e

2a enormous amount of building is going on in Mosca: I was

there 15 years ago and on retu

ming last year I literally ‘could not

recognize the city. The main streets have altogether changed. Whole

blocks of buildings have disappear

ed and new blocks have taken their

Naturally, I wanted to see how they did it. I had a four-hour visit

to the Museum of Building Construction Methods. I had two long -

discussions with leading Soviet
architects —— the people who built
Magnitogorsk and other places—
and I went on to a big building
site, saw the actual building go-
ing on, and talked about it to the
foremen and, workers on the job.

I thought I knew something
about building methods. I found,
however, that both new materi-
als and new methods which had
been evolved in my own country
with a good deal of research and
trouble but not used, have been
in use in the Soviet Union for
the last two years—and in an im-
proved form.

What impressed me was that

building had been taken away

from its. traditional craft basis

and made into a fully mechanized

industry. This is something which —
could be done, by the kind of.

planning they have adopted in the
Soviet Union. As a result, Soviet

building technique is ahead of the
whole world, and is advancing
rapidly.

One example of this advance is

‘that building has entirely ceased

to be.a seasonal occupation. Work
goes on all through the year.

The foreman at the site I visited
said they had been working last
winter at. temperatures. below 40
degree below zero. They stopped
outside work. only when. it was
actually snowing;

dow frames were put into the
building already glazed and the
whole building was heated. ‘

They have many dodges to en-
able them to continue work out-

- side in the winter — special pro-
tective ‘clothing, heated cement, ,

and, no doubt, they had moments
off to warm.up._,

The whole’ business is planned
and mechanized right through. All”
components aré factory made —
‘not only doors and ‘windows, but
Stan-.
dard plumbing units are supplied _
that are. just put in, all ponnepsedl :

complete. plumbing units.

up...

No internal, plumbing work, has.
to be-done at all...
- Alluinternal architec- ; .
tural ee one prefabricatr, M!

} It, is all pre-
fabricated. -

ed. ia are

tray

factuted in eight great factories

throughout’ the Soviet Union. ‘The ©
; too, you know. AS 2 matter of

‘fact, because of some odd quirk .
‘on the

putting in of these components
is doné by means of mobile cranes

: capable of handling up to six-ton _
Mifts, This is for ordinary plumb-

i % oe Pah Bee
‘

; plaster.

inside work .
never stopped, -because the win-'

ing. For bigger buildings there
are much heavier cranes.

The cranes lift skips of brick
and hoppers full of mortar and put
them down just by the bricklayers
—- The bricklaying gang of five
people — usually two men and
three women or sometimes one
man and four women — put down
the mortar, lay out the bricks and
place them at a standard rate of
1300 bricks per man or woman
during an eight-hour shift.

On the site which I visited, they ;

were laying bricks at the rate of
4600 during an eight-hour shift.
Some teams lay as many as 5000.

The floors and similar compo-
nents are pre-cast and dropped
into place by the cranes. They
have a mobile gun for plastering,
by which the plaster is hsot at
the wal) with compressed air.
(The principle is similar to that
of a st a sprayer).

The buildings I saw were al-
ready considered of an obsolete
type, and in the future buildings
are to be steéel-framed with pre-
cast panels, not requiring any

‘

I saw one steel-frame building
which went up four stories during
the period in which I was in Mos-
cow (under three weeks). Au
welded construction, together with
cranes which are raised automa-
tically with the structure, permit
continuous operation.

“Ultimately, apart from ‘a few
historic buildings, the whole of

Mei Col

WRE glad to see that the
trade unions are moving be-
hind the fight of the unemployed
for jobs. It’s a natural step on

jabor’s part, because the struggle

for economic security cannot be
separated’ from the fight eeningt
unemployment. ‘

ers” * announce ‘with a’ shudder
that their main aim in, proposing
the establishing of union-guided

- unemployed organizations is to’

eep the jobless out. of: the clut-
ve of “Communists”,

| How do they know that aie

‘The - Peres i ll aa jobless Communists won't infil-

over ‘a: million houses - -under; the »
Five-Year Plan are being’ manu- ‘

trate into the ranks of an un-

employed organization establish- ©
ed by a right-wing labor leader?

Communists become unemployed

part of industrialists,
Communists. usually become un-

etter ses

Rebuildin

Moscow

Old streets rebuilt, new buildings rise
as plan for socialism’s city proceeds

By PROF. J.D. BERNAL

Moscow will be converted into a
city of comfortable. and. modern

~ flats-and offices, plentifully inter-

spersed with public parks.

