‘david Cohen,’ or Success in the Modern Soviet

When Russian persecution of the Jew came to an end with the downfall of Tsarism, newe opportunities were opened to the Jews. Many are the instances of success stories which might be told about Jewish boys who made good. One such story, published in the current issue of Izvestia, official organ of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union, is of particular interest and follows in translation.

“David Cohen is the son of a village blacksmith in Volodarka, South Russia. It is a matter of common knowledge that the life of a Jewish blacksmith in a prerevolutionary Ukrainian village meant hard labor, complete isolation in a one-man ghetto, the most abject poverty and constant fear for one’s life and miserale personal property.

“To be sure this fear proved not unfounded, for in 1919, when David was only eight years old, his father was killed by one of Petlura’s bands of marauders.

“The Petlurists were finally driven out, the Soviet power was restored, this time for good.

THE WORKER

“During the first eight years of his independent existence David worked with the neighboring farmers. In 1927 he joined the Comsomols (Communist Youth League) and after three years was drafted, together with a number of his comrades, for work at the Bobriki plant. From that time on he was the master of his fate. Before the revolution, the change from farm work to unskilled labor would not have made any difference, for in either case, there would not have been anything for young Cohen to look forward to. His future now became a matter of his own choice and making, except that the Comsomol organization, which he had joined, saw to it that he followed the path mapped out for young people like him by the October Revolution.

“During his first days at the Babriki plant, Cohen went with a will at his work of digging, Eleven years as an unskilled laborer had not qualified him for any but physical employment. But mentally, three years of comsomol education were not lost on him. He became a social-minded youngster and, after a hard day’s toil would find time and energy to go from barrack to barrack and from dormitory to dormitory, agitating among his fellow-workers for greater efficiency, for better coordinated efforts to help complete the project on time.

“When the most complicated part of the work-the dam-was finished, David found employment in a garage as an assistant mechanic. Having joined the force with the reputation of the “Hereo of the Dam,” David found his authority as a Comsomol worker very hight. He would spend all his time in the garage. After his shift retired he would stay on and watch the men on the next shift do their work. And when Cohen, being recognized as the best shock birgader in the place, who always exeeded his quota, was sent to Moscow to take courses in his work, he knew more about internal combustion engines than any other assistant mechanic without a technical education.

“As a student Cohen remained true to himself. During the five-month course, he developed himself by hard application. He was first in his class in general educational subjects, and led his school-mates in practical laboratory work.

“On his return he found quite a change in the plant. Tall structures has bad been erected all over the grounds, a cobweb of falseworld was covering the entire area, concrete mixers were busibly humming. The day when the plant would be ready for production was repidly approaching. Soon after his return, David Cohen, the prize student, was commandeered again, this time to the Chernorechensk chemical works where mechanics were being trained for the Bobriki plant. Another six months went by almost imperceptibly, and cohen returned once more to Bobriki, this time with a disploma of an Eighth Grade mechanic.

“When it came to mounting the machinery, Cohen was assigned to Herr Zander. A German engineer whose idea of promotion should consider himself lucky if he attains the honorable title of master or assistant mechanic at the ripe age of fifty. That was the way they did things in Germany. And that is why Daivd was at first assigned to tasks which were far below his real qualifications and ability.

“But in January, 1931, David Cohen was no longer a mere apprentice, as it seemed to the shortsighted German. He knew he was a bona-fide mechanic and member of the Comsomols, a conscious builder of Socialism and that the Government did not send him to school at its expense for a whole year to make an errand boy out of him. The German would not give him a chance to learn? Very well, then, Cohen would become his own instructor. He took to studaying at night the mounting done by the German during the day. During working hours he followed closely every move of his chief. Whatever he did not understand he would jot down and ask another German engineer, Scherlin, to explain it to him. The latter, a rather good-natured fellow, was amusea by the young man’s apparently meaningless inquisitiveness and was not at all averse to entering into protracted technical discussions with him.

THE MASTER

Before long, Herr Zander began to notice that his youthful assistant was being metamorphosed under his very eye into an expert technician. Soon he rewarded the erstwhile apprentice by entrusting him with the most complicated mounting jobs and installations. But David was not selfish-he shared the knowledge he succeeded in wheedling out of the two Germans with his fellow workers.

And against Dobzworki where Cohen was transferred after the mounting job was finished, the mechanics and engineers put together the most complicated conduits the most complicated conduits and pumps designed for a pressure of three hundred atmospheres. David came to this department as a highly qualified expert in assembling imported parts, with the result that the squad of which he was the foreman never missed exceeding its quota of the work assigned to it by from forty to sixty percent.

“What with his arduous work as squad leader, David Cohen did not neglect his other duties and not alone kept perfecting himself but also trained a number of reliable understuies and expert technicians. When they were ready for their responsible tasks and passed the required tests, Daivd Cohen was awarded the title Master Mechanic. Thus, he travelled the road from unskilled laborer to expert technician in two-and-a-half years.