By Bob Van Leer

  (LENINGRAD, USSR, May 19, 1989) - Days are long this time of year in Leningrad. Full dark doesn't come until midnight and it lightens up again about 4 a.m. This gives us more time to see the city.

  The Russians we see on the street are well dressed. Nobody appears to be even hungry. We have heard of long lines to buy things in Russia but the only consistently long line we have seen is at the liquor store. We were told that hours of sale were cut to reduce alcohol consumption. One result is a shortage of sugar, as Russians began to distill their own vodka. 

  While everyone here is fed and clothed and housed, even the Russians publicly say that the economy is in bad shape. Just how bad we wouldn't have believed without being here. The official rate of exchange is .63 rubles per U.S. dollar. This means that at the official money changing counter in the hotel, $1.59 buys one ruble. But the ruble is readily available on the black market at up to 10 rubles for one U.S. dollar. And "black market" doesn't mean going to some dark alley. The bellhops in the hotel, the waiters in the hotel restaurant and even people on the streets exchange money with almost no attempt at concealment.

  It is obvious that this exchange is being tolerated by the government since it is so open. We were told at the U.S. Consulate that the exchange is tolerated because it does get hard currency into circulation, which eventually winds up in government coffers.

  After breakfast at the Hotel Moscow, we boarded our bus for a tour of the city and a meeting with Soviet reporters at Novosti, the journalists' organization. We got the tour but couldn't find the "newspaper house" in time and went to a meeting at the U.S. Consulate.

  Leningrad is a city of 5 million, not much larger than it was in 1939. Leningrad suffered terribly in World War II. The city was under siege by the German army for more than 900 days. About a million persons died from fighting and bombing and starvation. Infant mortality rose to 75 percent. A third of the buildings were destroyed or damaged. Many have been restored and restoration of old buildings continues. Our guide said that restoration costs 40 percent more than starting from scratch.

  The city was built as the new capital by Peter the Great in 1713 and served as the Russian capital until after the 1919 revolution. It is built on low, muddy islands that separate the tributaries of the Neva River. With its more than 500 bridges, it has been likened to Venice in Italy and is sometimes called "the Venice of the North".

  The Neva is only 50 miles long but is about a mile wide because it drains the large glacial Lake Lodago into the Gulf of Finland. The land is so flat that a strong west wind can raise the water level from the Baltic enough to flood parts of the city.

  As the former capital, the city abounds in palaces, squares and government buildings. It is the home of the Russian Czars' "Winter Palace", now a museum, The Hermitage.

  As we drove through the city we saw a number of groups of school children. Our guide says school is nearly out and, as in the U.S., the children are being taken on field trips. There are 10-12 years of schooling in Russia, both primary and secondary. Education is free even at the university level, but it is not without cost at the higher levels.

  Traffic is heavy downtown with more trucks than private cars. The locally built Lada seems the most popular. Agency personnel commented on the money black market and said it is a criminal offense to exchange money this way, but the government is willing to close its eyes to get hard money in circulation. They said that, anyway, there is very little to spend rubles on that you'd be interested in owning.

  The election March 26 was the first time people were given a choice and they responded by turning out some major party leaders. Some lost out even when they had no opponent. In this election voters were permitted to cross out names and if a candidate didn't get 50 percent, another election was held.

  On economics, the consul personnel said the system is not working. It cannot and will not work. It defies all economic laws. Central planning, as practiced here, works as long as one thing is targeted. But there is not enough left over for washing machines after building missiles and tanks.

  We were told this is still a tremendously rich country even though it has been misgoverned for 70 years. Nobody knows where it is going to end.

  In the afternoon we managed to meet with Russian journalists at Novosti. The session was of doubtful value as the moderator of the meeting was not candid with us from the start. He spoke to us in Russian through a translator but several times he was conferring with his colleagues on an answer before the question was translated. And once he forgot and answered in English.

  He said there are 2482 members in the Union of Journalists. This is not a party organization but 67 percent of the union is party members, a much higher ratio than the country as a whole.

  He said the most acute problem is economics and ecological problems were much discussed in the election. He said politics are ahead of economics. The new policies of "glasnost", an openness or free speech, and "perestroika", restructuring, are a change in political structure. However, the most acute problem is economic. Being hungry is a hard thing to do. He said, "Noblemen need glasnost, but the people need a piece of meat."

  Russian newspaper production techniques are way behind the United States. Printing is by hot metal, a method abandoned by most newspapers in Oregon, including the Curry County Reporter, in the 1960's. He said that offset printing, now generally used in the U.S., will be used in the future. Story writing is by typewriter. The Reporter changed from typewriters to computers 10 years ago. A new press house is to be built by 1991 and is supposed to have the newest technology, we were told.

  Dinner, and all our meals, was at the hotel. The food generally is not very good although there are some exceptions, such as an excellent ice cream. Beer served with the meals is warm and flat. Ice water is served but we have been warned not to drink it. Tomorrow's schedule is a boat ride to a czar's summer home and then a museum visit and a concert in the evening.