The Russian Experiment
Lafitte, Louise
May 22, 1929 THE COMMONWEAL 69 THE RUSSIAN EXPERIMENT By LOUISE LAFITTE MY FRIEND arrived from Russia the day after New Year's. Her two-year leave of absence from the States had nearly...
...Colonial products are importations in Russia...
...Thus, if they do not wallow in luxury, neither do they starve or become charity wards...
...Many of them were forced to waive their American citizenship to remain in Russia, as workers, teachers, etc...
...There is a shortage of necessities, not to mention luxuries...
...The United States is adamant "in its two years' leave of absence for the naturalized American...
...Even so, the theatre is an escape from "grey Mondays...
...A comrade, working or idle, is allotted a certain number of square yards of "ploshchad"—literally platform, space...
...To emulate America and eventually to resemble it is young Russia's fervent, passionate desire and chief craving...
...This she found utterly impossible...
...She is at present developing basic needs...
...Capital being scarce, Russians are not permitted to carry money out of the country...
...Of course, the foreigners see only what the authorities wish them to see...
...The authorities will find him, if he is not dead, and compel him to do his duty by his children...
...She stopped at government bases (fifty kopeks a day...
...At the same time there is a vast opportunity for Americans in Russia...
...She is a naturalized citizen here, of course...
...My friend was watched and followed by a secret spy during the first three months of her stay...
...Plays are largely propaganda...
...And yet many naturalized Russians have formed an attachment for the land May 22, 1929 THE COMMONWEAL 71 of their adoption...
...It is the concrete result of marriage—the child— that interests and absorbs Soviet Russia...
...The Tartars in Crimea do the same...
...The same applies to supplies, schools, theatres, opera...
...They have not yet learned to work, to stick to the task...
...Also, the price was raised from six roubles (the abode's cost) to forty roubles per month, which was shady Soviet ethics...
...The nepman may not buy at government stores and at cheap rates...
...Outdoor activities are wisely tempered with instruction...
...have attended American public schools and colleges, and hold degrees...
...At any rate, let Americans go there in numbers, and learn for themselves the aims and ideals of Soviet Russia...
...The Soviet government is not concerned with marriage per se...
...Earnings are spent...
...There is a surprise, a delight at every turn...
...Water rates (I am not certain of electric current charges) are according to one's social and economic position...
...As has been mentioned before, the foreign concessionaire is and has been Russia's particular pet and prime favorite...
...They are trying a Gargantuan experiment in the vast northern republic, and every little bit helps...
...And it does not merely entertain, it teaches and awakens thought...
...One is freed from worry over the proverbial "rainy day" there...
...Meat, bread, eggs are not appreciably higher than in the States...
...opera and theatre boxes...
...She was given ten weeks' vacation with pay plus two weeks at her own expense—a three-months' vacation...
...Not a railroad or a bridge, not a machine or a factory, has been achieved without foreign supervision and direction...
...Nor can they dismiss the land of their birth...
...For this reason she refuses to devote and divert men and machinery to manufacturing luxuries: silk underwear, silk stockings, fripperies and finery...
...Nor will Soviet Russia relent one iota in the matter...
...But they are being gathered and placed in homes—real, genuine homes with none of the flavor of charity or patronage about them...
...She has decided, for the present, to commute between Russia and the States, thus retaining her American citizenship and right of entry, as well as Russian "domicile privileges...
...In spite of occasional protests, they are given many privileges gratis...
...They arc trundled about the vast empire (republic—pardon...
...Russia must export raw materials to pay for her imports...
...This is due to corrupt builders and incompetent workmen and methods...
...And he has to do some tall convincing if he hopes to move a Russian judge in a "paternity tangle...
...These orphans are children of parents killed or lost during the revolution, when the Communists were fighting for their life...
...The current couples and cotenants blew in at any time of day and night and proceeded with their housekeeping tasks and domestic squabbles...
...Now they wish to go back and do their bit...
...Ages range from eight to sixteen...
...Butter is being exported...
...She bathed in Crimea and Caucasia, sailed the Volga, stopped at Caucasian villages...
...The Russian authorities gave her the ultimatum to waive her American allegiance, destroy her American passport and "become one of us," if she hoped for further welcome in Soviet Russia...
...he cannot inflict his children on the state treasury and saunter away scotfree...
...He is welcome to left-overs only, scraps and at exorbitant rates...
...But butter is scarce and not to be obtained in government shops at present...
...The theatre is flourishing and ultra-modern...
...They shrink from a final break with it...
...The mere appearance of an honest-to-goodness foreigner is a sesame in Russia...
...Foreigners have been Russia's particular pets since the dawn of history...
...It would be a grave breach of hospitality to do otherwise, even if they did know the language and the customs and the psychology of the natives...
...Not a millennium nor a Nirvana—certainly not, but at least an attempt at economic care of the individual atom, the unit...
...The child is Russia's greatest care and chief concern at present...
