Interesting facts are brought
of t te an article in a recent issue
th €w Times with respect to
. © Standard of living of workers
© Soviet Union which shows
Re -Money wages account for
‘i Y three-quarters of the aver-
8¢ family’s budget.
he Test comes from public
a in. the form of pensions,
_vetse benefits, educational
S ay free tuition from primary
oak Sol to college, free medical
€tvice and so on.
money wages and the
funds share of the work-

Public

IMS ALLOCATED TO SOCIAL
‘CURITY AND SOCIAL INSURANCE
: {000,000,000 rubles}

6

1958 4967

1seangome is rising. In the years
e.... alone, the latter increas-
es; Percent. This year it is ex-

“4 to have another 10 per-

2 - “Public funds contribution
i bee @mily start when a child
Pay fa and the mother receives
eee a 16 week maternity
Natal. All pre-natal and post-
,.. Medical care is free.
Teac Schooling is free. When it
othe, (he level of university
ino “1 institute of higher learn-
Bante wudents receive _ state
that ts. The article points out
~ time three-quarters of all full-
Whil Students receive grants,
© those who combine studies
title o!ding down a job are en-
» and to additional paid holidays
Other benefits.

~ Extra wax
‘the Soviet worker

ie

nothing of the problems of med-
ical bills, loss of income through
illness or high drug prices. This
article points out: “Whether he
goes to a clinic or hospital, or
calls-a doctor home, he does not
have to dig into his purse. All
medical care is free of charge.
The cost of medicine is low: 27
kopeks for the average prescrip-

tion. More, in many caseS PeOQ- ©
ple in need of medicines are sup->

plied ‘them either free of charge
or at reduced rates. People re-
ceiving out-patient treatment pay
nothing for the medicines re-
quired.” :
Public funds are also used for
rest and recreational facilities.
Millions of Soviet workers spend

their guaranteed paid vacation ©

at cost-free sanitariums and rest
homes maintained by the trade
union movement. Similarly, chil-
dren go to subsidized camps.
“All told,” the writer in New
Times points out, “the public
health centres of our country ac-
commodate some 20 million an-
nually.”

One aspect of life that is very
heavily subsidized is housing.
The rents as a result are low and
amount to no more than five per-
cent of the family budget.

The pension age is now 60 for
men and 55 for women, although

wages for

 pENSIONABLE AGE IN DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES {men, women] ;

for people in hazardous work
the age is lower. In 1966 pen-
sions were equivalent to 70 per-
cent of pre-retirement wages.

And of great importance is the
fact that all these funds come,
not through tax deductions on
wages, but through contribu-
tions made by the enterprises in
accordance with rates set by the
state. ‘

“In 1967 allocations from pub-
lic funds to meet the needs of
the population amounted to 49,-
000 million rubles, and the total
tax paid by the working people
to only 9,000 million. Clearly,
the public funds are basically
derived from socialist produc-
tion.

“Nine-tenths of these funds,
according to 1967 figures, are
concentrated in the hands of the
state and are distributed among
the members of society through
the budget. The remaining one-
tenth is used directly by the in-
dustrial enterprises and collec-
tive farms to finance social and
cultural services to their particu-
lar working collectives.”

Every worker and his family
thus!is the beneficiary of this
use of public funds and it can
be described as the Soviet work-
ers extra wage.

e . eas
pe oviet citizen knows

= _— Bert Whyte

MOSCOW

We watch TV

When we arrived in Moscow
and moved into our apartment it
didn’t take my young son long
to single out the object of his
affections amid the welter of
packing cases, boxes, chairs,
tables, lamps and so on.

“Does the TV work?” he want-
ed to know. It didn’t then, but a
few days later a man arrived to
hook up our set. Half an hour or
so of stringing wires and fiddling
with knobs and he pronounced it
perfect.

That evening the family gath-
ered around the ‘“‘light-blue
screen,” as the Russians call it,
for our first look at Soviet TV.
We watched the news, followed
by a musical program. Then
came a feature film.

A growing sense of unease
and disquiet disturbed me. Some-
thing was wrong. Something was
missing. But what? :

And suddenly I knew. That
continental joke of North Ame-
rica, that infuriating, persistent,
insistent, continual interruption
of TV news or special show, was
missing. The ubiquitous commer-
cial_was absent from the screen.

It took some months of pain-
ful re-evaluation before Monica
and I learned to relax and settle
down to watch a program sans
interruptions.

