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In the Land of Socialism

A Brotherhood of Nationalities
By M.J. Olgin.

As you travel through the Soviet Union you realize it isn't Russia. Soviet Russia is only one part of the Union; the others are "national republics" and "autonomous regions". In Russia proper, with a population of about 78 million, the language is Russian. In the other republics and regions, with a population of over 82 million, the languages vary according to the local population. You travel in a Russian train and suddenly you find yourself at a "foreign" station. The signs, the posters, the newspapers on the stands, the books, - all are in a non-Russian language. It is Soviet - but it is not Russia. The local language - Ukrainian or Bashkir, Uzbek or Georgian, Marian or Tartar - is the language of the administration, of the educational system from grammar school to academy of science, of poetry and fiction, the theatre, and the movie, and even the Red Army.

Tsarist Imperialism

Under the Tsar all minority nationalities were oppressed, robbed, deprived of the right to use their native tongue, deprived of culture. They were considered "aliens" though they were natives. The capitalists of Russia proper ("Great

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[[caption]] In the country where all races are equal. Chinese children in the Soviet Union [[/caption]]

Russia") used the outlying districts inhabited by non-Russians as they use colonies in foreign lands: they took their raw materials, they grabbed their most fertile lands, they turned the native toilers into slaves. No schools were allowed in the tongue of the local population; no newspapers or books. The national districts were sources of super profits for the ruling Great-Russian capitalists and landlords.

The Bolshevik Revolution broke the power of the capitalists and with it abolished national exploitation. Every nationality was given freedom to form its own Soviet republic. Each state is independent in local affairs.

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[[caption]] No more imperialism for them. A group of former oppressed nation in Asiatic Russia [[/caption]]

The New Freedom.
The Soviet government is investing huge sums of money in building factories and railroads in those regions, in improving agriculture, in developing higher economic and cultural standards. Proportionately greater investments were made in the upbuilding of these districts than in Russia proper.

Hand in hand with industrial and agricultural progress has gone progress in housing, in sanitation, in culture. A new life is stirring within those regions where only a few short years ago poverty and superstition reigned supreme. The library and the reading room, the movie and the radio made their appearance among the masses. Books are published now and school is taught in the U.S.S.R. in seventy languages. The increase in cultural activities may be seen from the