Homes for the people take a
foremost place, built with speed
to house a city which has grown
from one million to five million
in 30 years and still is terribly
overcrowded.

Modified skyscrapers also arise
— not so tall as in the U.S. and
less blatantly functional. They
are, as their leading architect,
Mordinov, and his fellow-archi-

‘tects explained to us, more in

keeping with Russia’s traditional
architecture, with its dependence

‘on sky-line and its sense of amp-

litude.
Magnificent new university
buildings are arising on a nobly

.

sloping site and in spacious

grounds running down to the

Moscow River.

A majestic central building of
26 stories is balanced by wide-
spreading, flanking wings, looking
out at the back on green lawns,
and providing lodging for more
students than any British univer-’
sity possesses. \

The streets of Moscow — “which
have been made very wide —
none less than 150 feet — were
last year planted with 20 year old
trees, which gave them a very
pleasant appearance.

One of ‘the most striking fea-
tures of Soviet building construc-
tion is the part which the buil-
ding workers themselves, together
with the public, play in it. Most
of the new devices in use were

actually put forward by building
trade workers, who have received
for their achievements decorations
and prizes,

Plans and appearance of new
buildings are widely popularized
and canvassed before they are
finally settled. The people of the
city keep up a lively interest in
the building of the new Moscow
— and this is possible because
they can see visible progress day
by day.

But all this is only a begin-
ning. ‘The new methods are being .
rapidly improved in the direction .
of economy and speed.

There is no doubt that within
the next 10 years, the people of
the Soviet Union will live in finer”
and healthier cities than any other
people in the -world.

4

Can the unemployed become

y

employed as soon as it is known
that they. are Communists.

But how are you going to tell
when a jobless man is a Com-

munist? Does a Communist who —

hasn't eaten for several days
look more gaunt than a non-

: Communist? Supposing a group
‘But we're ‘a Jittle perturbed |
id hen some so-called “labor lead-

of unemployed™ are sitting. on
those hard benches at the. gov-

ernment employment service and

one ‘of them. says: “I could sure

do a lot of damage to a sirloin

steak right -now!” Would this
Utopian statement make him a
Communist? Or, ‘to protect him-

poker: from even. being labelled; a
fellow traveller, should he have

softly muttered: “Gad, I haven't
eaten for two days and could
certainly do justice to a lettuce

-and tomato sandwich!”

And how about clothes and
communism? We know a few
Communists who always look
neat, They haven’t the wardrobes

a pillar of ‘ free enterprise 2.

of Adolph Ménjou or some of the
TLC and CCL leaders we know,
but if they became unemployed,
they’d probably be able to/strug-
gle along for a while without
looking as though they’d. been
tied to a truck and dragged down
the highway. This is. going: to

create a problem: will it be the

neatly dressed unemployed, or
the unemployed who fail to keep
their trousers pressed “who will
be _ suspected ‘as Communists?

And then there’s the question

of points of view. How about the —
_.“Humphrey _
Mitchell is an old poo-bah. ”, Is he,

man who snarls:
the Communist? Or is the real
Communist the guy who softly
argues: “There are lots worse

' people than’ Humphrey Mitchell —

how about Simon Legree?*

One: thing is certain: it's going
to be awfully tough for a. right-

wing labor leader to convince the

police that all unemployed aren’t

Communists. You can establish

-a “right-wing” union, but there

isn’t any right wing among Ae
hungry.

_We mention this because for:
a. little while we could envisage
right-wing labor leaders vying

‘swith each other in an effort ‘to

become anti-Communist saviors

of the unemployed. The horrible =

thought occurred to us. that. we.

_might see a group of jobless. or-
ganizations spring up across - -the -

country under ‘such headings as:
The Dr. Conroy ‘Chapter of:

Conservative Jobless Workers: °

The Murray ‘Cotterill -Associa-
tion of Workers of the World

~ Unite.

The A. R. Mosher Anti-Com-_
munist. Unemployed “Association.
_ The Russell Harvey, Union: of
Well-Dressed. Unemployed. :

The C. H. Millard Association —
of Right-Wing Jobless Wosiaers>:

It won’t work, boys!»

PACIFIC FRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 3, 1950—PAGE 5

*