HOME life as we Western nations know it has almost disappeared from the larger towns of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics the Holy Russia of pre-Revolution days .sx Fervent Communists may hold forth on the advantages of the new regime of communal eating , entertainment , enjoyment , working and even sleeping but the truth is that economic pressure has been almost as great a factor as political theory in the disappearance of the individual household and of family life .sx Russian exiles of Tsarist sympathies have often described to me , a little tearfully , the glories of old St. Petersburg , with its cold white magnificence in winter , and the summer sun glinting on the golden domes and blue canals .sx Exuberant , exciting days , brimming over with the wine of life .sx Witty conversations , as brilliant and clear-cut and sparkling as a string of diamonds ( but also , if I know Russians , a trifle longer !sx ) ; amusing dinners , where the best wine and the most exotic foods in the world were served to gourmets who could appraise them at their true worth ; the most artistic opera , theatre , and ballet in the world , and , after them , the long " white nights , " with barely two hours between the setting and the rising of the sun .sx Palaces as Tenements .sx OLD St , Petersburg has become the new Leningrad .sx Scattered remnants of the old regime are still left there .sx Their palaces , their mansions , even the small houses have been turned into municipal buildings , offices , or communal lodgings .sx If they are lucky or inoffensive , the old tenants may have been left a single room or half a room in them .sx They still meet .sx Theystill talk .sx But with what a difference !sx The talk of people who are outcasts and pariahs .sx Sarcastic remarks about the Government .sx Acrimonious jokes about the food shortage , the clothing shortage , the housing shortage .sx But always fearfully , for the Government gives short shrift to so-called counter-revolutionaries , and no shrift at all to such as are former aristocrats .sx There is ample scope for their bitter witticisms .sx Leningrad to-day is the most dismal city in Europe .sx The marvellous skeleton of it remains , but its body has been stripped and wounded and never repaired .sx The luxurious shops are empty , the broad streets are full of potholes and dust heaps , the paint is peeling off , and windows which were broken in the Revolution are still boarded up .sx It takes at least fifty years for a revolution to approach a standpoint from which it can be truly judged , and , needless to say , Communist dreams are not faithfully presented by the present chaotic conditions which prevail in Russia to-day .sx Room Space at a Premium .sx ONE factor in them , however , is undoubtedly aiding the Government in the struggle towards a fully developed communal life , and that is the acute housing shortage in the larger towns .sx Conjure up in your mind a rather large rug size about ten feet by five .sx About fifty square feet .sx That is the Governmental allowance per person in Moscow for eating , living and sleeping in .sx Some have contrived to get more , either by wangling or by paying double rent for the extra , as is legally permissible when any extra can be found .sx Others have to put up with less .sx Young couples who want to get married have to wait , not until they have collected the conventional trousseau , or furniture , or until their work gives them an opportunity to take a short holiday together , but until they can find one small room which they need not share with other people , or perhaps with more than one or two other couples .sx Yet this .sx state of affairs , incredible as .sx it may seem , is an improvement for many .sx If professors .sx with wives and three or .sx four children have been reduced to living in two rooms , to the peasants , the factory workers , the labourers , the lofty substantial quarters they now inhabit seem almost palatial contrasted with their former hovels of clay and stone or tumble-down wooden huts .sx The most practical and usual type of dwelling .sx in the large towns in Russia is the apartment house .sx There are no little villas of the flimsy English type , with gardens front and back .sx Neither villa nor garden would survive a Russian winter .sx Then and Now .sx In pre-Revolution days an average flat for a prosperous family in such a block consisted of from four to six rooms with kitchen , each flat shut off .sx from the rest by a heavy door , thickly padded and felted all over its surface in order to keep out icy draughts .sx Nowadays such a flat will harbour probably four families and their domestic staff , for although it is rather frowned upon , as savouring too sourly of personal service and a bourgeois mode of life , even proletarian families have maids " up from the country , " and nurse girls to take charge of the children , while their mother is out at her work in office or store or factory .sx The percentage of wives who have a definite occupation outside the home is large , and the Government encourage the tendency with every means in their power .sx There are creches where the mother can deposit the babies while she works in the factory , or the laundry , or the store ; there are nursery schools ; there are boarding schools ; and there are communal restaurants .sx But so far only a small proportion of the ground has been covered , and the average housewife must depend upon herself or upon servants .sx Mixed Blessings !sx BUT in Russia more than anywhere are servants a mixed blessing , for although an enormous number of .sx peasant girls are anxious to leave the villages for the fabled glories of Moscow , they are so raw and ignorant and dirty that they are worse than useless .sx Imagine a maid who does not know how to turn on a tap , or for the matter of that , what a tap is for !sx And that is by no means the worst that a mistress may expect !sx The conditions under which they have to work are not exactly conducive to efficiency .sx In a typical kitchen I went over there were four domestics , all with the usual kerchief round their heads , aprons , and .sx heelless felt slippers .sx Not only did they cook and work in that one room , but they slept in it .sx There were not only four little primus stoves ( one for each family ) , but four little beds .sx In the corner was an old-fashioned oven , and every Friday , I was informed , a coal fire would be lighted under it , and the four families would have their food baked for a change instead of fried and boiled .sx Many families have no kitchen at all , so that the one large meal of the day , usually taken at any time between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. , must perforce be taken at the communal restaurants .sx These vary in quality , and in the best the food is cheap and good .sx Also , they solve the great problem of shopping , which is a lengthy , tiring and anxious business , since the present food crisis .sx Meat and fish are hard to find , vegetables are very scarce , fruit only procurable during a few weeks in the year , fats rapidly disappearing , and luxuries like butter absolutely unobtainable .sx A whisper goes round of soap , or cigarettes , or meat , or cake , and lo !sx there is an immediate queue winding its way round corners , patiently waiting with bags and baskets ( for there is no " delivery " in proletarian Russia ) for two or three hours for the shop to open .sx All the shops in Russia are owned and managed by the State , prices in them are strictly regulated , and food is rationed .sx If you are rich enough , however , you can add to your rations from what Russians call " the private market , " where there is no control of prices or supplies .sx The peasants who bring their surplus produce there are so heavily taxed , however , that the prices they are compelled to charge to make any profit are beyond the reach of the average shopper .sx Butter , for instance , which was priced at 2s .sx 4d .sx a pound in the co-operative stores , was four times that price in the private market , and the same proportion applies to almost every commodity .sx No Shop-Gazing .sx THERE is no opportunity for shopgazing in any town in Russia , .sx even the most prosperous .sx Clothes ready-made clothes seem to .sx have disappeared , although I was .sx amused to see some slightly dilapidated .sx garments hanging in the windowof a Government " dress agency .sx " Apparently the Russian woman has to content herself with the paper patterns which can be bought from the cooperative stores , or copy the fashions out of the Communist women's magazines , which still favour the knee .sx length skirt .sx No foreign magazine , are allowed in the country , so that the Russian woman does not even know that the long skirt has returned to fashion , let alone wish to emulate it .sx This is as well for her peace of mind , for there is a cloth and linen famine , and good fabrics have practically disappeared .sx Those that are left are poor in quality , and impossibly crude and ugly in design and colour .sx All materials are rationed , and 10 metres ( about 12 yards ) every three months is the utmost that one person is allowed .sx Even so , the prices are enormous .sx Shoddy cloth is 2 or 3 a metre ; cotton shirting 6s .sx or 8s .sx Good shoes cost from 5 to 7 a pair ; coarse cotton stockings , 0s .sx or 7s .sx silk ones , 2 10s .sx Lipsticks Survive .sx YET feminine vanity still thrives in the face of odds .sx The use of lipstick and perfume a little overpowering to .sx English tastes , for most of it is made for export to the East-is frequent in the towns , and many attempts are made .sx to brighten up a drab costume with embroidery or lace .sx And if the dress shops are empty , at least the bookshops are well-stocked and plentiful , and millions of people are being taught to read for the first time .sx That must be an exciting adventure for the man or' woman of thirty !sx In spite of all such mental consolations , .sx however , life has little material comfort in it for the ordinary Russian citizen .sx On the other hand , he is much more indifferent to it than is his Western brother .sx The average Russian seems to lack instinct for homemaking , and all that .sx accompanies it , which characterises the Nordic nations .sx of Europe .sx To grasp that fact , it is only necessary to walk .sx through a few Russian rooms .sx The medley of hideous .sx furniture , jim-crack ornaments , frippery and useless trash .sx which the occupier will contrive to stow into his small .sx allowance of living space is truly staggering .sx It is no easy matter to collect together a sufficiency of more solid possessions , however .sx Russians have never made good furniture , and since the Revolution they have seemingly produced nothing but office desks , spiral spring mattresses and odd suites of pine and fumed oak .sx Carpets have almost disappeared , so have textiles .sx Kitchen utensils do not last .sx Tableware is alarmingly expensive and distressingly ugly .sx To Russians , one of the most hospitable races in the world , the impossibility of entertaining their friends on such festivals as Easter and Christmas , birthdays and weddings , must be one of the saddest aspects of the new regime .sx Social " Life " .sx I ASKED a young Communist student whether they ever managed to meet outside the University .sx " Oh , yes when we can find a room , " he laughed ; " but it's hard to discover one in Moscow without beds in it .sx " " And what do you do when you meet ?sx " I continued .sx " Oh talk , of course , and play chess , or strum on the balalaika .sx " " Tell me , " I concluded , " what do you do when you want to be alone ?sx " " I've almost forgotten what that is .sx like .sx But I could take a tram or train .sx into the country and take a stroll in .sx the woods if it were the summer .sx In .sx the winter , of course , one can't be alone .sx " He spoke cheerfully .sx He was young .sx He has never known anything else .sx It is in such as him that the Communist strength lies .sx But what compensation has the Government given to the older generation for what it has taken away ?sx