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27 January 1921 — a special body was established to coordinate and direct the activities of all agencies and organizations involved in child protection: the Commission under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for Improving the Lives of Children (the Children’s Commission under the VTsIK), chaired by F. E. Dzerzhinsky (before that, the Commission under the VTsIK and, for some time, the Council for the Protection of Children had functioned). The Children’s Commission included representatives of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (central trade-union bodies), the People’s Commissariat of Education, public health authorities, the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate, and the Cheka, and the Commission’s membership was approved personally by the Presidium of the VTsIK. The Commission developed a long-term strategy to combat child homelessness, but alongside the establishment of local commissions, urgent measures for child welfare were also undertaken.
In the field, the Commission had social plenipotentiaries and later its own departments within the provincial Soviets of Deputies. It had the right to submit legislative proposals to improve children’s lives, primarily on the following issues: providing institutions responsible for protecting children’s life and health—above all homeless children—with food, housing, fuel, clothing, etc.; issuing, within its authority and on the basis of existing laws, resolutions concerning the protection of children’s life and health; submitting to the central authorities proposals for new laws and resolutions within the Commission’s sphere of activity. The Commission’s decisions made it possible to delineate functions among agencies and other organizations in the fight against child homelessness.
However, the situation with eliminating child homelessness in certain regions that had experienced the most intense phase of the Civil War remained extremely difficult in the early 1920s. A characteristic example in this regard is the report of E. Einstein, plenipotentiary for improving children’s living conditions at the Krasnodar regional correctional home, dated 21 November 1921. It states, in particular: “The situation of children in the Kuban since the arrival of Soviet power has been unenviable... The Civil War is in full swing. The premises for orphanages and children’s centers are poor, equipment was completely lacking, there were no uniforms, and food was bad. Children have been left to the mercy of fate... The Commission for Improving People’s Living Conditions did not cope with these difficulties, because an ‘responsible comrade’ was appointed as plenipotentiary for whom this work was secondary, while the main concern was party or Soviet work. Civil and party bodies were least of all interested in the situation of children. In August and September, such phenomena were observed: children from orphanages, to satisfy their hunger, collected scraps from trash bins, begged, and fought over every piece of bread.” Those responsible for these outrages were punished rather severely. Of course, in the Soviet period, when covering the historical aspects of these issues, such facts were hushed up, although for contemporaries they were no secret, since they could not go unnoticed.
After the end of the Civil War, measures were taken to improve the situation. On 13 August 1926, the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR adopted the decree “On Measures to Combat Child Homelessness.” This document regulated, among other things, the work of placing children from orphanages with working families for a certain payment, i.e., the institution of foster patronage was developed.
By 1928, the number of homeless children had been reduced to 200,000.
1 Kopeck to help children 1926.
Commissioner for the Improvement of Children’s Living Conditions under the Crimean C.E.C., Kerch District (Uplobyta of the Kerch District).
