5. THE KUZNETSOVS ON THEIR DAY OFF

ey

ideal

spots

Villages outside Moscow
for relaxation

This is the fifth in a series of articles on the life of a typical Soviet family, the Kuznetsovs; —
Vladimir Kuznetsov, his wife Natasha, his son Sasha and his daughter Galya. Ralph Parker, the author,

was formerly

capital for ithe London Daily Worker. ~

°

By RALPH PARKER

Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, is now resident correspondent in the Soviet

k

—MOSCOW

From the sandy top of a little hill where the pines grow tall and straight Vladimir Kuznetsov

looks down on the broad, ¢alm River Moskva.

lective farm to pick friend for a day's roach fishing.
Nast el % ped hedgeless field stretches to the edge of the forest. A herd of cattle drifts

Slowly across it, driven by a

youngster with a 15-foot plaited
whip,

'A busy little tug is bringing
barges of sand, braced two abreast,
downstream to Moscow. A white
baddle-steamer overtakes it on a
Sunday trip for the children of
the Kuntsevo tannery workers.

Already there are quite a num-
ber of fishermen on the bank.

Some of them have set up a
dozen or so rods and have tied
tiny bells to them to attract their
attention as they sit at lunch in

the shade of the nodding sunflow-
ers,

Moscow is very near. You can
See three or four tall, blunt-topped
apartment houses a couple of miles
way on the river’s high bank.

But out here it is real country
and Troitskoye, the village where
the collective farmers live, is a real
Village, with squat log-built cot-
tages, not one exactly the same.

The Kuznetsovs cross by the fer-
Ty near the village church that
Taises its bulbous-topped tower
Over pine and poplar.

There is a whining saw at work
Somewhere, the smell of fresh
bread from the bakery, the hiss
of a hosepipe ag a truck is washed
Own. From a radio in an open
Window spill] the sweet, urgent
Sounds of Rachmaninov’s Third
no Concerto.

; * * *

The cottages lie at uneven dis-

ces from Troitskoye’s three
Streets, Almost everyone has a ra-
io aerial tied to the pole with
© nesting-box for the starlings.

It is many years since the vil-
lage received electric light —
lyich’s lamp,” as they call it.
Children are playing rounders
Cutside the general store.

“What about a cream-soda, Sa-
Sha ” Vladimir asks.

They Prop their case of rods up

RS as a notice board telling you

aN €n the travelling library comes

ieee and climb the: steps into
€ shop.

Troitskoye is proud of its shop.

; :
Kyecuve got a lot of stuff here,”
uznetsoy remarks to the man-
oe as she cuts him a few
ares Of salami and opens a bottle
cream-soda. &
she smiles back.
is Troitskoye.”

‘Why not?”
“This ot?

There is @ case of soap, cosmet-
ae and toilet articles. Shelves of
oth in the length, ready-made

Tesses, i) nd
shirts, Vvershoes, overalls .

one beyond, near the little coun-
3 Where you can get a glass of

a or vodka, with fresh tomatoes

di apples and slices of bread, a
Splay of brightly colored teapots
d plates,

Hing the book counter are two or
an ee volumes on agriculture, the
ort History of the Communist
ra » Works by Herzen and Nek-
Sov, children’s exercise books.
fens the other side of the shop
Wines from Moldavia, Crimean
ae Dagestan gin, and fat-bellied
une t-topped bottles of champagne}
ei €d fish, packed tea and cof-
» Various kinds of sausages and
es fish and sweets in abun-
ce,

Also there is a letter box with

He and his son Sasha are on their way to the Gorki col-

For their vacations Soviet work-
ers have a wide choice of resorts
like the Chai Gouzia health resort
on the Black Sea (above) and the
Dilizhan sanitarium in Soviet Ar-
menia (below), at little or no cost.

a notice inviting customers to write
in suggestions.

The two-story, seven-year school
next to the shop is $ being used
as a Pioneer camp during the sum-
mer. In the garden there is a flag-
pole with red bunting on it.

