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| Title | What has become of the Russian Revolution |
| Creator (LCNAF) |
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| Contributor (Local) |
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| Publisher | International Review |
| Date | 1937 |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
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| Subject.Topical (Local) |
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| Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
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| Genre (AAT) |
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| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
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| Original Item Extent | 63 pages; 22 cm |
| Original Item Location | HN523.Y8613 1937 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b8304536~S11 |
| Original Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
| Digital Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/scpamp |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections |
| Use and Reproduction | In Copyright |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Title | Image 23 |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | uhlib_2209396_022.jpg |
| Transcript | buckwheat 4.30 millet 2.10 rice - 6.00 sugar 4.70 wheat groats 4.50 MOSCOW PRICES AT THE BEGINNING OF 1937, IN ROUBLES, A KILO: (2.2 LBS.) wheat bread 1.70 rye bread 0.85 meat for stew 6 to 7 butler 16 oleomargarine 10 to 11 edible oil 13 to 14 These are prices paid by all buyers, including the unfortunates who must make both ends meet on a monthly wage of 80 to 200 roubles. To get an exact idea of the situation that the Russian worker finds himself in, compare these figures with those of your own budget. And remember: the prices given in the last table are Moscow prices. They are often quite different in the provinces, with the ratio always favoring Moscow. Many Westerners have permitted themselves the cruelty of saying that the present misery of the Russian worker is an improvement as compared to the time of the Tsar. It is true that the Russian worker was badly housed before the revolution. But he ate abundantly. The Russian is a big eater. The Russian worker, under Tsarism, had a simple but plentiful fare. Foodstuffs were cheap. Daily he ate his stew and kasha. He had sugar, lard, cabbage, tea, and good bread in large quantity. In 1925-1927, in the last years of the Nep, this standard of alimentation was even surpassed. It then fell radically, affecting the entire population, including the peasants, the oldest of whom cannot recall similar distress. What is the cause of this condition? It is accounted for, in part, by the State's program of boundless industrialization, consisting of the forced development of heavy industry and the manufacture of means of production rather than means of subsistence. Another reason is the forced "collectivization" of the countryside in the four years from 1929 to 1933, which led, among other things, to the disappearance of more than half of the cattle. Artisan production was well developed in old and Nep Russia. The peasant who busied himself as an artisan producer during the long winter months was almost self-sufficient. In the name of "organized" economy, the artisan production of Russia was destroyed. Almost instantly, industry was facing needs that it could not satisfy. During that period, the hurried exportation of grain, fish, butter, eggs, oils, flax, etc. paid for the importation of machines. I remember how in 1931, while I was working at the loading of salt fish to be shipped abroad from a Soviet port, the "accidental" breaking of a cask was like a gift from heaven to the famished longshoremen. We rushed to pick up the pieces of fish, though some of it had landed in the mud. The "shortage" found in the USSR is, therefore, not a natural product. It is the exclusive result of the will and acts of the masters of the country. They say that they know best what is good for humanity. They say that they know best the ways leading to what is good for humanity. Coldly, pitilessly, they impose their "truth" on the helpless country. 21 |