
population in machine techniques and modern technical devel-
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? MEET THE SOVIET RUSSIANS 53
opments has been of invaluable service in the present war. The
ability of Soviet men and women to operate tanks, airplanes,
and other complicated equipment characteristic of industrial-
ized nations has surprised the world. This ability is all the more
remarkable when one recalls their relatively short acquaintance
with modern machines, the rapidity of industrialization, and the
oft-repeated stories about the ineptness of the Soviets in hand-
ling machines in the early years of industrialization.
References on Education:
Erskine, Dorothy, and Roberts, Holland, "What 36 Million Children
are Learning," Survey Graphic, February, 1944. ?
King, Beatrice, Changing Man; The Education System of the U. S. S. R.
Medynsky, Eugene, "Schools and Education in the U. S. S. R. " American
Sociological Review, June, 1944.
2. Religion and Philosophy
The Soviet attitude toward religion is rooted deep in Com-
munist philosophy, which is anti-religious and materialistic. It
teaches the evolutionary character of human and natural life,
and that nature alone is real. All belief in God, in the super-
natural, or in any type of mysticism is ruled out. The stress on
science is part of this opposition to the supernatural, and often
rulings that are thought by other countries to be primarily anti-
religious are intended to abolish peasant superstitions by edu-
cation in science. Christianity is anti-social in the eyes of the
Communists because they claim that it teaches acquiescence and
lessens man's urge to improve conditions in this life.