broad roadway over a mile long and in some
places twice as wide as the biggest road in
London. At this place every day in the week,
every sort of article of wearing apparel, furniture and food is on sale. It is illegal either to
buy or to sell certain food stuffs in this way,
but in spite of very severe penalties it continues mainly because so many people are
hungry. I asked Lenin why it was more determined efforts were not made to put an end
to this sort of thing. He replied that the
Government felt it was impossible really to
get rid of the spirit of capitalism until everybody was assured of a sufficiency of everything
needed for a decent life. Once peace was
signed and they were able to get mass production
in full swing there would be such an
abundance for everybody that no one would
need to be mean or covetous.
I was struck by the fact that the central stores were perfect hives of activity. If it is true shops are closed, it is not true to say shopping has been put an end to. Neither must we imagine that in the case of clothing everything has been reduced to a dead level of uniformity. In the case of women’s hats and bonnets, there is one big room at the co-operative stores devoted entirely to these, and the proof that variety of headgear for women is obtainable is evident to all who care to use their eyes in the streets. The manufacture of
