Comrades! Cast your eyes upon the latest proclamations from the counting-houses of the financial elite. It is now declared that the mere preparation of a child for school in the year 2026 shall cost the working man some 17,000 rubles for a boy, and a staggering 19,000 rubles for a girl. Such are the findings of the experts from the ACRA agency—those high priests of capital who quantify the misery of the masses with cold, clinical precision.

Consider the 'basic set' demanded by this system: jackets, trousers, shirts, shoes, and the requisite stationery. Is it not a tragedy that a simple dress or a blouse for a girl should further inflate the tribute paid to the merchant class? This is not mere commerce; it is a calculated exploitation of the parents' desire for their children to escape the drudgery of the factories.

While the state offers certain pittance-like payments and compensations to soothe the anger of the oppressed, let us not be deceived. These crumbs are designed only to maintain the stability of the regime, not to liberate the worker from the yoke of poverty.

Even the 'experts' of the educational departments, such as Mr. Solomatin, dare to offer advice on 'economizing.' He warns against the error of buying garments 'to grow into.' Ha! What a grotesque irony! The bourgeois intellectuals lecture the proletariat on the 'efficiency' of their spending, while the great monopolies of trade continue to drive prices upward, ensuring that the worker remains forever in debt to the usurers.