AT SCHOOL

2. SASHA KUZNETSOV
“ee

of a typical Soviet family.
Daily Worker.)

Last fall Sasha Kuznetsov entered the sixth grade after three months’ summer holiday. He same back

Sense of responsibility
to others begins early

(Last week we met Natasha Kuznetsov in the first of Ralph Parker's series of articles on the life
This weeke we met her son, Sasha.
Moscow correspondent for the New -York Times, now writes from the Soviet capital for the London

The

By RALPH PARKER

to Moscow from a Pioneer camp before the term ended.

There were pensils and notebooks and a new satchel to be bought, and he had to call at school to
collect the score or so of new textbooks he needs.

In his sixth year at a ten-year
school, Sasha is just beginning al-
gebra, physics, and geometry. He
has been learning English for three
years, botany for one, while in math
he is deeply invalved in compound
fractions,

In last year’s history class he
learned about the ancient world,
Greece, Rome, Egypt and the near
East.

Sasha is 138 with his father’s snub |

nose and his mother’s deep grey
eyes. But he promises to be taller
than either. Thanks to sport, his
father says. ae

In winter he ties a pair of skates
on hig boots and spends an Hour
or two every afternoon on the local
skating rink, free for children.

Sometimes the school organizes
ski expeditions in Sokolniki Park,
with skis from the sports base
there.

In summer he either plays foot-
bal] in the courtyard, or volley-ball
in the park, or gorodki, a Russian
kind of skittles in which you have
to throw heavy sticks at pins.

There are three periods of physi-
cal training a week in the school
&ymnasium,,

Sasha and his classmates are at
any age when collecting snakes,
white mice, foreign stamps and
makes of automobiles competes with
lessons. But a good deal is done
to impress’ upon him the impor-
tance of school.

In the Soviet Union knowledge
and character are the only keys
to advancement, and no working
class parent needs to be remind-
€d of the importance of his chil-
dren’s good marks.

The boys’ school in the district
the Kuznetzov’s live in is a com-
pact, cement-faced brick building
of three stories, one of the 370
large new schools built in Moscow
during the nineteen thirties. It
houses a thousand pupils.

* * * .

_ Let us follow Sasha to school on
the first day of the term. Down
the winding cobbled street of old
Moscow to the entrance of the
school playground with its trim
gardens bright with asters which
some of the children looked after
during the holidays.

The boys of the sixth class are
greeted, by the director of the school
and the form teacher who has re-
mained responsible for this group
of boys since it first: entered the
School six years ago.

. It is he who prepared the perio-
dical reports, who consults parents
if necessary.

The class chooses its own daily
monitor responsible for attendance
and keeping the room tidy. Through
its pioneer organization it draws uP
@ program for the out-of-school ac-

tivities, elects an editorial board for
the wall newspaper, and draws up
lists of names of those who want

to join hobby circles. _
Only then does it approach the

teacher to announce that so many

They are sold at a

writer, Ralph Parker, was formerly

MOSCOW

nominal price.

stamp collecting, or seed selection,
and will the school please help.

“Study well! Earn good marks,”
the Pioneers were told by a Kom-
somol, or member of the Young
Communist League, for the ninth
form.

Then they elected a Soviet or
council from among themselves, and
a chairman of the council. ‘Just
like the way the government's elec-
ted,” Sasha explained to me ear-
nestly.

If Sasha gets bad marks, or be-
haves. badly, he knows that in
the first place the reprimand will
come from his classmates in the
Pioneer organization.

How many little troubles are set-
tled by this force of social opinion,
by the voice of his equals! Mat-
ters which never got to the ears
‘of the teacher or parent.

At the end of the last term+ he
was in high spirits, “Our class did
well,” he said, giving me details of
the term’s marks. Incidentally, he

had done pretty well himself.

But what mattered most was not
so much the successes of the top
boys or his own success, but the
fact that his class as a whole had
a good record.

This sense of responsibility to
the group, and of the group's in-
terest in you, acquired at an early
age, is an important and abiding
feature of Soviet society.

Pollitt campaigns in

election

Harry

Pollitt, general secretary of the British Communist
party, is contesting the Welsh mining constituency of East Rhond-—
da which concludes Thursday this coming week. He is one of a
hundred candidates placed in the field by the Communist party.

‘YOUTH MOST TO LOSE BY WAR’

Australian

of Australian University Students’

worded peace resolutions.

students from all Australian uni-
versities. It has no political affi-
liations. :

The Australian students’ reso-
luion for peace, passed almost un-
animously, Was:

“That this congress considers
the maintenance of peace to be
the greatest task before the peo-
ples of the world today.

“That since youth have most to
lose by war, we students pledge
ourselves to work actively with
all persons and organizations

pursuing a sincere policy of inter-
national friendship and opposing

ligious hatred, as set out in the

ganization;
2—Opposing all preparations for

with truth, reason and tolerance;
tion by another;

cal warfare.

lution,

p

ence or force.”

