WOMEN AND CHILDREN
The Education of the children occupies as important a place in the
administration of the Soviet Government as the maintenance of the Red
Army. The Budget for education and child welfare is unstinted, and at
every turn one encounters evidence of actual accomplishment in the
interest of the growing generation. “First we must defend the workers’
state against its enemies,” said a Commissar to me, “then we must
prepare the coming generation to carry on and develop the state won for
them by the Red Army.”
In the two years of the revolution 10,000 new schools had been opened.
There were but few children in Soviet Russia who are not attending
classes in grades from kindergarten to high school. I saw few children
idling indoors or out during school hours, nor did I see any at work in
the factories. They troop out from the schools in great bands into the
parks at recess hour. Teachers complained to me of the lack of
text-books, due to the scarcity of paper. They resented bitterly, too,
the necessity of assembling their charges in cold class-rooms.
But in spite of meagre facilities, every one connected with the
government worked hard to make every possible provision for the care and
protection of the children. The government was feeding 359,000 children
daily in the schools in Moscow, and 200,000 in Petrograd. The most
nourishing food obtainable was requisitioned for the children. Milk,
butter and eggs went first to hospitals and to the school restaurants,
where the children were provided with food free. Only when there was an
extra supply were healthy adults permitted to purchase these foods.
I used to watch the children, happy, robust little folk, going from
their class-rooms in great crowds to the restaurants, where they sat in
rows at the long tables. The noon recess lasted for two hours—one hour
for eating and one for play. The children were chaperoned by their
teachers, of whom there were two for each roomful of pupils. One looked
after the mental studies, while the other directed their physical
training.
The children of kindergarten age were called for in the mornings by
their teachers, and were brought home by them at about four o’clock in
the afternoon. At least ninety-five percent of the teachers were women,
and they had all received special training for their profession.
The Soviet law prohibits the employment of children under sixteen years,
except in cases of greatest necessity. Child labor under fourteen is
forbidden. Children between fourteen and eighteen permitted to enter
certain industries are not allowed to work more than four hours a day;
between sixteen and eighteen they may work not more than six hours
daily, and all must spend two hours in school.
With much of the work of preparing meals and the care of children of
school age taken away from them, the women of Russia were enjoying a new
freedom. They had found themselves suddenly with time to work away from
home. They rushed into industry and the professions and set to work with
an ardor and enthusiasm that has done much to establish the Soviet
system.
Women conductors were employed on the street-cars in all the cities in
the daytime, men being employed only at night. Women police also were
employed, and no one seemed to think this extraordinary.
Housekeepers were accorded the same right to vote as factory workers. If
a married woman had a desire to work elsewhere than in her home she did
so, and took her meals with her husband and friends in a Soviet
restaurant. Women shared in the discussions in the Soviet, and were
elected to offices. Far from being “nationalized,” women were accorded
the same respect and treatment as men.
The right of inheritance has been abolished, although dependents such as
minors unable to work, or invalids, are supported out of the property of
the deceased former owner, and no discrimination is made against
children born out of wedlock.
The government recognizes only civil marriages, but an additional
religious ceremony is optional with the contracting parties and is not
restricted in any way by the government. An oral or written statement of
the parties desiring to contract the marriage is required by the nearest
Department of Registration. Boys under eighteen and girls under sixteen
are prohibited from marrying, and the laws of consanguinity in force in
other countries are observed in Russia also. Births must be registered
in the Department of Registration nearest the mother’s residence, and
children born out of wedlock have the same status as those born of a
registered union.
Divorces are granted on the petition of either or both parties. When the
petition is mutual the persons are obliged to state what surnames the
children of the marriage are expected to bear in future. In case only
one party petitions, the surname of the children and the responsibility
for maintenance are decided by the judge.
In Moscow I visited a lying-in hospital under the Division of Motherhood
and Infants, of the Department of Social Welfare. This was one of many
similar institutions this department had established in all the large
and many of the small cities. Here the working women receive care and
nourishment without cost for several weeks before and after child-birth.
They have the best food and medical treatment obtainable, and are paid
their full wages during the time they are out of their accustomed
employment. In connection with this hospital in Moscow, which was
established in an imposing white stone structure formerly an _élite_
finishing school where the daughters of the rich learned French and the
gentle arts, there was a training college where five hundred young
women, chosen by various trade and peasant organizations throughout the
country, were attending a six months’ course of lectures and practical
demonstrations on obstetrics and the care of children. Already three
classes of five hundred each had been graduated and sent back to their
respective communities to apply their experience and to train others.
