Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1794855874

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179223

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Polner, Tichon I. http://d-nb.info/gnd/172311195

Title:: Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

Place of publication:: New Haven

Publisher:: Yale Univ. Press

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: XXV, 317 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter VII. Relief of families of mobilized men

Collection:: Economics Books

FAMILIES OF MOBILIZED MEN 141 footwear, opportunities of employment, day nurseries for infants and children—such were the principal forms of relief reported by the various committees of the Zemstvo Union. In comparison with the enormous sums of money spent by the Government in regular allowances prescribed by law for the families of mobilized men, the disbursements of zemstvos and private chari- table organizations were insignificant. Nevertheless, this tireless and enthusiastic work for the benefit of the soldiers’ families, espe- cially during the first year of the War, raised the morale of the army, while in the interior of Russia it tended to introduce certain correctives to the official government program of relief and to sup- plement it. Relief of Orphans. From the very first few months of the War the local organiza- tions were confronted with the problem of war orphans. Both zem- stvos and the committees of the Zemstvo Union recognized clearly that it was upon them that the duty fell of creating local bodies for the coordination of all efforts on behalf of the orphans, and they were fully aware of the immensity of the task. According to investi- gations conducted by some of the zemstvos, the average number of children who had lost their fathers in battle six months after the outbreak of the War was found to be as high as 1,500 per province. This figure was naturally increasing daily. In the province of Khar- kov, there were found to be 2,300 such orphans in May, 1915, and in the province of Perm 1,270 were reported in March of the same year. The organization of the relief of the aged and of orphans in Rus- sia had never been satisfactory. According to the law the care of the aged and disabled and of children having lost both parents and hav- ing no relatives able to provide for them, in the rural districts, had been made one of the communal duties of the mir, or peasant com- munity. Actually, however, allowances to such persons, if granted at all, were mostly in kind. Those in need were simply made to move from house to house and provided with scanty food and lodging for the night. Cash disbursements for their assistance, and the organ- ized relief, had never been adequate. Thus, in 1894, the average expenditure on relief of the needy per volost in forty-seven prov-

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