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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 |
| Place of Creation (TGN) |
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| 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: This item is protected by copyright. Copyright to this resource is held by the creator or current rights holder, and the resource is provided here for educational purposes. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the copyright owner. Users assume full responsibility for any infringement of copyright or related rights. |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Title | Image 41 |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | uhlib_2209396_040.jpg |
| Transcript | Years ago, after the Revolution, you could circulate everywhere in the country with a trade-union card; the fact that you were a member of a trade-union organization was enough. Little by little numerous identification papers were added. The Tsarist interior passport, which the Revolution took pride in destroying, was reestablished after 1933. To a much greater extent than under Tsarism, every change of domicile by the citizen is rigorously controlled by the State. Entry into industrial and commercial establishments, into administrative edifices (which keep on rising like mushrooms), into stores and many residential buildings, is impossible without special passes. There are barred office windows and stamped papers everywhere. One of the cages at which the worker must present himself to get a job is that of the secret bureau of the factory, the door and safe of which are sealed every evening. At the narrow window of this office the worker must present his military papers. The hermetically closed door and the mysterious air of the occupants of that office help to emphasize the "sacred- ness" of the place. The secret bureau of each factory is subordinated to the ministries of War and Interior (G.P.U.) It elaborates and announces the mobilization plan of the establishment. It puts together all information on the moral as well as the material side of the mobilization. Its correspondence is not sent by ordinary mail, but, always sealed, is transmitted through a special service of the G.P.U. When you are told: "The secret bureau wants you," you feel a chill run down your spine, though you know yourself to be the most innocent person in the world. You must go through the same procedure to leave a job. That is impossible without the consent of the "triangle": the factory director, the president of the factory trade-union committee and the secretary of the Communist cell. The shrewd thing in that case is to get one of the two "angles" of the triangle to influence the other two to let you go look for work in a location that seems preferable to you. You can solicit a certificate from the factory medical commission attesting to your need of a change of air or work. But sickness, health and other official means are never sure means without "pull." In the USSR it is very important to have the right connections, pull, especially pull with the Party representatives. Lacking pull, you may get rid of a bad job by committing intentionally a breach of discipline. That will free you from the unwelcome job, but it will also result in the management putting notations on all your papers, so that you cannot get any other work, excepting in a sovkhos or on some distant construction in the wilderness, or in the cold districts. In those "free" prisons, you can take your time washing your sin clean. When the punishment has been judged sufficient, you have the right to take back your place—in the factory you wanted to escape. A motivated dismissal of this kind always bears terrible consequences. Yet it takes little effort to be found deserving of it. It is enough, for example, to have been ill without the recognition of your illness by the office. You are then declared to be a "deserter from the socialist labor front." You are also considered to be such a deserter if you are late for work a number of times, catching all the unwelcome things that come with such a misdemeanor. 39 |