Page 12 — P. A. Features, January 20

n Evacuated Plant

By S. PERSOV

MOSCOW, USSR—(Direct Cable to PA.)

- (TBE first fascist bomb struck the territory of the Gomel Agricultural Machinebuild-

ing plant on the third day of the great patrictic war, June 25, 1941.
a indie day passed without bombs dropping on the plant.

the plant continued to work
and from the very first day of
the war production was geared
to the war effort. The plant
‘began producing equipment.
When the enemy was ap-
proaching and shells were
bursting only a short distance
away, the workers redoubled
their efforts. Late one July
night, however, Anshel Henkin,
director, received an urgent or-
der to evacuate the plant. It
was during one of the fiercest
raids the town ever experienced

that evacuation began. Fires
were flaring up from incen-
diaries and high explosive

bombs converted tall buildings
into heaps of crumbling mason-
ry. ; :

_Heediess of the péril workers
of the plant proceded to load
-the plant’s equipment. Aided
by their families they succeed-
ed in loading everything of

value, down to the last electric-

bulb.

When the loading was com-
plete the - workers suddenly
thought of the underground
' cable that ran five kilometers
round the factory’s grounds.
And while their own homes
were being devoured by Nazi
flames the workers, together
with their families, were dig-
ging the ground in order to
rescue the cable.

Over 40 trains with 1200
platform cars, loaded with the
plant’s machinery and goods
were dispatched to the Urals.

EN the personnel arrived
in the Urals they found
that the new factory grounds
were one-tenth the size of the

territory the factory occupied
in Gomel. There were no dwel-

lings available.

In the Urals the autumn sets
in much earlier than in Belo-
russia and often is quite severe.
Living conditions* were fright-
fully hard. But the people had
their minds set on one task—
to launch production as soon as
possible.

Housewives, college youth and
schoolchildren all volunteer-
ed to help the newcomers start
things going. In 25- days the
conveyor in the foundry was
set in operation whereas -in
peacetime it would have taken
no less than three months in-
tense work to do this.

It became an unwritten law
among the plant’s personnel
never to leave the shop unless
the daily quota was filled. Here
it must be taken into considera-
tion that most of the shops
were manned by women, former
housewives, who not only had
to be taught the trade but who
had to combat the rigors of the
Urals climate.

Mihas Zagaruiko, a Belorus-
sian, was one of the plant’s
best master workmen who gave
a good deal of his time teaching
novices. For over 40 years he
worked at the Gomel Agricul-
tural Machinebuilding plant
and now he himself had to mas-
ter production of a new type
of weapon and at the same time
impart his experiences to no-
vices.

Turner Roberman is another
example of the plant’s enthu-
siasts. Q@ne morning when he
arrived in the shop he dis-
covered that the machine next
to his own was standing idle
and its operator; ill. Without
much deliberation Roberman
began operating both machines.
At the close of the day he had
filled a double quota, his own

After that not
However all departments of
and that of his fellow worker.
From that day on he continued
operating. two machines.

Then there is pattern marker
Padolevy. He received an as-
signment to prepare a pattern
for a new detail. His feet were
swollen but there was not time
for cure. Unable to stand on
his feet he sat through three
shifts rupning without ~ once
leaving the shop and filled the
order.

Their leisure hours the en-
gineers and experts of the plant
spent in collecting metal scrap.
Meanwhile the housewives, Go-
mel’s ordinary Jewish women,
polished machine parts they
made wath their hands as thor-
oughly as in the old days they
serubbed their pots and pans
for Passover.

2

HUS it was that a huge war

plant sprang up in a deserted
place in the Urals. Already in
1942 the plant was producing
six times more than in normal
prewar conditions. In 1943 out-
put was multiplied by 14 times
whereas in 1944 there were
months when the prewar yearly
quota was filled in one month.

At the present time, without
reducing the tempo of its main
production, the plant has re-
sumed manufacture of agricul-
ture machines, primarily
threshers and the Clayton sort-
ing machine.

A new workers’ -settlement
with its own school, clubhouse,
baths and other communal
services now spreads around
the plant. The plant ,has its
own subsidiary farm which
boasts 400 head of cattle. This
year the workers of the plant
dave garnered 800 tons of po-
tatoes and other vegetables.

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Aiory, Plot Against Canada
by Tim Buck

Quebec’s Problem From Within
by Dr. D. Longpre

Lenin on New Methods of Thinking
by Stanley Ryerson

Women In Canada At War
by Annie S. Buller

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Phone MArine 5836
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to Oblivion!” It is a companion-piece to Tim Buck’s analysis. @

Book Review
National Affairs Monthly (15c)

By J. A. TURNER

canapa: S young, but most outstanding political journal, Ne,
tional Affairs Monthly, provides a varied, stimulating fare fc
Ji anuary. Starting the new year with Vol. 2, No. 1, this issue is th |
tenth since its ambitious launching last spring.

