I couldn’t resist and bought the book Great Depression in Perceville, VA, where I arrived by bike. I still don’t know how to carry it back for an hour in cycling clothing without a backpack. Interesting note on a random page
Translation:
AMTORG RECEIVES 100,000 APPLICATIONS FOR 6,000 QUALIFIED JOBS IN RUSSIA
(Business Week, October 7, 1931, pp. 32–33)
NEW YORKERS make up the bulk of Americans who have decided, at least for now, to tie their fates with the Russians. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Illinois contribute the highest number of applications for the new call for “6,000 qualified workers,” with Michigan, Ohio, California, and Massachusetts also being well represented.
The “Amtorg” office in New York received over 100,000 applications for these 6,000 job slots. Just one morning alone saw 280 applications. All states except ten were represented. Alaska and Panama also contributed one applicant each, and 18 Canadians wanted “to try their luck in Russia.”
Industrial states, naturally, provided the largest number of applications, but others were represented as well. Iowa, Texas, and Idaho also contributed some number of qualified workers.
Since it is widely known that Russia is “industrializing,” most applicants are skilled workers in machinery, railroads, metallurgy, automotive manufacturing, or the construction industry. A look at the qualifications of 280 applicants from one “typical” morning showed that specialists of all professions were looking for work, even if it meant moving to Russia and being paid in rubles. Among them were: 2 hairdressers, 1 funeral director, 2 plumbers, 5 painters, 2 cooks, 36 “clerical” workers, 1 lathe operator, 9 carpenters, 1 aviator, 58 engineers, 14 electricians, 5 salespeople, 2 printers, 2 chemists, 1 shoemaker, 1 librarian, 2 teachers, 1 cleaner and dyer, 11 auto mechanics, 1 dentist.
About 85% of the applicants are U.S. citizens, only 40% of whom were born in the country. 60% of the foreigners primarily come from Eastern Europe. A few African Americans applied, but their numbers are small, as most of them are unskilled workers.
Women constitute only a small portion of applicants, although many wives decided to accompany their husbands in this endeavor. Most workers applying are married and have children.
Three main reasons for wanting to get a placement are named: (1) unemployment; (2) dissatisfaction with conditions here; (3) interest in the Soviet experiment. Almost all foreign workers declare that they do not intend to stay in the USSR. Among engineers, only 10-20% plan to stay.
——
This is 1931, one of the most challenging years of that period. Somewhere in the mid-thirties, it started to improve, and it must be said, WWII ultimately defeated it.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 