Page:Pavel Ivanovich Biryukov - The New Russia - tr. Emile Burns (1920).djvu/18

 for the feeding of the population. Another kind of group is that of the Trade Unions, which organise the placing of employees in different industries, domestic service, as well as the other kinds of employment.

Another most interesting group is that of the Tenants' Committees. Houses are nationalised. The General Assembly of Tenants elects a committee, a president and secretary. The committee concerns itself with all matters relating to tenants, and serves as a medium of communication between the local authorities and the people. The Committee distributes the food cards, and informs the people of the orders issued by the authorities. These organisations have contributed a great deal to unifying the interests of the individual citizens, and have made the feeding of the people much easier and have solved the question of housing. Independent life became more and more difficult in circumstances which almost compel collective living. Life in general is full of energy, and I shall attempt to sketch some of the aspects of this creative life which is working at the regeneration of the country.

Public education is under the control of the Commissary, Lounacharsky, a brilliant and learned man, full of energy and devotion for the cause. The Czarist regime left a legacy to the present system of a population in which more than sixty per cent. were illiterate. In order to enable the whole population to gain education, it was necessary at once to triple the number of schools. That is a task which takes time, but it is going on with a fine