Today Muscovites have a
choice of four stations. Channel
One is the national program
which can be picked up any-
where in the Soviet Union with-
in radius of a transmitting sta-
tion. It often goes on the air in
the mornings with a children’s
program, the news or a re-run of
a program shown the evening
before which is of particular in-
terest or significance. After a
break it returns to the screen at
four or five in the afternoon.

Channel Three is Moscow TV
and Channel 10 is the newest
addition to the family, televising
only two or three hours in the
evening. By midnight all pro-
grams finish, barring such events
as a late sports show televised
live from abroad. 5

Channel Eight is an education-
al network, Classes in sciences
(physics, chemistry, biology,
etc.) are conducted. Foreign lan-
guage lessons are regular and
aimed at kindergarten children
as well as intermediate and ad-
vanced students. A recent inno-
vation has been the addition of
guitar lessons. _

The other three channels
broadcast a variety of programs.
Both sports and cultural events
receive better coverage than in
Canada. We have watched foot-

ball and hockey games televised

not only from many cities in the
Soviet Union, but also from nu-
merous West and East European
countries. Soviet television ex-
changes broadcasts with over 30
countries. International competi-
tions such as figure skating,
weightlifting, gymnastics are giv-
en in their entirety.

Full length ballets, operas,
plays are frequent, as well as
coverage of international song
festivals, dance and musical
competitions. Documentaries on
the professional lives of famous
people are well done. Music lov-
ers are delighted by hour-long
shows on such personalities as
Chaliapin, Mario Lanza or back-
stage glimpses of the Bolshoi
opera in rehearsal. Ballet of

.,course is a national passion.and
programs on the “greats” of the _.

MAY 3, 1968—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 11

ie

dance world, past and present,
draw an enormous audience.

Our family favorite is a regu-
lar weekly program titled “Film
Traveller.”
films made in every corner of
the world and in one hour you
may travel from the wastes of
the Antarctic to the deserts of
the Sahara.

Perhaps the particularly rich
nature of Soviet TV is due to the
broad scheme of cooperation be-
tween the socialist ‘countries.
Each week we see programs from
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulga-
ria, G.D.R., etc. Both Poland and
the G.D.R. go in for half-hour
dramatic serials, so well known
in North America. This type of
program appears to be non-exist-
ent in the Soviet Union. All the
socialist countries do a great
number of original musical
shows. Jazz bands and vocalists
are popular. Again, the variety
offered by a number of countries
is enhanced by the fact that the
15 republics of the U.S.S.R. are
so different in character, and
therefore when TV Baku or TV
Tbilisi or TV Kiev are on the air,
She fare presented is quite un-
like TV Moscow.

There are a number of public
affairs programs. Some are week-
ly, covering a range of world
events, while others focus on
particular subjects. Needless to
say, Vietnam is a frequent topic.
But so are all-round coverages of
countries like India and the

U.A.R. Many. are well-filmed. ,

Others, in our opinion, lean a
little too heavily on talk. Panel
discussions of both world and
national problems are common.
Children’s programs are nu-
merous and far superior to those
back home. Every day there is
special TV fare in the afternoon
ranging from pure entertainment
to educational subjects. Sunday
morning and afternoon sched-
ules are particularly intent on
satisfying the tastes of younger
viewers. And every evening at
8 p.m. the 15-minute program
“Goodnight Little Ones” sounds
its familiar melody. I am told by
parents of smali-fry that the
threat of being banished to bed
before this show is an effective
deterrent to mischief-makers.
One of the more memorable

- events of TV last year was a

series of 50 programs, each de-
voted to one year in the history
of this country since the Revo-
lution. Through old news reels,
documentaries, stills, the film
workers managed to recreate an
exciting pageant of history. The
early years of the Revolution
and the Civil War; famine and
typhus; the beginnings of the
industrial base, the Dnieper pow-
er station, Magnitogorsk; the fas-
cist attack, fhe defense of Mos-
cow, Leningrad, Stalingrad—all
the stirring events -marched be-
fore your eyes, showing you
what was, what the country had
endured, and the triumph of 50
years of socialism, in a way that
no book or feature film could do.
It.was in many ways the most
exciting TV series I have ever
seen—marred only by unneces-
sary omissions in the chronicle
of events of the last decade.

In Canada we often felt that
the highlight of an evening of
TV came when we pressed the
button and that little white light
receded into infinity. Not so here
—most evenings we find at least

-three or four programs well

worth watching,» _.. ‘

= —

-

It features travel .

Pe eke Pik eM LN OE HE MNS CT NHN AE Se 0 SA se eS a sem Ms