Several children are weeding a
border of dahlias, and others are
laying enamel plates and mugs on
a table under the trees._

In the grounds of a large man-
sion nearby, now an orphanage,
boys in drill suits and forage caps
are practising on all kinds of brass
instruments,

The Kuznetsovs jearn that their
friend is in the dairy. .
Leaving the busy little village
behind them, they strike out across
the stubble skirting a plantation
of pine saplings and head for a
group of prick buildings.
rks are soaring; a pair
Eien: birds wheel high above
them. And soon they are out of
hearing of the clamor of the vil-

lage. t

Unions push-
wage drive
in Britain

—LONDON.

Now that the British election is
over, millions of workers are ex- |
pected to pressure for wage de-
mands.

Negotiations halted during the
campaign by the National Union of
Railwaymen were resumed Febru-
ary 27 and other unions are due
to follow their lead. A major de-

*|mand of the railway workers is a

5-pound ($14) minimum wage for
its 200,000 members now receiving
less. :

The Confederation of Shipbuild-
ing and Engineering Unions is de-
manding a 1-pound ($2.80) weekly
wage boost for its three million
members. The SCEU wes one of
the leaders against the wage-freeze
policy of the Trades Union Con-
gress, which was narrowly adop-
ted with a plurality of 650,000 out
of a total of nearly eight million
members. :

Among the unions which voted
against the freeze and which will
now push for increases are those
representing miners, electricians,
civil servants, builders, boilermak-
ers, public employes, foundrymen
and several others.

~ At the same time many unions
which agreed on a wage-freeze are
due to demand increases as a re-
sult of higher living costs.

Save unionists,
wife urges UN

—LONDON.

Mrs. Betty Ambatelios, wife of
one of 11 Greek maritime union
leaders doomed to execution, has
cabled a new plea to UN officials
to save the men from death.

Her appeal came after it was
learned that King Paul of Greece
had denied final petitions for mer-

|jcy for the men, now being held on

Makronisos, concentration
island off Greece.

camp

In her cable to UN Secretary-
General Trygve Lie and General
Assembly President, Carlos Romu-

‘lo, the Greek labor leader’s English

wife said she was afraid her hus-
band, Tony Ambatelios, “and the
others will be immediately execu-
ted, as happened with labor lea-
ders Georgiou and Dmitriou, or
murdered in the case of Tatakis.
My only hope is your immediate
assistance in this hour of crisis.
The intervention of the UN 16
months ago succeeded in postpon-
ing their execution. I beg of you,

save them: now.”

Scientists warn
politicians of

H-bomb

menace

By ISRAEL EPSTEIN

All over the earth today, it’s the people against the bomb-makers.
The problem for all nations is to live together and to live better. Science,
particularly atomic science, now makes this possible—for the first time
in human history. The outraged common sense of the world’s people is
rising against the idea that the only way to solve this problem is to smash
cities and factories, built by their own toil; to kill off untold millions of

kuman beings in neighboring lands
instead of build, with the triumphs
of knowledge to which the human
brain has soared.

The people’s common sense is
reinforced by specialized informa-
tion, the hard facts and figures
in the possession of the scientists.
Most vocal in protests against the
H-bomb, and, warnings against its
use, have been the physicists of
all countries.

The latest such statement by
Professors Leo Szilard, Harrison
Brown, Frederick Seitz and Hans
A. Bethe—all of whom helped
make the first U.S. atom bomb
—said soberly that the hydrogen
bomb was capable of destroying
all life on earth. If an element
like cobalt were included in the
bomb, they said, it would make
the whole globe radioactive for
five years. Under these circum-
stances, no H-bomb war could
bring victory—only suicide for
attackers, defenders and neutrals
alike.

This estimate by men who know
makes nonsense of the recent cry,
set up by politicians and the press,
that. “scientists may know their
way around the laboratory but
shouldn’t meddle in politics or
strategy.” The fact is that poli-
ticians are meddling in science—
and for scientists to neglect to tel!
them the probable results would
be treason to humanity. It is like-
Wise treason to all humankind for
the politicians not to listen when
they are told. If they do not, the
people as a whole must make them
—if they do not want to be stup-
idly obedient gravediggers at their
own funeral.

