Comrades' Gum

"It's a strategic weapon in Russia," says a Moscow housewife. "To chew it is very bad form, symbolic of the worst Western habits," replies a more orthodox male. "I always take a good supply of it when I go to Russian shops," notes a savvy Arab diplomat. "The salesgirls like it, and I get ahead of the queues."

"It," of course, is chewing gum, known in Russia as zhvachka. Long a favorite but rare item in the Soviet Union, gum has for years been used by Westerners to soften up hotel employees, salesclerks and ticket takers. Now, after countless learned debates by physiologists and physicians, the Soviets are gearing up an Armenian candy and macaroni plant to churn out ten tons of zhvachka a day. No brand name has yet been settled on for comrades' gum, but authorities expect to provide gobs of it --some shaped and packaged like cigarettes--for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Could this be another concession to Western decadence? Decidedly not. As Moskovskaya Pravda proudly claimed in 1975, Ivan Ivanovitch was doubling his pleasure with Siberian pine resin long before the capitalists stole the idea.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.