...Of course this law does not necessarily apply to the mighty, the commissaries, superintendents and such...
...The ready-made industry is in its infancy...
...The mother's word as to paternity is always preferred...
...Exotic landscapes, bizarre natives, picturesque clothing, strange tongues and architectural vagaries keep the traveler amused and absorbed...
...Traveling in Russia is never monotonous...
...And this is the difficulty and rock, and snag of every government, ism, ology, scheme, plan, and hope for betterment...
...He cannot "disappear...
...Colonial products are exorbitant: one rouble for a lemon, forty kopeks for an orange...
...Russian currency is so debased abroad—a rouble amounting to about thirty kopeks—that a Russian traveling must spend three to four times as much as he does at home...
...The Caucasian aborigines, over a hundred "nations," cling to their cliffs and lead the existence of biblical times...
...They were driven to drop their hardearned American rights...
...their years of toil and privation, frequently downright starvation, for the right to earn their bread in Soviet Russia...
...My friend traversed Russia from Leningrad to Transcaucasia for a nominal sum...
...the authorities are supremely indifferent to the number and variety of a citizen's mates...
...to soot and dust, and wailing infants, and perspiring, odorous fellow-passengers, and feather beds, and pillows, and food baskets, and travelers over, under, alongside, in his very lap...
...The various regions and provinces of Russia proper have their peculiarities of dress, ways and customs...
...Their mechanical, technical and organizing genius is greatly admired...
...Russia's basic tragedy is its sloth, gullibility, easygoing ways and cosmic procrastination...
...New structures (what there are of them) are jerry-built, and frequently collapse before or soon after completion...
...There is a sharing of goods...
...They have been under foreign tutelage for centuries: German, French, Belgian...
...In the meantime the original occupant of the palatial home arrived from Paris posthaste, on the the eve of the three-months-domicile clause expiration...
...Adults are admitted by special permission, not otherwise...
...Communist youth of both sexes have an almost morbid curiosity as to the States...
...And, as the whole consists of but three-thirds, a comrade's amorous activities are considerably cramped, whatever his natural bent...
...Nor are Russians encouraged to go abroad much at present, because the Soviet government finds itself unable to supply its traveling nationals with foreign currency...
...The nepmen (bourgeoisie) are charged many times as much for water as are the proletarians, comrades...
...No admittance for nepmen's children of school age, no cheap, or free, railway transportation...
...It matters not if the child be born in a registered marriage, or in a free union...
...She must go abroad for it, and this means that too often she has been made the victim of sharp dealing or gross dishonesty...
...She coddles, cherishes, nurses them...
...This, in spite of the fact that they came to the States as children, or young adolescents...
...The unemployed are allowed a minimum pension and "free platform" (space, lodging...
...It matters not if couples are "registered" (married) or not registered...
...She pays in gold, her foreign credit being nil or nominal...
...Many thoughtful Russians feel that the fate of the two nations, their future existence and continued prestige and prosperity, will become more and more fused as time passes...
...As my friend worked during the day, she expected to do some sleeping at night...
...Russia's inexhaustible resources, her vast territory and great man power may thus ally itself with German industry, thoroughness and inventive genius...
...When the electric current goes on strike, the proletarian's wires are repaired with such despatch as is possible in Russia, while the nepman is left in Stygian darkness—frequently on the floor above, or below...
...The "waiving of the American passport" need not amount to more than a gesture, if the American government will exercise a sense of justice and a sense of humor...
...Every scrap of American news is eagerly sought and heard, digested, ruminated and spread...
...If life is admittedly difficult and meagre, and very expensive, in the large Russian centres, at least there are compensations...
...Thus my friend was obliged to leave 400 roubles in Russia...
...The Damocles sword of unemployment, old age, sickness, does not hang over their heads...
...Russians have never been slaves to systematic habits...
...Their polygamy is not interfered with...
...Not a few of what is left of the "bezprizornye" children are purely and simply runaway children...
...He had hoped to keep his absence secret...
...His current wife gave my friend a hasty but thorough inspection and found her wanting...
...More than plague, cholera, pox, famine and flood does the Russian government fear and dread its own expatriated nationals...
...Among a host of bizarreries and quaint vagaries, anomalies and paradoxes, Russia also holds the distinction of being the only country that discriminates against its own nationals and in favor of foreigners...
...The Soviet's chief and primary problem is the human equation: individual appetites versus the common good...
...Their bonfires and community singing attract the boys of summer vacationists...
...My friend had the full legal right to remain as cotenant, since the sumptuous domicile exceeded many times the permissible space allotment for two persons...
...The tales about the "bezprizornye" (homeless) children are highly colored and largely fictitious...
...In the south, near Odessa, is a city of "bezprizornye" children...
...They live in tents and buildings amid natural surroundings, leading a healthy, outdoor life, not unlike our own Boy Scouts and campers...
...Here the "homeless" children are self-supporting, manufacturing soap, handkerchiefs and other items...
...The cost of clothes is staggering...