Sam Carr’s editorial, “Greece—A Crucial Test” is a ace
piece in hard-hitting brevity. In it, solid facts are skilfully maz
shalled. Carr warns that British forces employed against tk
Greek patriots “play into the hands of Goebbels, who has bee:
drumming it into the ears of Hurope that the allies are coming ne:
as liberators but as a new brand of oppressors.” a

{eee recent Tory ramp on conscription anaes receives fee
rate attention in this Marxist monthly journal. Sienificanth |
during: that period when national unity in Canada was straine
to the limits, it was apparent that the Labor-Progressive Par:
was the only united party in Canada and the sole political organi),
zation to take a forceful, realistic view. Tim Buck, its nationz|
leader, performs a post-mortem on the vile, treasonable schem
of the Tories to capture power in-his “Ehe Lory Plot Agains|
Canada.” He picks up the complicated ends and out of, the seemin’
disarray, presents the motives behind the thinking of the man
groupings. Especially does he reveal the “unparalleled cynicism
of the Drews, Brackens and Graydons and their allies, Duplessi
Dorion & Go., when they loudly denounce one another’s views whil
actually working in close agreement to split the nation asunde
to their mutual partisan advantage. The demagogiec and unpriz
cipled role of the CCF in trying to make. political capital out of
difficult situation is sharply evaluated.

Dorise Nielsen’s speech in the House of Commons on the rg
inforcement issue is in full, under the title, “Consign the Toric§

sets forth Im convineine and popular style the varied aspects if
the question from a broad public point o£ view.

“Quebec’ s Problem Seen from Within,” written by Dr. Danig
Longpre is a clear, straightforward, word-picture on the prolg
lem of French Canada. The outlook of the French-Canadian and h
many reactions to social and political affairs get a surprising :
refreshing: treatment. It is a warm, inside story and gives af
a Saxon Canadian much to think about. yet

ERHAPS it’s a hangover of that “Anglo- Saxon distaste fi

theory’ on which the founders of scientific socialism coi #
mented more than once; but in our educational work, it seems -
me, we often tend to neglect a side of Marxism that is absolute)
vital: it’s method:” With that as a first paragraph, Stanley —
Ryerson wades into “Lenin on New Methods of Thinking” and ]
does it in masterly style. The author of the best seller, “Freni
Canada,” does a fine job in helping get rid of the “hangover” in
erisp presentation that provokes the reader inte, wanting to del
further into “dialecties” and the “materialist interpretation.”

NE of the best arguments as to why a subscription to Nation | 1
Affairs Monthly is in order is contained in a letter to f |
editor from the brilliant Palme Dutt in which he says: “Goneral f
lations on the -production of a journal which is a testimony
the advance and strength of Marxist thought im Ganada .. .”

New Worlds for Women
(Reviewed by Kayla Culhane)

AS stimulating as a new hair-do, as exciting as a new job, as 2 }
sorbing as any human-interest book—all of these and more
Dorise Nielson’s attractively illustrated little book “New Worl
for Women.” 3

Most of us, at some time in the past five years, have fF ¥
occasion to-read Dorise Nielsen’s speeches in the House, and be:
deeply impressed by the very humane-ness of them, that the z
nouncement of her forthceminge book has been awaited with @
little impatience.

There is a section in it for every type and class of Ganadi |
women, farm women and professional women, home-makers @ ;
industrial workers. And the conclusion drawn ‘from each analy jp
is that Canadian women want their work to be productive. i

“Tt is not a question of the ‘liberation of women’ with whig
we must deal,” asserts the writer, ‘“. .. it is a question of changi
life’s conditions so that both’ men and women can contribute #
the world’s work more efficiently and live together more happil a

One of the most thought-provoking chapters is the one th #
deals with new styles of housework. Gone is the aternally wea i
feeling that no matter what high-sounding perspectives are hill

out for us, the kitchen-sink and time-absorbing house cleani q
f

5)

problems are still the main stumbling block to any form of Sif
expression, or community work. }

What’s the matter with modernizing the problent: and putti| i
a little streamline into our methods? Instead of talking in vag qe
terms of raising the standard of the household worker and 1
ealling a servant, a maid, or visa-versa, the writer puts forwé jt
an entirely new solution —a better way! :

“A staff of cleaners is organized, with rates of pay 29%
hours agreed upon, trained to clean house in most efficient wa
and provided with a truck equipped with the best of labor-say:
equipment for the job . . . services are available for certain hog,
per week ... working i in pairs which is pleasanter and quick #
They have their own craft organizations in nature of a umg
where they not only deal with pay and working conditions, |
study new methods of work.” :

For all who are participating in the life of their commun. |
trade unionists, profesional or home-makers, all part of the cae |
public that makes up Canadian citizenry, we can surely 1—
with the author when she affirms that “our voices, no matter W
our politics, must be joined with those who want to advance
new, security jin peacetime unity—and it can be done! :