1 was lucky enough to be borngrow up and become toughened by<br > labour in a workerS family in a large workingclass settlementORe of<br > the earliest and strongest impressions of my childhood was the factory<br > whistleI remember that the dawn would just be breaking when my<br > father was already in his overalls and mother was seeing him off at the<br > doorThe deepthroated whistle would roar and it seemed to me that<br > the whole world could hear it<br > There was no radio and the workers did not possess watches SO it was<br > the factory itself that called everyone to workThe first warning whistle<br > would go off at 530 in the morning and then at 6 Oclock for the shift<br > and in the evening the advance hooter would go off at 530 and again at<br > 600 for the next work shiftThere were then about 25000 people in our<br > settlement of Kamenskoyelater to become the working town of<br > Dneprodzerzhinskand all the time-tellingdaily life stylecustoms<br > mannerseven the work itself_in a worda11 oneS lifewas governed<br > by the hooter<br > 1 would get dressed quickly and without eating run barefoot after my<br > fatherIf he took my hand1 would look around proudly as if to say<br > Look how big I am now that I m already going to the factoryand I<br > had only iust turned four thenOther workers would come out of<br > neighbouring houses1ittle side streets and lanes and soon there would<br > be more and more of USpractically everyone dressed in worn jackets<br > and coarse nankeen trousersAnd I remember that it would give me<br > great pleasure to walk with them<br > In our thousands we would sweep down towards the Dnieper to<br > Bazaar SlopeFather would leave me thereand shortly afterwards his<br > peaked cap would disappear amongst the multitude of peaked caps<br > cloth caps and feIt hatsI could just see the black hole of the entrance<br >