p The workers’ meeting at the Krupskaya Factory in Michurinsk unanimously decided to nominate Valentina Khitrova as a candidate for deputy to the regional Soviet. Her friends will be voting for her for the second time. How did she, a member of the Komsomol, earn this great honour?

p This is what D. Shaigashev, the factory’s director, has to say on that score:

p “Valentina started as an apprentice. She quickly learned the secrets of her trade, and now she can manage all sewing operations.

p “We noticed her industriousness and made her a controller. It is a responsible job for it is the controller who defends the customer’s interest.

p “Valentina is very exacting, and she never lets spoilage pass through. But her exactingness is of a peculiar nature. Some controllers separate good and bad shirts or trousers, and they never care even if the bad pile rises sky-high. Not so with Valentina. She immediately goes to the guilty seamstress and shows her how the work should be done. This is why we all—the administration and the employees— appreciate her.

p “We will now be perpetual holders of the challenge banner with the inscription, ’To the winner of the socialist emulation in honour of the 50th anniversary of Soviet power’. We achieved remarkable results in the socialist competition held in honour of Lenin’s centenary. Valentina’s contribution to our success was quite tangible.

p “In her capacity of deputy, Valentina Khitrova takes heed of all requests and applications; she tries her best to satisfy the wants of the constituency.”

p The following story was told by A. Pisanova, secretary of the YCL committee:

p “Valentina is a member of the committee. She is always active in all our undertakings. Recently, for example, we had a meeting with the factory’s veteran workers. Valentina helped to organise the meeting, and then she delivered a very interesting speech. Such meetings are very useful to us, the young workers. We learned, for instance, that 20 years ago there were only 50 workers in the factory, the building was in a bad state, and the machines were primitive. Today the factory is altogether different. We modernised it ourselves. I say ‘we’ because we all contributed to the modernisation, including Valentina.

p “Valentina is a reliable friend. We will all be willingly giving her our votes.”

p This is what Valentina Khitrova has to say about herself.

p “I went to school No. 18. We often came to the factory for our vocational practicals. I developed an interest in sewing, and I am glad that I chose to work here. The administration takes care of the employees. When we were yet in school, the director, Dmitry Petrovich, often came to us and aroused our interest with his stories about the factory.

p “As a deputy, I am member of the health protection commission. Now and then I go to other districts on business. Recently I went to Morshansk and Nikiforovka and inspected field camps and sanitary conditions in the local kindergartens.

p “My husband, Victor, is a fitter in a van depot; he takes correspondence courses at an institute. He is a Communist and member of the Komsomol’s regional and town committees.”

p M. Ivanova, a foreman, expressed her opinion in two short sentences:

“Valentina is an honest and fair woman, wonderfully industrious. This is why we decided to elect her for the second term.”