For the people

The Communal Kitchen

Most of us have heard a great deal about the Russian communal kitchen. There have been many stories written in our publications on how these kitchens break up the home life. I have had several people tell me they would not like this kind of eating, but it probably would be all right for the Russians. What I have seen of communal kitchens in the U. S. S. R. and from what meals I have eaten in them, I am inclined to believe they are a step or two ahead of our way of serving the public as far as a restaurant is concerned.

Food is prepared on a larger scale and if not satisfactory to the workers, they can complain with results, since it is a co-operative or government affair. Then, as all communal kitchens are governmental or co-operative institutions, inferior and adulterated foods are not permitted. The communal kitchen is able to serve better or just as good food as a private establishment and at a lower price.

Disregarding geography, the communal kitchen style is practically the same as any large restaurant' or cafeteria. The food is prepared on a large scale, cooked in huge kitchens and then served in immensedining rooms or placed under a glass counter to be selected cafeteria style. The larger kitchens have their own bakery shop and other specialized culinary departments which are necessary in an eating place of this scope.

The main thing, of course, in any eating establishment, is the food. What I saw and ate in the ones I visited while in Russia was, on the whole, good. In fact, I would much rather eat in some of them than in the "one arm" and "stand-up" places like we have in New York and Chicago or the ones in Paris which the French favor for their breakfasts; to say nothing of the "greasy spoon" places a traveling man will accidentally hit upon when in a strange city.

I enjoy home cooked meals just like the rest of us do, but if the food can be supplied by women who do it as a job and not as an extra duty and it is just as wholesome, in a communal kitchen, why not have it? It is said the average housewife spends almost half of her life in a kitchen. And what a blessing these would be to the American wife who does outside work in business or in a profession.

A Leningrad communal kitchen where 5,000 meals are served daily

The largest communal kitchen I visited was in Leningrad where it is said 5,000 meals are served daily. I arrived during the dinner hour and had a good chance to see it in operation. The building was a new one, four stories tall. The first floor contained a large department store as did part of the second, with the addition of wash rooms, check rooms, shower baths which the workers could use when they came direct from the factories. On the third floor were three commodious dining rooms and a laboratory for testing food. A building of . this kind in Russia could not exist unless it ,had a lecture hall. So at the end on the fourth floor a space was provided for this purpose.

In the bakery men and women were busy turning out bread and pastry. One rack was loaded down with fresh jelly rolls. I could hardly resist putting one under my coat, for again I was hungryand sofar, dinnerless.

In another room potatoes were poled by machinery and many women were preparing vegetables for cooking. Opposite here was a room where there were quite a number of copper containers. They extended above the workers' heads in height and, upon inquiring, I found that soup was being cooked in these. No doubt it was Russian cabbage soup as one of the -native dishes. It must be quite a favorite for they did not measure it by the bowlfull but by the container-full. Before passing out into the dining hall I went through some more cooking halls, one of them being a place where all kindsof fish were in the process of preparation.

As I mentioned before there were three dining rooms, one for the children where the mothers who are employed or not employed could bring their youngsters for their meals. The mothers, too, come directly-here after leaving the factory to eat instead of going to the trouble of preparing meals home. The second was for the workers of the district in which this kitchen was located and for other workers of Leningrad. Here meals cost from thirty-five to forty kopecks each or about twenty cents in our money. The third dining hall was also for the workers and public, those who lived outside of Leningrad. In this place meals were much higher, costing about two rubles or a dollar. Everything was clean and the food looked quite appetizing. Not one thing served in this building came from the outside, for everything is either made or prepared on the spot.

In the food testing laboratory the chief dietetician explained that every bit of food served was tested daily. Those employed here received from 150 to 160 rubles a month and then, their meals for six hours work a day. The government considers this kind of labor, because of confinement, injurious to the health, therefore six hours employment per day was the maximum. Besides the short hours a month's vacation was granted each worker. In order to secure a position of this kind it is necessary for each laboratory worker to have a college training.

Now, perhaps, one may wonder whether every family is compelled to purchase their food in these communal kitchens. Those who do not wish to are free to prepare their own meals in their own apartments or apartment communal kitchens.

The Cultural Hall

For those who wonder what the Russians do with their spare time, the institution known as the cultural hall is one of the answers.

One of the largest institutions devoted to culture for 'the workers was just across the street from the communal kitchen. It was a building just recently completed. Every worker is admitted free to all the activities except the theatres, which number three. But the theatres, too, are managed by the workers who give plays as a means of raising funds for different fraternal purposes. Besides the theatres there are class rooms, exhibition halls, and a gymnasium.

One exhibition hall was distinguished by its unique shows. Among the exhibits was a group of cartoons of disreputable workers, though they can only be called "workers" in the indiscriminate terminology of the Soviet Union. These included drunkards, lazy individuals, and thieves, with their names, Thismight be called a "black ball" system, but it is an open one. In some factories there are special pay windows for tendering the wages of such "workers." The psychology of this is obvious but the purpose is as much to aid the "unfortunates" as to make an example of them-though it is admitted this is a sort of left-handed way of going about it.

