Women and Children in Soviet Russia.
By A. Bunge.
CONTENTS : Introduction; Struggle against the family; Marriage legislation; Divorce;
Slavery of women; Homeless children; Their life; Criminality among them; Their
state of health; Their social origin; Measures taken by the Soviet Government;
“hildren’s homes; Distribution of children amongst artisans and tradesmen; Foreigners’
opinion in regard to the homeless children.
Te most tragic and certainly the most alarming result of the Bolshevic
regime are the homeless children. The streets and the squares of the
large towns are overwhelmed by them, the Soviet press discusses widely their
problem and in the Russian literature of the present day they play a
.eading part.
This problem of the “homeless children” the greatness of the disaster, —
is perhaps the severest condemnation of the Bolshevic regime, the sharpest
sonviction of it, so much the more as the Bolshevics proclaimed in the very
first days of their coming to power, that one of their chief tasks was to be
‘he care of the children. Until now the Bolshevics assert, that Soviet Russia
s the paradise of the children. Not so long ago Comintern issued a procla-
nation in connection with the organization of the “international child's
week” in which the conditions of life of the children in capitalist countries
were described in the very worst light and then followed the statement that
‘the only country existing, in which the conditions of life of the children
are improving from day to day, is the proletarian Russia. The Soviet
government is continually organizing new schools, homes and hospitals for
the children, the children have their own clubs, the number of instructive
sinematographs for the children grows daily. The homeless children are
brought up by experienced pedagogues and grow to striving and hard-
working people. With a decisive step advances the 2 millionary army of the
young Soviet pioneers supporting the adult workmen in their courageous
struggle for liberation of the workers class in the whole world.”
Such declarations find a vivid echo in the European press — many still
selieve the Bolshevics!
In spite of the Bolshevist boast and spite of the delusion of many
Europeans, the horrible fate of the homeless children is clear enough for
sveryone who wants to see, and therefore it is not a question of establishing
‘he truth of this fact, but of producing evidence of the fact that this evil
's a consequence of the Bolshevic conditions. The homelessness of the
children in the Communistic State is due to the defencelessness of the
personality in general and to the defencelessness of the woman in particular.
Right from the very beginning of their gaining the power, the Bolshevics
began to fight against the family, which in their eyes is the stronghold of
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