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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 30 |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | uhlib_2209396_029.jpg |
| Transcript | test every pension claimed by invalid workers. The Institute declared in Izviestia, September 17, 1934: "Four years of experience have shown us that nearly all invalids are capable of working and we occupy ourselves specially with the task of bringing them back to work . . . Science gives the word (invalidity) an entirely relative significance and permits us to return to production a great number of our invalids . . That is, in accordance with the needs of its budget, the State sets "science" to work to diminish and void the allowances granted to pensioned invalids. No law, no Parliament is needed here. "Science" in the service of the State-employer is sufficient for the job. In 1933 we heard the spokesmen of the State trade-unions answer retired aged workers who in the utmost of misery begged for the favor of being allowed to buy their food in the—then cheaper—lunchroom of the same factory to which they had given the best of their life: "If you want to improve your condition, comrades, return to the shop. We shall find you some light tasks. Otherwise, it is impossible to permit you to buy your meals in the lunchroom. You know it is only for those who work!" And that was true. The trade-union committee of the factory could not accord such a "favor," for the factory lunchroom was furnished as many portions of food as there were active workers in the shop. The worker's pension varies from 25 to 50 roubles a month. It is rarely greater. A few old super-oudarniks may attain 70-80 roubles. The worker's pension is personal. It deprives the worker of the right to eat in the factory lunchroom, but does not free him from the necessity of paying for his lodging. It is granted to the worker himself. On the other hand, with a simple stroke of the pen, the higher organs of the State will give to the widows and children of the eminent personalities of the regime (Party officials, administrators, technicians, professors, etc. . . . ) pensions from 250 to 1,000 roubles and more a month, besides other very advantageous privileges, as that of enjoying an apartment or a villa, allowed for life to the family of the "notable" of the "socialist" State. On the other side of the barricade, the widow and children of the worker have the privilege of going to the factory or the settlements run by the "Public Aid." This explains the employment of the first two billions of the budget for "Social Security." Let us pass on to the remaining billions. II.—What immediately strikes one upon considering the use to which the other two billions are applied is that they are put to purposes that may be very useful but which up to now no society, not even capitalist society, has had the gall to qualify as "Social Security" or an "addition to the wages." For some of the money, the State constructs houses that are most often occupied by the privileged section of Soviet society and where rent is paid, as elsewhere, and that is called social security! More: the construction and upkeep of public parks—baptised for the occasion "gardens of culture and rest"—and athletic stadiums, where you must pay to enter, are also described as an addition to the "socialist" wages! 28 |