The "worker" is given every chance, at least, to reform and his record is quickly changed. Whereas in a capitalistic corporation, the man is most frequently discharged for a first offence and is forced to forfeit a recommendation to any other organization where he may seek employment. If his offence is a serious one he may be hampered almost whereever he goes and instead of giving him a second chance, as soon as his new employer learns of the reasons for his former discharge, he is again minus a job.

The "Kino"

In Russia, as well as in several other countries ofEurope, the movie is called "kino."

America has a lot to learn from Russia when it comes to moving pictures, in spite of our technic. Instead of filling their pictures full of sex they aim to teach and to work toward a higher morale. The Soviets also endeavor to bring the life of the masses in every film production rather than just producepictures for the mere idea of amusing the public. They realize what a tremendous power the movies have in molding public opinion and therefore take advantage of this opportunity in using this medium as a means of spreading propaganda. They use the movies to encourage proletarian patriotism, to urge an early completion of the Five Year Plan, for anti-religious purposes, and to show the faults of capitalism. Nevertheless, the main purpose of the Russian propaganda is for the uplifting and betterment of the masses as a class. As a theoretical problem in social ethics it is decidedly altruistic in motive.

Soviet Films vs. Capitalist Films

While in Kiev I visited the first movie plant in the U. S. S. R. built in the year 1926. It was no different from the Hollywood variety except that no "star houses" could be found. The reason for this is as I said previously because the aim is to present mass action instead of individual action of the star type. All actors and actresses are picked from the factories and then given special training. There are no professionals in the Soviet Union as far as "kinos" are concerned.

The film production is arranged by the "kino conference" at each plant of the U. S. S. R., under complete control of the Commissariat for Education. In the conference is discussed what the programwill be for each year. The committee is composed of groups from the factories and the central educational force. It is decided in this conference whatimported pictures, if any, will be used during the following year. The U. S. S. R. does import some pictures but only as few as possible since, as in every other case, they want to produce everything used or needed within the country, even movie films.

When workers are selected from the factories to be used in the different film productions they are paid according to their ability, the minimum wage being 200 rubles and the maximum 600. In this industry socialistic competition takes place as well as in others. Here different groups of players compete against one another, all trying to produce thebest films and to complete them before their allotted time. These players and "kino" plant workers of Kiev, in addition to doing their regular work, maintain a small farm just outside the plant grounds.

The "Workers' Home" and Apartment

All over the U. S. S. R. and especially in the' industrial centers there are rest homes for the workers. The Crimea region on the Black Sea was formerly the summer resort of the Czar and royalty but now it belongs to the workers and peasants. It is here where many workers spend their vacations or are sent for treatment for their ailments in a government sanitarium. I happened to be traveling in thesouthern part of Russia during the vacation period and every train going to the Crimea district was crowded with vacationers.

A large home of a former Russian capitalist in Leningrad was converted into one of these "Workers' Homes." One evening I visited this, finding it to be beautiful inside with all the fixtures and decorations just the same as they were before it was taken from the former owner. The workers there were those who had illnesses which require rest. They were sent there to stay from one to two weeks depending upon their individual case. The various trade unions in the district maintained this place for its members. A worker who did not care to take a trip for his vacation could spend it here since this place is considered a summer home as well. Most everyone in the "Home" seemed to be pleased with his treatment.

Nearly all the workers in the cities of Russia live in apartments, about which there has been a great deal of propaganda. The one great difficulty of Russia at present is the housing question. In orderto care for the thousands of workers whom the industries employ, homes must be provided. Thebuilding of factories is always a jump or two ahead of the housing program, therefore many workersare obliged to share their apartments with others orgive up a room or two. The new people coming into the cities from the country seeking factory labor only makes the situation more acute. All over Russia, wherever a new factory is being built, up springs a new subdivision of apartments for those who are to be employed in the new industry. I saw this taking place in many factory districts of Leningrad, Moscow, Rostov on Don, Kharkov, Dnieperstroy, Stalingrad, and in co-operative farming communities including the Verbliud State Farm.

A typical workers' apartment house
The steel mast in the background is that of the Moscow radio broadcasting station

Partly finished apartment buildings (in Mocsow) which will be occupied by Soviet officials

In the different residental sections my interpreter was lucky enough to get the consent of several different workers' families whose apartments I desired to see. Some families were not so pleasant but others did not seem to mind our intruding. I could hardly blame them. They were on the whole very hospitable. I wondered if Americans would ever consent to having foreigners looking over our homes like we did theirs.One of the largest buildings I visited was in Moscow. This one was located in the residential section but not near a factory. It really was a super-building, containing a nursery, theatre, communal kitchen, and a lecture room besides the one, two, three, and four room apartments. The furniture in the rooms varied. Some had sufficient and others, it seemed to me, could use a little more to be well furnished. But this, after all, is a matter of taste. Nothing was elaborate, just simple and comfortable. The rent charged the workers who lived in this building was according to their wage-the usual rent scale for all workers throughout Russia-ten per cent. Anyway, that was the impression I got in traveling from one section of the country to the other. The number of rooms each family was allowed depended upon the size of the family. More members, more rooms.

Oh yes, baths. Some apartments did not contain baths while others had special rooms provided for that purpose. In the more recently constructed buildings, most of the apartments contain bath rooms. What did the people do for baths in apartments which did not contain them? They went to the public bath stations just like they do in Germany, Austria, and France.

Chapter Eight