MONA MORGAN TELLS STORY OF SOVIET TOUR ‘l visited homes, met Soviet people’ se know Many Soviet citizens — and one of the most satisfying ex meer bees I don’t speak Russian, but on my recent 16-day tour of the Soviet Union, language difficulties proved no barrier in getting to meet and periences was visiting these people in their homes and seeing with my own eyes “ae they lived,’’ Mrs. Mona Morgan told me this week. Omes, Wounds fifties, a he was a smiling, friendly woman in her middle nd she was living with her son, daughter-in-law and Sandson in a modest apartment only about 10 minutes by bus { us trom the city centre. he apartment block, five years old, was similar to ey here in Vancouver. We went up to the fourth floor ¥ elevator, and entered her apartment — three rooms and a Kitch fre all Bee king is only half done.’ mae ang a Style—that is, the chairs Comfon eeport were roomy and a table, but well worn. Smack tyes, th ‘ Set, ory Glevision is common in work- Pandgrt in Kiev, and when her tuned tame in he immediately conehusi en” set on to watch the eK On of a football game. The ~s,;. Vas small, 12 or 14 inches there Seem to be the style over Gear the image was very Somewhat the picture magnified glass jn Y a kind of curved item - front of the screen. Next the sth the program, following ian lay all game, was a Ukrain- out ‘a hostess insisted on laying C09 jeg (od —Aelicious homemade and he (I baked them yesterday’) and » {Ping bowls of strawberries “wy Currants. (she ® talked. About her work a sixg rked an eight-hour day, 8Y week). Soviet people d, no. doubt about that, ©y know what they are € room, however, was a Workin 3 for—a better life. And y ~2nlin opened to public enette. “Please excuse the mess,’ she apologized, ‘but preparing to go on holidays tomorrow, and our € apartment was furnished in what we would term *they desperately want peace so tha* they can continue their re- building program, repair all the devastation of war, and go for- ward to an era of peace and plenty. “We talked about housing. Yes, they know they are overcrowded. It is only a temporary situation. Look at all the building going on. ‘Give us peace, and we'll soon lick the housing problem,’ said_ our hostess.” Having visited a worker’s home, Mrs. Morgan was hoping to get a chance to see how farmers lived. The opportunity came when the Canadian delegation were taken to a collective farm about 50 miles from Kiev. “Tt was a huge farm, called the Kalinin Collective Farm, and cattle- breeding and vegetables were its most important sources of income,” said Mrs. Morgan. “There were 2,500 living’ there, and each family had its own small whitewashed house, on its: own private plot of ground. Main in- 9 Public. July 20 the Moscow Kremlin was opened to the general landing Th towa, Tk Usands of people flocked to visit the famous Russian Photo shows a section of the crowd near the Kremlin By BERT WHYTE “I was invited into many workers’ and farmers’ homes, but time prevented me from ac’ “Pting more than two invitations. Let me tell you about them. While in Kiev our delegation made up of 28 Canadian women, met with a group Canadian women Viet women to exchange greetings and experiences. After the parley ended our hosts crowded around us, urging us to come and visit them in their I accepted an invitation from a Ukrainian needle trades worker — a widow whose husband had died two years ago from the effects of suffered in the Second World War. in Moscow The Canadian women’s delegation which visited the Soviet Union last month spent several hours at the USSR Permanent Agricultural Exhibition. Photo shows Mrs. Mona Morgan of Van- couver leading the delegation as it. passes the Stone Flower Fountain after leaving the Pavilion of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. come of the workers comes from the collective farm, of course— the average annual wage is 15,000 roubles, or about $3,750 at the official rate of exchange, although such figures mean very little—but in addition each family has a garden and can own one cow, one pig, up to 20 sheep, 20 beehives and unlimited poultry. “Well, there we were, and there were the collective farm workers, urging us to visit their homes. So we split up into groups, and a few of us went with a man and his wife and his mother into a neat, clean three-room home built of wood. “If 1 had to settle for one word I'd say that their home was ‘comfortable.’ Not luxurious, and not stylish — just comfort- able. There was a radio, but ne TV (the farm had two or three television sets in some of the main buildings) and on one wall, | noticed, a large ikon was hanging. “We talked, we drank large glasses of a red currant drink, we quickly became friends.” R So much for the private lives of Soviet citizens. What else had the delegation done during its 16- day tour, I wanted to know. Mrs. Morgan laughed, and pull- ed out a notebook, flipped through its pages filled with writing. “Just where,” she demanded, “am I expected to begin? It was a breathless, whirlwind adventure from start to finish. “On our way to the Soviet Union we stopped in Helsinki to attend the World Assembly for Peace. All of us were tremen- dously impressed by the breadth of the Assembly, which includ- ed peace workers from 68 coun: tries, determined to reach agree- ment on how to prevent another war. “From Helsinki we travelled by train to Leningrad, where we stop- ped over for three days. We saw the Aurora; the Winter Palace; at- tended a peace meeting where heads of 10 visiting delegations from foreign lands spoke; visited the Institute of Gynecology (which gave us an inkling of the thorough manner in which Soviet doctors approach the problem of women’s diseases); went through a shoe factory; and much more. “The shoe factory, built since the war and using modern beltline methods, was a most interesting place. There was a ‘music while you work’ program for part of the day; a hospital was attached to the factory; there was algo a Workers’ Club, with a choir, drama MONA MORGAN “We wanted to see everything” circles, etc. And we learned that in making children’s shoes only the very finest leather is used—and the shoes are sold under cost.” After Leningrad came three hec- tic days in Moscow, where the tourists were asked, ‘““What do you want to see?” and then rushed from place’ to place by private bus. “We wanted to see everything, but we settled for the agricultural exhibition, the’ subway, the new University, the National Gallery and a dozen other places of in- terest,” said Mrs. Morgan. “It would take all day to tell you about them.” Following Moscow came Kiev, “that very green and beautiful city” and the visit to the collec- tive farm. _“Can you sum up some of your impressions of the Soviet Union and. the living conditions of the people?” I asked. “Til try,’ said Mrs. Morgan. FOOD: Lots of it, everywhere we went. And the Soviet people are. big eaters; they enjoy their food. HOUSING: Not yet adequate, but rents are cheap and new build- ings are rising overnight. For example, 750,000 new. flats will be ready for occupancy in Moscow by the end of the year. : WORKING CONDITIONS: Good. But the workers work hard, re- pairing the war damage and re- building their country. No un- employment, and consequently a sense of security. People take joy and pride in their work—“We are working for ourselves, and for the future.” CULTURE: Aside from _ the theatre, ballet, TV, sports and other entertainment which is avail- able to all, I was impressed by the seemingly universal desire on the part of factory and farm work- ers to study, take courses, and raise their cultural level. CHILDREN: The best is for the children, everywhere, without ex- ception. The kindergartens are out of this world — we were all tremendously impressed. WOMEN: What we saw convinc- ed us that women have full equali- ty; every avenue of advance is open to them. PEACE: It sounds trite to say that the Soviet people want peace. But I can’t phrase it any other way. They DO want peace — they don’t want people anywhere in the world to again suffer from war. And they know that if peace is maintained, they will be able to rapidly advance from their pre- sent socialist form of society to a communist society of abundance— which is their unswerving aim. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 19, 1955 — PAGE 3