Unhappy Warriors

Millions of Russian soldiers were returning to Russia, and many brought back a problem for their leaders. The problem: how to keep them down on the collective farm, after they'd seen Paree (in various capitalist countries).

Home Was Never like This. When Red Army men first streamed westward across Russia's frontiers, they entered a new world full of fascinations and dangers. Siberian trappers, Uzbek farmers, Cossacks from Kuban were so many children discovering toys they had never known in their Communist nursery.

When they met German colonists in Poland, living peacefully on idyllic farms and in comfortable apartments, their discipline cracked. Some went wild, looting, raping, killing. The Red Army command took stern measures, but it could not change the basic fact which made for all the trouble: the discrepancy between the standard of living in Russia and in the rest of Europe. For centuries, Russia's standard has been lower, and still is, despite the gigantic Communist effort of the last two decades.

"Oh, Mother Russia!" Hardworking, hard-fighting Russian soldiers found what they considered luxury even in the poor countries of southeastern Europe. They discovered, in the shambles of war, the leftovers of great comfort. They saw in the U.S. and British zones of Germany the signs of wealth and ease.

Many, wanting all these things, deserted. In the Berlin region alone, thousands deserted each month. Some simply went to the U.S. zone and tried to stay there. Others roamed the countryside. The Red Army had to ask the U.S. and British Armies to help round them up.

Red officers were deeply concerned, but many an officer was not immune. Said a Russian major in Germany last week: "I can't face going home. Queues and endless work and bureaucratic tyranny. Here, at least, I am dishing it out, but at home I will be getting it." Another officer watched two Russian privates clumsily trying to ride bicycles, while German children tittered. Said the officer: "Oh Mother Russia, how much still lies ahead!"

The Red Army was not in a state of revolt. But Russia's rulers were audibly disturbed. President Mikhail Kalinin himself recently took note of returning Red Army men's complaints that they could find nothing to buy. The veterans, he admitted, to a certain extent were impressed by German "petty culture." Then he gave some serious advice to Party propagandists and agitators who would have to deal, among other things, with veterans no longer happy at home.

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