Show tftmim THE OGDEN STANDARD EXAMINER— SUNDAY MORNING JULY 21 1935 no u H2? ' i Accustomed to doing men's work Soviet women rebelled when told they wouldn't be allowed underground What's more they had their way so they take their share of credit for the "most beautiful subway in the world" O women allowed underground" This was the slo- gan of the builders when the first Soviet subway was start ed in Moscow in 1932 - but this was the rule applied to the hundreds of vomen who filed into the Metro office on Sverdlov Square when the call for subway workers was first broadcast They came pre pared to choose their jobs Soviet law says men and women are equal and women have grown accustomed to tackling any job they But Soviet law also decrees please that the health of women must be It was therefore ipecially protected decided that no women should work' underground and none should work at night To all other jobs they were more than welcome for workers were scarce Yet Americans who visited Moscow 3 wvaKHs& last summer or the summer before can recall seeing dozens of women in rubber boots trousers jackets and 1 coming up the shafts from the H subway tunnels at the end of a day's work They recollect many evenings when a burst of song at midnight brought them to the hotel window in time to see men and women of the night shift marching of! in squads to the strains of the Budenny Red Cavalry march or the stirring chorus of the aviators song "Rise higher and higher and higher" Many a night as these tourists walked home through the sleeping city sudthey turned a corner and came denly upon a group of women whose bright red kerchiefs were illumined by a blazing arc light which made the street as light as day These too were subway workers ripping up pavements or 'shoveling dirt from midnight to escalators in the Krasniye Voroia station in Moscow dawn when there were no interrupt- tremendously-popula- r Be At the right the Cnmean Square sta43 meters below the earth's surface ing tramcars or whizzing automobiles tion with pillars and walls decorated With marble and trucks: To many Americans it seemed francs that women should be work stel took advantage of both try the same jobs ing ion such a job as subway construction— the confusion among the When they registered at the Metro office This wks a man's job and even at night underground crew and ' all workers men and women were given a else? do something women the didn't Why went down into the tunU ' examination and only the the in physical been thorough had long before But they nel She helped in the strenstrongest were allowed to undertake this Soviet Union they realized that the women ' emergency and then The strongest men were assigned uous work were doing something else in fact 'they were when it was ended said to work in the tunnels but not even the strongIt was evident there doing everything else "Now why all this nonAt allowed underground were women women's est from distinct men's no jobs were sense about us women? They protested this they complained bitterly on fares women found taking travelers The If we want to work down against this discrimination the tramcars and the trains women taxi drivers here there's no reason were all young women accustomed to They militiamen and firemen and women motormen why we shouldn't" All were husky they pleased anything trying and and restaurants factories women managing The men teased them many were champion athletes many were para-chuoperating running tractors hotels mining Several about getting their skirts jumpers expert marksmen hosforges and lathes as well as supervising wet but the girls pointed thousand were Komsomols members of the and all pitals nurseries laboratories schools rehad which to their trousers rubber Communist Youth organization the other jobs that are accepted as woman's workboots rubber jackets and hats and told the men sponded to the urgent call for additional work in America and conservative not to be so ers They came as one organization but they Better get to work they said or the women found themselves divided — the men sent to was inevitable that when the new subway would beat them at the job work underground the women above ground the first subway in the Soviet Union sent All their protests were in vain so the Komout a call for workers thousands of women in news spread that some women were somols began leading the women in a guerilla factories offices and homes decided to have a working in the subway tunnels and warfare Why all this fuss to keep women part in this new enterprise which was attracting newspaper reporters began coming around to out of the tunnels? There must be something so much attention interview these pioneers They met Ibrago-mov- a interesting underground — and they were deterWomen in every part of the Soviet Union handsome a young woman who had One young4 mined to find out what it was before fields never new into out were striking never done physical work before but was a vvoman name4 Traustel an auto mechanic was invaded by their sex so to experience the novchampion athlete She came to work attractive-flood in one A rest the than in more persistent and first subway this in only elty of helping ly dressed and with marcelled bair and of of the shafts gave her the opportunity for the USSR women' came from every one of the course the men kidded her v which" she had watched seven republics and the dozens of nationalities "Watch out for that marcel" they'd say The Niglinia River that meandered under No one in the Soviet had ever built a subway "Don't get mud on your beautiful dress" But the Kremlin wall and across the city under before The men knew no more about it than Ibragomova came back with taunts about how streets and houses had once again burst its So they started even and the the women careless they all were in their personal appear- -' bounds and poured into the excavation Trau women saw no reason why they should not ance "You look terrible even when you're not at 1 work in the tunnel" she told them