...The North American republic is at once the treasure island, the land of romance and miraculous, stupendous achievements, the admiration and idol, of Russian youth...
...But my friend waived rights and departed...
...Childhood is made happy and profitable...
...The Butilov works in Leningrad are merely one of many machinerybuilding agencies...
...accompanied by guides, interpreters, nurses, mentors...
...Divorce is obtained for the asking, incompatibility, or plain ennui being a perfectly adequate ground...
...Soviet Russia wishes to be entirely free from foreign technical and mechanical domination...
...no clothes allotment...
...If numbers of them could be induced to learn the rudiments of Russian, at least, and to acquaint themselves with the country's idiosyncrasies, great mutual benefit would result...
...It never has been standardized...
...The country does not breed great mechanical genius, somehow...
...Meagre fare and crowded domiciles are atoned for by opera tenors, sopranos, contraltos, the famous Russian bassos...
...to visit, at least...
...According to those versed in Russian affairs, Russia is now engaged in developing her heavy, primary, fundamental industries—electric power, mining, and the construction of heavy machinery...
...The naturalized Russian would thus be rescued from his position between the devil and the deep sea...
...Certain Moscow factory workers have cooperated into a parents organization and turned Saltikovka into a children's retreat...
...A care-free tone prevails...
...The man in the case has to furnish irrefutable proof of his "blamelessness...
...Labor-saving machinery, every sort of engineering genius, is Russia's greatest need...
...The huddled, herded, shabby and not overfed Russian does not object too strenuously to suffocating, smoke-filled railway carriages...
...One feels the country, the community back of one...
...According to law one-third of a man's income goes to the child...
...Beef is forty kopeks per Russian pound (twelve ounces) ; black bread, five or six kopeks per pound...
...Thus, in Saltikovka, fifteen miles from Moscow, a vast estate has been converted into a haven for factory workers' children...
...This is not possible for all Russian expatriates, however...
...A prolonged residence in the States ought to entitle the naturalized American to some consideration, such as free entry...
...empty stomachs find solace in futuristic decor and morbid plays...
...At any rate, what with an army of fellowcomrades, a belligerent female, intermittent cooking, tea-drinking, late discussions, my friend found life far from a bed of roses...
...Mail was not always sacred...
...no free domicile...
...The children are here self-governed, divided into groups and subgroups, each headed and led by a commander...
...They fled Russia years ago because of revolting, inhuman conditions...
...Americans, in spite of rifts and provocations, are liked there, on the whole...
...Hence the scarcity at home of necessaries...
...Instead, she is training every resource to achieve electric motor power on a vast, national scale in order to drive the immense machinery of the near future...
...eggs, fifty cents per ten...
...To be precise, the bourgeois code of "personal conduct and morals" is ignored in the Soviet republic...
...Top-notch prices for the pariahs— the bourgeoisie...
...This comrade-tenant and his current wife were away in Paris, and a domicile automatically reverts to the last tenant after a three-months' occupancy...
...Foreign tourists, business men and concessionnaires live off the cream of the land...
...Because of the passport system, a father may not abandon his offspring and emigrate to another city or province...
...Per capita production is low...
...News of my friend's unholy, bourgeois opulence spread...
...This is made into clothes at home or professionally...
...The care for tomorrow, which robs us of joy and peace, is minimized...
...They have acquired the vagrancy habit, not unlike our own incurable tramps...
...It is self-governed...
...they occupy the best hotels, first-class railway accommodations...
...A number of comrades with current wives attached themselves to her and her palatial apartment...
...When my friend moved in, his sister commenced bombarding him with letters urging him to fly back to Moscow and reclaim his domicile before the termination of the fatal three months...
...They play and learn...
...The government allows a number of yards of material per person (proletarian...
...On her arrival in Moscow (in the fall of 1927) my friend received from a friendly commissary the key to an absent comrade's apartment: three rooms, bath and shower, an unheard-of luxury in present-day Moscow...
...The cheap items in Russia are (1) transportation 70 THE COMMONWEAL May 22, 1929 (2) opera and theatre seats (3) government bases (stopping places) for worker-travelers everywhere...
...The Germans, Russia's nearest neighbors, who understand her best, have done very well for themselves in the Soviet republic...
...These prefer the untrammeled freedom of vagrancy to school and home discipline...
...These "fortunate" boys of individual villas regard wistfully and enviously the doings of the workers' sons, and frequently end by joining them...
...Her two-year leave of absence from the States had nearly expired...
...My friend, as has been stated, has decided to commute between the States and Russia for the time being...
...Private enterprises sell it at two and a half roubles per pound...
...She thus found herself between the devil and the deep sea...
...A citizen from Tierra del Fuego, an African cannibal, a Papuan, is certain to find a greater welcome there than are its own hapless expatriates...
...The original occupant of my friend's temporary abode was one of those god-like beings...
...And in Russia traveling is a constant delight...
Vol. 10 • May 1929 • No. 3
