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SS SS SSS

AUTHOR OF ‘THE DIPLOMAT’ ON USSR:

New cities, well-stocked stores,
-and people have money to buy

WAS last in the Soviet Union

in 1944-45, when I spent «
year there. J have recently re-
newed this old acquaintance with
a three weeks visit for the centen-
ary celebrations of the great Rus-
sian writer, Gogol.

I was asked to stay several
months and go where I wished,

but unfortunately I could not stay -

away so long.

Three weeks, of course, is a
mere passage; but, even so, it 1s,

difficult to outline such a rich ex-
perience.

I offer a few specific impres
sions as typical:

MOSCOW: It is a new city, even
as of seven years ago. You ar-
rive at a new airport, approach
it on new roads. In many
drives around it I saw an un-
countable number of new build-
ings.

The pictures and the talk of
the skyscrapers have really over-
shadowed the real quantity of
new building, for whole new
streets and districts have come
into existence, in the centre of
Moscow as well as in the new
suburbs,

Moscow is already one of the
brightest, cleanest, and most
spacious cities in the world.
Given another five or ten years
of peace, very few cities any-
where will equal it in design
or comfort. —

Of course, not only the build-
ings are new. Cars, for in-

stance: I hardly saw one old
ear in all Moscow. The stores
are new; schools, neon lights,

Metros (six new stations have
just ‘been opened, completing
the inner circle).

LENINGRAD: I jast saw Lenin-

_ grad a few months after the

German siege was lifted. It
was a smashed city, with every
building marked by shell, bomb,
or bullet holes, and no remnant
of power or water or sanitation
left.

Today there is no scar on it,
and though I deliberately went
into its ramote corners, I could-
n't find a real trace of damage.

Leningrad is not only rebuilt
and densely populated again,
but whole new areas are being
added to it, arterially, in a pat-
tern of prospects which will al-
most double its present size.

Even the same old rivalry
exists between Leningrad and
Moscow. Leningrad, for in-
stance, has just built the big-
gest stadium, and they let the
Muscovites know about it.
PEOPLE: This is hardly a sub-
ject for a few words, but again
it’s an impression I am offering.

Everywhere, though it was
still cold in Russia, the people
are well clad and newly clad.

There is no shortage of fairly .

cheap clothing of good quality.
Russians are inclined to wear
black in winter, and this offers
a dul] front,

It really means nothing more
than a dull fashion, for the Rus-
sians as a people are very gay
with life. They live hard, work
hard, play hard. They seem to
be tireless and full of the most
improbable energy. They live as
if every day is a vital experi-
ence. Our daily routine of the
West is a sad thing to compare
with their vigorous routine.

CHILDREN: The children speak
for themselves: simply and’ un-
selfconsciously, The parks, even
under snow, are full of children.

In the Palaces of Pioneers (I
saw several) there is every con-
ceivable kind of satisfaction for
a child up to the age of 15:
skating, theatre, music, planet-
ariums, and the most modern
equipment for mode] construc-
tion I have ever seen.

The airplane section in the
Leningrad Palace, for instance,
has a wind tunnel to test their
jet models,

Children are gods in the So-
viet Union, and they are taught
deep affection for each other.
Poetry, literature, and an edu-
eation in respect for all peoples
of the world are absolute, and
universal.

Stop any child in the street
and he’ll tel] you in ringing
terms that he loves all people
and despises cruelty and ad-
mires culture, He means it too.

SS SS SS Sear

=

ru

BOOK SALE

PEOPLE’S COOPERATIVE BOOKSTORE
337 WEST PENDER, VANCOUVER. B.C.
MA, 5836
Twenty Thousand Thieves—Eric Lambert—$2.00
Spartacus—Howard Fast—$2.25
The American—Howard Fast—$1.75
Lantern for Jeremy—V. J. Jerome—$2.50
Axe of Wansbeck—Arnold Zweig—$1.00
The Train—Vera Panova—$1.25
Eyes of Reason—Stefan Heym—$1.75

Ire

* * *
People’s Democracies—Wilf Burchett—$1.50
Cold War in Germany—Wilf Burchett—$1.25

Challenge of Atomic Energy—Prof. Burhop—$1.00
High Treason—Albert Kahn—$1.00
Road to Life—A. S. Makarenko—in 3 vols.—$4.50
From Trotsky to Tito—James Klugman—$1.00

_ Russia Is For Peace—D. N. Pritt—35c
* * *
Canada: The Communist Viewpoint—Tim Buck—60c

He Wrote For Us: The Story of Bill Bennett—Tom McEwen
$1.00

Marx and the Democratic Tradition—Landy—$1.25
Marx on China—$1.00 :
Georgi Dimitrov—Selected Articles and Speeches—$2.00

* * *

Mail orders please add 3 percent Sales Tax—Postage Prepaid
SSaoeSSaeoaeseeeer

SHOPS: Moscow shops mainly
in big stores. These are full.

Food is unrationed (as is every--

thing else) and is more plenti-
ful than in England.

Propaganda? You can walk
the city and watch people buy~
ing a variety of meats, saus-
ages, bread, canned goods, eggs,
milk and sweets—all in abun-
dance.

Luxuries too: stuffed peppers,
tropical fruits, caviar, wines,
champagne, .. .

There is no select group buy-
ing the best. It’s the workers;
the women -who ‘sweep the
streets as well as the Stakhan-
ovites; the young wives as well
ag the old.