So they finally True there was no such sign displayed '4 jr i § A ewxoa sou'-weste- rs : 34: ktJ Sdo io Ready - Communist any work a wan could do — one of the Young Moscow the subway for a shovel job on shock-tcorke- ready fs s ? - wete on the technical staff too: doing purveying and other engineering jobs in charge of the first aid station sanitary conditions! jnspection of food and clothing supervision of safety de Ii Manv wnmen became concrete mixers vir r other traces of the czars of cenAnd among this group of underturies past ground workers was S I Kisnya a technician who was the only woman on this subway to work under compressed air stones-an- wi'r° ' :— linn — ' - ed r' THE let her alone The newspapers ran daily stories about- the women tunnelers for a while but it soon became commonplace and the underground crew became accustomed to having women in their midst The women were assigned just as difficult tasks as the men and they enjoyed the excitement of the battle - W"zZ 1 v aowv W 1 5 1 i m against quicksand against streams that had lain concealed since the glacial period until disturbed by the drills of this subway crew They helped uncover the of old fortifications the remains of an ancient Tartar city clay jars and other relics of households axes and grave-by EveryWeek Magazine) ruins 's long-forgott- un liiniiiiiinii ine joo m me rcainyoj me tana nog r-- y -- rr rr- - "tcopyrlEht 193St en 'llllllllllllllllllDllllllllllllllllllllK — 4' — — electricians Traustel who was the pioneejr in getting an underground job plasterers plumbers 3 organized the best brigade of marble polishers Every station on thii —w subway whicrj reporti call the most beautiful in the world is lined with Crimean marbleU Pillar' balustrades y alls are all of marble highly polished by groups like! that of Traustel Carved friezes ' & decorate the stations- all ' of which are Jot different design The ! latest ideas in inverted lighting are carried out by huge lamps Station platforms are wider than those of subways in London Paris or New York Escalators! have been installed at all stations Can are roomvi and mod And every possible lafety de-ern in design vice has been installed to avoid accident This new subway is only the first spur of h whole system but in every detail it has been made at perfect as possible h - - j fJ ' I!1 L -- old-fashion- - " ? te — ' l : '"'m" — mtmmmm V these burrowers tunneled the city! V men and women above ground cleared in the away old buildings and dug up streets path of further construction Every part of the city was "subway-con- -j scious" In the square opposite the famous! Bolshoy Theater a great wooden structurej covering a square block concealed one of the main shafts and housed supplies of building It was flrav with red bunting and materials life-siz- e cartoons on every holiday and it dis- played a great map describing the routes of the new subway line Similar maps were found in various parts of the city and there were mod- els of subway cars and subway stations mark- ing the spots where now the marble stations at Riad are receiv- Arbat Sokolniki or Okhotny mg passengers Every day the papers reported the number of cubic feet of dirt excavated the amount of the progress in tunneling concrete poured Every parade or demonstration had delegation! of subway workers men and women in their rubber clothing sometimes even showing traces of mud and sand from the day's work With the attention of the whole city so centered on its first subway it was like a call to arms when the Metro issued an appeal for voU unteer workers to help in the construction work In the spirit of a great holiday celebration tens of thousands of workers gave their free day each week to help on this great job The old women as well as the young could take part in this project "BabasV grandmothers with shawls over their heads turned out in rain or hot sun shoveled dirt pushed wheelbarrows ( carried tote-boxpiled high with dirt all with as much "Subbotniks enthusiasm as any youngster these days of voluntary labor were called and nearly a million men and women contributed in this way to completion of the Soviet Union's WTHILE - " es first underground railway It was not only on the unskilled jobs that women took part in the subway building They i-- In t I I phase of this work the jwpmen had They held administrative ' jobs as well as performing the hardest manual labor ' Many of them had positions like that of Raisa Markovna Belaya who batjl charge of the' welfare of the 1500 employes men and women at Shaft 36-3- 7 Forty peri cent of this ) j group was women T was made responsible for organizing the workers of our shaft to meet each problem as it arose" says Belaya "There were? weeks when I hardly got a normal night's rest jThe plan demanded sudden increases in production with INa every parti - -- " Would our skill same working force grow fast enough to cover the requirements? If not why not? Or4 if there Iwas skill enough was it "distributed o take proper care of the new requirements?" '7 ! the! ( This young production manager j was only 31 yet she held down this difficult job for 20: months and said at the end "The tune passed all too soon" 1 ' ! I Belaya declared "There vas rjoj difference between the work of men and women in quality or speed There were times even when women appeared to gain the upper band excelling in Most of the women were 19 to their work of 25 years They came front factories age offices and schools Many of the girls accusdoffed them for the clothes tomed to pretty spetsovka" — the padded trousers itncl coat of the underground worker — and wore j these uni--j i ' ' I forms with genuine pride" perhaps it was Traustel or Ibragomova or another member of the women's brigade who was seen on the subway's opening day quietly polishing one of the subway windows to remove a speck of dust from the spotless shining pane It needed the women to give the finishing touch ( ' "iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiinoiiiao o |