1. Decree on the nationalization of women.

In March 1918, in Saratov, leaflets were placed on houses and fences in an incredible amount, which attracted everyone’s attention and provoked violent indignation. The leaflets were a “Decree on the abolition of private ownership of women”, issued by the Free Organization of Anarchists of the City of Saratov. The document was dated February 28 and resembled all the other decrees of the young Soviet government. It included a preamble and 19 paragraphs. The decree said the following:

“Due to the existing social inequality and legal marriages, all the best specimens of the fair sex are owned by the bourgeoisie, which violates the correct continuation of the human race. According to the decree from May 1, 1918, all women aged from 17 to 32 years (except for those with more than five children) are removed from private ownership and declared public property. Distribution of alienable women will be based on the application. A man has the right to use one woman not more than three times a week for three hours. To do this, you must submit a certificate from the factory committee, a trade union or local council of membership of the class of workers. For the ex-husband retained extraordinary access to his wife. In case of opposition to the execution of the decree, the husband may lose the right to use women at all. Each labor member who wants to use copies of the national wealth is obliged to deduct 9% from his earnings, and a man who does not belong to the working class must pay 100 rubles a month (40% of the average salary). The fund “People’s Generation” will be formed from these deductions, from which nationalized women will receive assistance in the amount of 232 rubles, allowance for those who become pregnant, maintenance of their children and pensions for women who have lost their health and are not able to perform their intimate functions. Children are invited to give in the "folk nursery" and educate them there to 17 years. "

In Saratov, they soon found out that the author of the leaflet was Mikhail Uvarov, the owner of a tea room, a big joker. For a joke, he paid with his life. It seemed the incident was settled. But a week later, the decree began a victorious march through the country. It was published by almost all bourgeois newspapers of the Soviet Republic and Europe. Some editors presented the document as a feuilleton, others tried to discredit anarchists with it, and with them at the same time socialists, whose allies were anarchists.

Various amendments to the “decree” began to appear.

“Any girl who has reached the age of 18 and who has not married is obliged, under the penalty of punishment, to register with the Free Love Bureau. A registrant is given the right to choose men between the ages of 19 and 50 as cohabitants-spouses ”, said the amendment adopted in Vladimir.

In Ekaterinodar (Krasnodar), the especially distinguished labor of the best workers were given “comic” MANDAS of the following type:

"The bearer of this is granted the right to socialize in the city 10 girls from 16 to 20 years old (who will be pointed out by a comrade)."

With this “document”, the workers seriously tried to exercise their rights, but the police stopped these attempts.

Soon the wave of "nationalization" of women began to subside. However, the indiscriminate “breakaway” into which young people left after the Revolution had a negative impact on the number of children born out of wedlock, venereal diseases became common. A concept such as “sexual terrorism” appeared when, during the Civil War, detachments of “white” and “red” sent sick prostitutes to each other, as a result of which the enemy lost combat form for some time and was demoralized.

2. New Erotic Policy.

The period of the NEP was characterized by the beginning of a large-scale discussion on sexual issues.Even high-ranking officials took an active part in them. Lenin, for example, spoke about this once with Klara Zetkin.

“The changed attitude of young people to questions of sexuality, of course, fundamentally and relies, as it were, on theory. I, the old man, are not impressed. Although least of all I am a gloomy ascetic, but to me, the so-called new sex life of young people — and often adults — often seems like a kind of bourgeois tolerance house. All this has nothing to do with freedom of love, as we, the Communists, understand it. In sexual life, it is not only manifested by nature, but also brought by culture, be it sublime or low. Of course, thirst requires satisfaction. But does a normal person under normal conditions lie on the street and drink from a puddle? Or even from a glass, the edge of which is captured by dozens of lips? But most importantly - the public side. Drinking water is truly an individual matter. But two people participate in love, and a third, new life arises. Here lies the public interest, there is a debt in relation to the team ... ".

Eh, leader, you did not see the German "das ist fantastisch", then you would have said. And then there's A. Kollontai, a female ambassador, with his theory of “Eros Winged” about the relationship between a man and a woman, deprived of formal ties.

Social bottoms did not differ by special morality until 1918, but they didn’t imagine such a “celebration of life” ... The debauchery was elevated to the rank of a national idea by young people. The propaganda of free love has begun within the framework of the thesis on the “family dying out” Advertised life in everyday communes. You can read Zamyatin "We" and imagine how it could look.

The only moral restrictions were homosexuality and pedophilia (it was allowed to enter into relations only from 16-17 years old). But these restrictions were not observed everywhere and not by all ...

3. The course to de-erotisation of Soviet society.

In the late 20s, the situation began to change in the other direction. Lenin's liberalism was replaced by Stalin's totalitarianism. The "de-erotisation of Soviet society" began, set on ideological rails. No wonder the "father of nations" finished the seminary. Appeared "preachers" ascetic way of life. So, head. From the stands of the Central Committee of the All-Union Central Committee of Civil Engineering (BKK) (b), P. Vinogradskaya asserted from the stands that "excessive attention to gender issues weakens the fighting capacity of the proletarian masses." The “doctor of the party” A. Zalkind published the famous “12 commandments” (see Appendix - just some kind of fascism), where he stated that “a class in the interests of revolutionary expediency has the right to interfere in the sexual life of its members”. Such a turn of events was ambiguously perceived by the "corrupted masses." In 1929, in Leningrad, a special commission of the Central Committee of the AUHEC (b) was formed to investigate cases of “unfriendly treatment of girls”, as cases of rape and murder of women refusing to meet the needs of “free Komsomol love” have become frequent. At the Moscow “Serp & Molot” factory, a public court tried an extremely controversial case about an attempt by one of the young workers to persuade a girl to live together. Crucial for the court was the fact that the defendant was the son of a fist. As a result, the worker was expelled from the Komsomol with the phrase "blocked with his fists and opposed the policy of the Soviet government."

How can you not remember the anecdote, when during the filling of a questionnaire, the worker had difficulties. He could not decide what to write in the “marital status” column, thought: “If I write“ married, ”they will say that I pay too much attention to my family, and not to my Motherland; I will write “single” - they will think that I am inferior, a castrate of some kind ... ". Therefore, he wrote "married, but I live separately and do handicraft". There was a scandal. Got a man 10 years in the camps "for communication with the fist and embezzlement of the seed fund." That's it.

From the beginning of the 30s, the sphere of intimate life came under the control of the state and came under an unofficial ban. From the pages of newspapers and magazines disappeared discussions on sexual issues.Girls of light behavior began to disappear from the streets (most often they were “resettled” to Siberia), from shop windows ...