Consumer goods are not as
widely selected as our own, but
there is an abundance of them
—all of good quality.

In the Mosstorg (a depart-
ment store) I could have bought
from the floor (as I saw hund-
reds doing) a motorbike, a bi-
eycle, refrigerator, a washing
machine, and a wide selection
of shooting and fishing tackle.

(I bought a selection of trout :.

flies to try on English fish.)

Perfumes, silks, nylon stock-
ings, household equipment, gas
stoves, fancy tableclothes —
there’s a very wide selection of
goods to buy.

There are also many. special-
ized shops for pets, painting and
sketching equipment, jewellery,
folk-art, sports equipment, radio
parts (for (building receiving
and transmitting sets, and tele-
vision, too),

These are only a few.

Shops are thriving in Russia
—on regular price cuts. Money
is plentiful and is spent without
stint.

ARCHITECTURE: There is as
much controversy raging inside
the Soviet Union about its archi-
tecture as outside it. Anything
I say is mere personal opinion.

Moscow architecture,.for ex-
ample, I found pleasing. The
restrained skyscrapers were al-
ways exciting to see, for they al-
ways seemed to rise in the dis*
tance wherever you saw them,

and at the extreme points of

Moscow only.

Pictures do not do them jus-
tice, for their spires (which re-
semble the Kremlin towers)
look a little odd when photo-
graphed; but in .Moscow they
help to preserve the unique at-
mosphere of Moscow as a Russ
city; and whatever an architect
might call them in sfyle, in
Moscow they do not look like
a copy or a hodge-podge,

And their style is special to
Moscow. Leningrad, for instance,
has kept its classic style very
closely in rebuilding. There are
modern buildings on the out-
skirts of Leningrad, but they
happen to.be faced with Kare-
lian granites which matches the
countryside.

The Russians do not believe
(as do.many of our architects)
that style and design must orig-
inate primarily out of the meth-
ods and technique of construc-
tion. ;

The form of Russian archi-
tecture is very much based on
the individual atmosphere of
each city; and for the most part
the surrounding countryside is
most important in their selection
of material and design.

SOVIET ART: Again, there is
very much personal choice in
this,

I spent many hours in Soviet
museums, and I was looking

“Moscow shops mainly in
ganda?
things. . .

specifically for Soviet painting
during my visit,

I think Soviet and socialist
realism is a vital approach, but
I don’t think many of the Soviet
artists have achieved it yet. To
my eye, many of them have
fallen into the sins of natural-
ism, and still lack the fearless
and imaginative realism they
are out to achieve.

Even so, one feels that in the
turmoil and dispute over their
painting, they, are nearer the
truth there than we are.

When they have developed
courageous artists who have
found the balance between sub-
ject matter and realist form, I
think they will begin a new
kind of art which will be rich
and exciting.

Other than painting, their car-
tooning and illustrating are ex-
cellent. In fact, this is their real
art at the moment.
PRIVILEGE: The Soviet Union

doesn’t believe that all people
are the same, They devote
their education to encourage

1g stores. .
You can walk the city and watch people buying a variety of
. There is no select group ‘buying the best.”

“These are full. . .

éach person to develop his own
talents,

Further, they have three well-
known precepts in their social:
ism: ;

4 —EwWal opportunity for all.

> —From each according to

ability.
—To each according to his
work.

One might add to the latte!
point “‘and plenty more pesides-

Who gets the best and the
most?

I should categorize the eat
best this way:

e' Those who are best edt
cated either in the technique>
the sciences, or the arts;

e' Those who are in practic?
the best and most skilled tecl
nicians;

e Those who do hard work,
regardless of its skill.

Labor and culture are the at-
tainments, ‘because work
noble. There is no prize {0

idleness,

OWN FILMS SMOTHERED

European movie actors
fight Hollywood inroads

Can't leave U.S.

Owen Lattimore, noted U.S.
author| and specialist in Far
Eastern Affairs, who has fre-
quently been the target of Un-
American  witch-hunters, has
been barred from leaving the

U.S. A report, since charged to° -

have been faked, that he intends
to visit the USSR was reputedly
the basis for the U.S, State De-
partment action.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 27, 1952

ACTORS’ UNIONS of 12 We
European countries, meeting
London recently, agreed to @
joint action to prevent
swamping of their industries by
Hollywood.

Hollywood films now occ
70 percent of the screen time o
the world, Gordon Sandison: ee
retary of Equity—the Brit ue
actors’ trade union—told a PP
conference, and Burope’s Si
industries are working at hal
pressure.

Half the actors in the parts
Europe represented at the ©”
ference were unemployed,
said. They had to see ef”
Europe’s growing television %°
vices were not largely dev?"
to film transmissions,

A resolution passed at the oor i
ference warned that ‘‘the a.
tinued decline of the nati
film industries of Europe we
ens to deprive its peoples.
vital means of self-expressio™

Measures taken so far tO ‘
tect home film industries | ys
only maintained their baré
istence and must be strenst
ed. d

Asked whether he ima a8
American actors’ organi izatl?
would join an international
eration aiming at reduci0S — 44
erican domination. Sandiso? ate
he could see no reason W

Hitherto France has allow eat
only 120 American films 4 *
to be “dubbed” in French: ited
erica is demanding unl woot
dubbing—which means ¥
ed dumping.

that

them

_. pach *