The students’ congress, with
very few dissentients, also pass-
ed a resolution opposing mili-
tary conscription. The recently
elected Menzies-Fadden govern-
ment plans to conscript Austral-
ian uth,

are interested in radio- listening, oF

’

working to maintain peace by; 1—

all manifestations of racial or re-

Charter of the United Nations Or-

aggression and war propaganda,

3—Opposing the interference in
the internal policies of one na-

4—Demanding the banning of
the atomic bomb and bacteriologi-

“~Phis congress,” adds the reso-
“further recognizes as an
essential factor for world peace
the rights of all colonial and op-
ressed peoples to national inde-
pendence without outside interfer-

arate conference of the Le-
gion of Ex-Servicemen and Women

veterans,

students ask bomb ban

SYDNEY

Twin shocks were delivered to warmongers when the National Union

annual congress and the Australian

Legion of Ex-Servicemen’s state congress in Victoria passed strongly

The NUAUS congress is the annual representative gathering of

U.S. interests grab

Australian resources

. , SYDNEY

Since the return of the Men-
zies-Fadden government, Amer-
ican interests have speeded up
their drive to seize key points
in Australia’s economy. The gov-
ernment Tool Annexe in Laun-
ceston, Tasmania, is the latest
Australian factory to be threat-
ened by the Yankee grab. Amer-
ican-controlled Sheffield © Tool
Corporation is negotiating for
control of the Annexe, and Am-
erican capitalists are also plan-
ning to obtain control of vital
coal deposits at Blair Athol,
Queensland, and rich iron ore
deposits at Yampi, West Aust-
ralia,

in Melbourne, Victoria, expressed
“grave concern at the drift toward
war,” and called on its leadership
to: :

“Work for the development of
friendly relations between coun-
tries.

“Work actively for peace and to
make all people as conscious of
the horrors of war as ex-service-
men are.

“To cooperate with other non-
political bodies struggling for
peace.” .

e
“The United Nations,” added the
resolution, “is the basis upon
which all countries, no matter
what their social and political sys-
tem, can live together in peace.”

A neat problem faces the British people
tive party when the Labor party agrees
problem the British Communist party is taking the field with 10
which will be held February 23, the first since the Labor party
Twenty-five million voted then, giving 11,985,000 votes to Labor;

British Communists enter
100 candidates in conte

in the coming election: how to smash Churchill's Conserva-

Nationa] Liberals associated with
them; 2,253,000 to the Liberals. The
22 Communist candidates entered
in 1945 polled a total vote of 102,-
780.

The present distribution of seats
in the House of Commons is: La-
bor and Cooperative, 390; Conserv-
ative and National Liberal, Wy
Liberal, 10; Independents, 5; Com-
munists, 2. The two Communists
in parliament are William Gal-
lagher and Philip Piratin.

In a rousing call launching the
Communist election campaign, Har-
ry Pollitt, Communist party gen-
eral secretary, declared: °

“We have done all in our power
to secure a united front against
the Tories in this momentous bat-
tle.

“Every effort we have made has
been spurned by the Labor party
leaders because they refused to
make any fight against capitalism.

“We are confident that the Tories
will be decisively defeated, as in
1945, but it is essential that the
working people show by. their votes
that they repudiate the pro-Tory
policies of the Labor government.”

LONDON AREA
Acton, Bert Papworth; Bethnal
Green, J. Mildwater; Battersea
N., John Mahon; Brentford and
Chiswick, Joe Parker; Camber-
well (Peckham), T. Gibson; Croy-
don W., B. Jarvie; Dagenham, G.
Bridges; Deptford, L. Stannard;

East Ham S., E. Thomas.
Fulham E., Bob Ellesmere;
Hackney S., J. Betteridge; Hamp-
Stead, Roy Gore; Harrow E., W.

Seaman; Hayes, Frank Foster;
Hendon N., Marjorie Pollitt;
Hornsey, G. J. Jones; Ilford S.,
Dave Kelly; Islington S., Alf
Bender.

Kensington N., John Eyre;

Lambeth N., Margot Heinemann;
Lewisham §&., Bill Jones;
dington N., Dan Cohen; Poplar,
Harry Watson; St. Pancras, T.
Aherne; Slough, P. Smith; South-
all, J. Purten; Southwark N., J.
Bent. :

Stepney, Phil Piratin; Totten-
ham, G. Cross; Wandsworth,
Mrs. Gladys Draper; West Ham
S., Bill Norris; Westminster, Bill
Carritt; Willesden Ez, D.
Michaelson; Woodford, Bill
Brooks; Woolwich E., R. Palme
Dutt.

SCOTLAND

Aberdeen N., Bob Cooney;

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 17, 1950—PAGE $3

with the Tories on many fundamental issues.
0 of its own candidates in the elections
was elected to office in July. 1945.
9,453,742 to the Conservatives and —

Pad-.-

LONDON
Because of that

Dumbarton W., Finlay Hart;
Dundee E., D. Bowman; Edin-
burgh Central, Den Renton; Fal-
kirk and Stirling, G. McAllister;
Fife W., William Gallacher.

GLASGOW: Bridgeton, Dan
Kelly; Fairfield, William Lauch-
lan; Gorbals, Peter Kerrigan;
Scotstoun, Bob MclIlhone; Shet-
tleston, Malcolm MacEwen;
Springburn, Bob Horne.

Greenock, J. R. Campbell; Kil-
marnock, Isobel Brown; Linlith-
gow, J. Borrowman; Motherwell,
R, Henderson, :

WALES

Aberdare, Dr. A. Wilson;
Neath, Alun ‘Thomas; Ogmore,
Mavis Llewellyn; Rhondda East, —
Harry Pollitt.

LANCASHIRE

Ashton-under-Lyne, H. Black-
well; Birkenhead, Stan Coult-
hard: Burnley, W. Whittaker;
Oldham, W. Maudsley; Preston,
Pat Devine; Stalybridge and
Hyde, D. Herricks; Warrington,
Jim Grady; Wigan, Tom Row-
landson.

LIVERPOOL: Huyton, Leo
McGree; Scotland, Jack Coward.

MANCHESTER: Blackley, Ben
Ainley; Gorton and Openshawe,
Syd Abbott; Wythenshawe,
Francis Deane.

YORKSHIRE

Bradford E., H. Gireene; Leeds,
N.E., Bert Ramelson; Shipley,
L. T. Robb; Don Valley, Sam
Taylor.
\ SHEFFIELD: Brightside,

BIRMINGHAM: Northfield, *

Tapscott,