Moving pictures were shown daily, portraying to the mothers the best
methods of bathing, dressing, and caring for their infants, and these
were supplemented with lectures. Older children of working mothers were
cared for during the day in government nurseries, where they were given
the best possible care and attention.
The following is a table showing the record of the accomplishments in
this department in the year 1919.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE INSTITUTIONS
In Moscow and the principal government towns, from returns received in
October, 1918, and July, 1919
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ambulatoriums
Asylums for Asylums for for Newborn
CITIES Newborn Children Children
Children From 1 to 3 Crèches Consultations
----------------------------------------------------
1918 1919 1918 1919 1918 1919 1918 1919
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Moscow 1 2 2 6 4 26 8 17
Yaroslav 1 1 .. .. 1 3 .. 2
Kostroma 1 2 .. 1 2 2 .. 2
Ivanovna-Voznesensk .. 1 .. 1 2 3 .. ..
Tula 1 1 .. 1 .. 1 .. ..
Saratov 1 1 .. 1 .. .. 3 4
Voronezh 1 1 .. 1 .. .. 1 1
Tver 1 8 .. 6 3 6 .. 2
Tambov 1 9 .. 7 2 2 1 1
Minsk 1 2 .. 1 .. 2 1 2
Kaluga 1 1 .. 4 2 6 .. 1
Vitebsk 1 1 .. 1 .. .. 1 2
Tomsk 1 1 .. 1 .. .. 1 4
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
TOTAL 12 31 2 31 16 51 16 38
Asylums for
Mothers with
CITIES Newborn
Milk Kitchens Children
---------------------------
1918 1919 1918 1919
---------------------------------------------
Moscow 8 10 1 3
Yaroslav .. 1 .. ..
Kostroma .. 1 .. 1
Ivanovna-Voznesensk .. 2 .. ..
Tula .. .. .. ..
Saratov 3 4 .. 1
Voronezh 1 1 1 2
Tver .. .. .. ..
Tambov 1 1 .. ..
Minsk 1 2 .. ..
Kaluga .. 1 .. ..
Vitebsk 1 2 .. ..
Tomsk .. 4 .. ..
-- -- -- --
TOTAL 15 29 2 7
More than 2,500 libraries had been established throughout the country
since the revolution. All the larger towns have their high schools,
technical schools, and musical conservatories.
As every able-bodied adult must work in Soviet Russia, I wondered who
went to the advanced technical schools. Each local Soviet elected its
group of students to attend schools for special training for terms
varying from three to six months. At the end of the training the
students returned to their communities to teach, and a new group was
sent for similar training. The schools were free; the students were
furnished with food, clothing, living quarters and books, and were
provided with tickets for theatres, concerts and other entertainments.
All students were granted loans, to be used for spending money while in
school, if they preferred to purchase their own clothing and other
necessaries. In Moscow the average loan was 1,200 rubles, varying
according to the rise or fall of the ruble’s value.
Throughout the country homes for the aged had been established where men
over sixty and women over fifty were cared for by the government,
provided they did not have children or relatives who wished to keep them
in their own homes. In the latter case they were given adequate
pensions.
[Illustration:
MRS. LENIN VISITING A SOVIET SCHOOL
The children, under the supervision of their teacher, are busy in the
garden.
]
I found less of the “institution” atmosphere in these homes than in
those I have seen in other countries. Books, pictures, a meeting-room,
and dining-room, and a general atmosphere of comfort and freedom seemed
to make the elderly people content and happy. They are not considered
“paupers” or “charges on the state,” but human beings who have
contributed their service to society and are entitled to all the peace
and comfort society can give them.
I have dwelt upon the organization and spirit of the Red Army and upon
the education and care of the children more than upon anything else,
because these are the things that made the strongest impression upon me
during my stay in Soviet Russia. They stand out above all else in the
memory of weeks crowded with a multitude of rapid and various
observations. The soldiers and the children come first in the
consideration of the government. Here the greatest ingenuity and energy
have been applied, and here the best results are evident. It has been
the purpose of the Soviet leaders to make the first line of defense—the
army—unconquerable. Government officials claim they have succeeded in
this, and point to the map as evidence. The children, they say, are the
strategical reserves of the communist state. They are aiming to keep
them healthy in body, despite the privations imposed by the blockade,
and to develop them mentally and physically to carry on the future
state. No one can deny the large measure of success realized.
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