Nomad News-Vol.4-No.84

GERMANY 1945-INTERVIEW WITH RUSSIAN FORCED LABORER: (Part 2 of 4) RUSSIAN ECONOMIC CONDITIONS In an effort to obtain the proper perspective between living and working conditions in Russia and other countries, Mr. Skivar quoted freely from official Soviet newspaper clippings. "The average Russian wage", he stated, "is between 1/25 and 1/30 the American wage, taking into consideration the buying power of the ruble and the dollar. From the period 1905 to 1914, an American dollar equaled two rubles. In 1914 a pound of sugar cost 10 kopeks, bread cost 2.5 to 3 kopeks a pound. By 1937 the price of bread had risen to approximately 60 to 80 kopeks a pound, or twenty to thirty times higher than the pre-World War I price. According to Soviet propaganda figures, the average wage per month was 24.30 rubles in 1914. The average skilled worker or draftsman, at that time, received 60 to 200 rubles per month. In 1937, the average Russian wage, still according to Soviet figures had increased to 242 rubles per month for the average worker. This aspect, by itself, looks very fine and has been used extensively as Soviet propaganda, but during this time the value of the ruble has steadily declined. Today, the approximate value of the ruble is 550 rubles equals six American dollars. Having no gold standard, the government could issue what paper money they desired, and normally they kept increasing the wage each month. All during the period from 1914 to 1937, the monthly wage rate increased but the amount of goods a person could buy with the ruble steadily decreased. In 1923, a man's monthly wage, although increased, would buy only about 20% of what his smaller wage would have bought in 1914 although the monthly wage rate had now risen to 242 rubles. The increased wage scale, he said, was always used as Soviet propaganda to show how the worker's wages had steadily increased under Communism, but it was never indicated what this worker could buy for this money." (To be continued in Nomad News No. 85)..(copyright 2014 Andrew. M. Dolan)