University of Houston, 4333 University Drive, Houston TX 77204-2000, (713) 743-1050.
© 2013 University of Houston. All rights reserved.
| Title | What has become of the Russian Revolution |
| Creator (LCNAF) |
|
| Contributor (Local) |
|
| Publisher | International Review |
| Date | 1937 |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
|
| Subject.Topical (Local) |
|
| Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
|
| Genre (AAT) |
|
| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
|
| 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 35 |
| Format (IMT) |
|
| File Name | uhlib_2209396_034.jpg |
| Transcript | secretary-general of the Central Committee of the trade-unions, gave: 1 for 380 1 for 114 The general figures for all workers (excluding peasants) tell of 1 for every 500 taking advantage of beaches and sea-side resorts; 1 for every 140 going to sanatoriums; 1 for every 20 going to houses of rest, which are for the most part, the barracks of rest found in the immediate vicinity of the cities. According to the Izviestia of 1-2-35, the total figures for 1934 hardly exceeded the 1932 figures, while the worker population had greatly increased in that time. There is therefore no change for the better in the proportions given above. The official statement calls for the following remarks: 1. The members of the family are not included, and if we multiply by three the number of wage workers, in order to get the number of inhabitants, we find that in a city of 3 millions, as Moscow, about 2.000 have enjoyed, free of charge or with part payment, the beaches and sea-side resorts, 7,000 the sanatoriums and 50,000 the neighborhood rest homes. (In reality, the figures for Moscow are much higher, to the disadvantage of the provinces, as there are many more notables in Moscow.) The vacation camps for school children have to be paid for by the children's parents. Bringing into our calculation the number of children at such camps would not change the order of our figures, since the coefficient 3 that we have used is a minimum for the USSR. 2. Under the name "worker" are included, in mine and factory, workers as well as their bosses, technicians and office managers. A simple visit to the sea-side resorts, beaches and rest houses will show the following. The more "comfortable" is the rest offered at a place, the greater the proportion of the responsibles and technicians vacationing there. We find ourselves starting with the zero of comfort in the rest barracks of the third order (which are the appanage of the steady workers at the base of the system and the super-oudarniks). We reach 100% of comfort in the fashionable beaches and sea-side resorts monopolized by the higher-ups. 3. The figures given above do not indicate how many of the "free" vacations are partly paid for. In other words, the Soviet "salary supplement," so glorified in the West, is an enormous bluff. The 30% of the wages that it should constitute is reduced to some 6-7%, unequally distributed, and the evolution of the "salary supplement" indicates clearly that its value decreases alongside the real wages. The heading "Pensions and Various Indemnities" represented only two-thirds of the budget for "Social Security" in 1929. Today it represents only a third. The rates of sickness benefit and accident benefit have been reduced. Pensions have undergone a radical revision downward. At the same time new direct taxes (10% of the wage) have been laid on the population. The "salary supplement" contributes to implant a new illusion in the mind of the people: everybody possesses the common property, but each enjoys it unequally. In fact, the big functionary finds himself in a situation where in the name of workers' security, he does not even need to economize for the future. The new society guarantees him his material privileges for life. 33 |