Common sense and science are
two forms of reason, effort of
man’s mind to preserve and im-
prove his existence. Morals and
conscience are other forms, of
which religionists. consider them-
selves the spokesmen in many
countries. Religious leaders, too,
whatever their different positions
on other political matters, have
swelled the chorus against weapons
of mass destruction. From the
Quakers in the U.S., through such
high British church dignitaries as
the Archbishop of York,, even in
the Vatican their voice has gone up.

Strongest of all, in Europe and
Asia if not in the U.S., has been

the voice of organized labor—the
mighty unions of men and women
who dig the coal, build the cities,
forge the metal, weave the cloth,
sail the ships, run the trains, pro-
cess and serve the food. Labor in
Europe is not only speaking, it
is acting to prevent the threat of
a new war. In France, Italy, even
Germany—workers led by their un-
ions are refusing to make, unload
or transport arms,

These workers, with those of
the Soviet Union, eastern Europe
and China, are the core and back-
bone of a peace movement em-
bracing all countries, a peace
movement that aims at strength
sufficient not only to speak for
peace, but to impose it.

In Japan, 12 million signatures
have been gathered on a petition
against any Japanese participa-
tion, including participation as a

base for others, in activities lead-
ing to a new war.

Two systems of production, dis-
tribution, living and thinking lead
different parts of the world to-
day — capitalism and socialism.
They compete in many ways but
the most decisive is the compe-
tition inside men’s heads. Ulti-
mately the people of the world
will choose the one that proves
better for peace, life and security.

Death-dealing weapons can destroy .

the battlefields inside men’s heads

and to die themselves; to destroy,

by breaking the heads, but only
a better way of living can decide
the struggle.

More and more people every-
where are convinced that weapons
of mass destruction must be out-
lawed instead of developed and
used, to give a chance for human
problems to be solved in a human
way. Their pressure has moved
even fire-eaters like Winston Chur-
chill and violent “free enterprise”
advocates like U.S. Senators Mil-
lard Tydings and Tom Connally
to ask for new great power con-
ferences instead of a new arms
race,

More pressure, more action by
the people can remove ‘the atom
bomb menace from the world.
It can free atomic emergy for
peaceful uses—and its hope for
more wealth for all.

World peace
forces grow,
says Curie

—PARIS.

In recent months the peace move-
ment generated by the World Con-
gress of Partisans of Peace has
gained much momentum, chairman
Frederic Joliot-Curie said here.

“Since. the end of 1949, peace
campaigns have been launched in
at least 50 different countries,” the
world famous scientist reported.
The committee’s proposals, he said,
“have given the initiative to many —
peace campaigns carried out on a
naticnal as well as international
basis.”

He pointed to developing peace
drives in Latin America, the Near
East, France, Italy, Australia
and Canada as the committee’s
program is being stressed. _

It calls for the cessation of re-
armament and a cut in war bud-
gets and military expenditures,
prohibition of atomic weapons, a
halt to the colonial wars of In-
donesia, Malaya and Viet Nam
and an end to the cold war by
mutual agreement of the great
powers. io * ‘

To push the campaign, he said,
peace delegations were being sent
to Italy, France, Belgium, Mexico,
Holland, the Soviet Union and the
U.S. Later on other delegations
will visit the Scandinavian coun-
tries, India and some Latin Ameri-
can and Near East nations.

Pit parachutes for

Soviet coal mines
—LONDON.

The first pit parachute in the
world, which ensures complete
safety for miners’ cages, has been
installed in several USSR colleries,
reports Soviet News. :

Tests were first carried out with
an experimental model in a Don-
bas coal _pit.. The cage cable, by
which miners depend, cut 68
times, while the cage, which con-
tained a number of animals, was
Moving at varying speeds with
varying loads, :

Thanks to the parachute, the cage
touched bottom smoothly every —
time. The parachute mechanism
operated without fail, and the ani-
mals remained unharmed.

Soon all Soviet coalfields will have
pit parachutes for cages.

¢
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 10, 1950—PAGE $8