Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
UNWLA 100
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36
O U R E N G L I S H C O L U M N The Virgin Lands Revolting Not long ago news trickled from behind th e Iron Curtain th a t a revolt had broken out on th e V irg i n Lands. In October 1959 a group of young workers in Tem ir Tau, K azakhstan rio t ed, demanding b etter food and housing. As th eir complaints were not heard, the workers storm ed the building of th e ad m inistration, killed th e director, and built up barricades in the middle of the place. M ilitary forces, quickly drawn from n ear by places, strangled the revolt, leaving about one thousand kill ed and wounded people on the scene. Tem ir Tau (tau, moun tain) is situated 50 miles south of Aktyubinsk, and about 80 miles from the coastal town of Koschago, on th e extrem e north eastern shore of th e Caspian Sea. About six m onths later the news reached us, not having been mentioned in th e Soviet press. We had scarcely recovered from th e vast im port of this brave and desperate deed before an other struck us. Trickling again, through varied sources, it came out th a t a terrible dust storm reached the eastern region of Ukraine, covering th e peninsula of Crimea, and swirling on into Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Hungary. Experts explained its origin. The Virgin Lands of Middle Asia have always been exposed to the strong wind storm s, blowing from the middle Asian deserts. Being covered w ith a tall, strong grass, the Virgin Lands form er ly protected w ith a tall, strong grass cover — th e wind, blowing w ith great fu ry — lifted the earth layer, and carried it far away. A small news item in Izvestiya described the heroic struggle on a lonely pig farm from K rasno dar, under the blow of this dust storm . “The wind from the E ast is blowing for the fourth day. It has become denser and denser, until now it covers the sun com pletely. The farm buildings are covered to the roof tops. Sudden ly we noticed th a t the w ater pump is buried under the dust. And it is so im portant for our cattle. The staff is working fran tically to keep it free. The dust is increasing. Even the pigs m ust be dug out of it. The farm girls struggle desperately to w ater the cattle. The boys try to free the roofs from the increasing dust load.” This was the first description of the disaster. F u rth er news trickled scantily through the So viet press. Here and there were mentioned failing crops, due to “bad w eather conditions.” But, when the dust storm reached Rum ania and Hungary, in the first half of April, the disaster could not be denied. Then fu rth er item s appeared in the Soviet press. The news paper “K asakhstanska P ravda” complained about th e shortage of manpower on th e Virgin Lands. It came out th a t the youth, mobilized “voluntarily”— in reality forceably impressed to go—to labor there, are constant ly fleeing aw ay; and in 1958-59 atotal of 140,000 persons fled. This flight increased, in the last m onths, and th e rest are stru g gling desperately against the dust flood. This same newspap er summoned the populations of near-by Soviet Republics to send th eir manpower. Finally Uk raine was again made to sacri fice. U krainian farm ers were “voluntarily” mobilized to the rescue. The situation defies descrip tion. Ukraine, itself damaged by the dust storm , had again to bring great sacrifices in m an power, machines and foods to re solve the terrible havoc in the Virgin Lands. Again husbands are separated from th eir fam il ies ; m others from th eir children. As womanpower in USSR, in ag riculture, form s 52 per cent, and women’s status is equal to th a t of men, in every branch, there will be m any women in the “vol u n tary ” groups. This effort is a new strain on the U krainian po pulation, doomed as it is to bad crops this year because of the dust storm s. And the Virgin Lands them selves ? The disaster created there, in this area, where living conditions and buildings are not yet established, is beyond imagi nation. The youth, unburdened w ith fam ily ties can escape. But the prisoners working in the mines, the freed and settled fam ilies, the school children, housed in boarding schools? W hat of them ? In the wake of any great dust storm there is bound to be sudden death of those somther- ed by i t ; and m any and strange accidents. L ater hunger and dis ease stalk, since all vegetation is covered by deep layers of dust. And a long period of tim e will pass before verdure appears appears a g a in ; and w hat has blown back onto the land m ay not be the so-fertile loess. All this is the result of ignor ant and willful economic experi m ents undertaken in the USSR. The reckless resettlem ent of the people, th e expropriation of pri vate property, the suppression of individual initiative (free en terprise not allowed in the USSR), the uncontrolled power of governm ent leads to ju st such disastrous events as this dust storm . And the w orst of it all is НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ, ЛИПЕНЬ-СЕРПЕНЬ, 1960 1 5
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36 
