Involvement of the population of the USSR in providing assistance to families with children during the Great Patriotic War (on the example of the Baikal region)

Burdina Dar'ya Aleksandrovna Postgraduate student, Department of International Relations and Customs, Baikal State University 664003, Russia, Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, Lenin str., 11 lisa-udachi@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

During the war years, the main task of the state is not only to win, but also to take care of the population. State support was not the only help for families with children during the Great Patriotic War. The Party and the authorities constantly appealed to citizens with a request to take part in providing assistance to families, orphans and other categories of the population who found themselves in a difficult situation.

Such types of support from the citizens of the USSR include:

- collecting things and food to help families whose children are left without parents or without a breadwinner;

- organization of temporary stay or shelters at enterprises and collective farms for children who have lost contact with their parents or are left without adult care;

- providing material and psychological assistance to women and children who have lost close relatives;

- assistance in organizing children's camps where children could live in safety and undergo wellness programs;

- guardianship and patronage of orphaned children;

- collecting gifts in the form of clothes, shoes, books, toys;

- carrying out charity events, within the framework of which a lot of good deeds were done: harvesting firewood, collecting medicinal plants, taking care of the children of working mothers and much more.

- assistance in the delivery of food and medicines to the homes of families with children.

These are just some of the ways residents helped families with children during the war. In the Baikal region, such assistance was widespread. The locals really supported mothers with children. Such measures came from collective farmers, factory workers, party members, and the Komsomol. A huge contribution was also made by Timurovites and pioneers.

In Buryatia, collective farms provided assistance to military families who lived in rural areas. This assistance consisted mainly in the distribution of flour to those families who particularly need it, the allocation of one cow for two or three families, as well as assistance in the transportation of firewood and hay ^[1]. The movement of "Timurovites" became widespread in the republic, which took care of young children, carried out many economic functions in the subsidiary farms of the needy, which helped to include women in production activities. Within the framework of the movement, the development of socially useful extracurricular activities of Komsomol and pioneer organizations also took place. The formation of "Timur" teams in almost all schools of Buryatia mainly covered pioneers and students of grades 4-6, and their number increased every year ^[2]. For example, the number of pioneers and schoolchildren in the "Timur" teams in 1941 was 9 thousand, and by the end of the war it had increased to 25 thousand. During the war, 2,152 teams of "Timurovites" were created, which included 34,282 pioneers and schoolchildren. The activities of the "Timurovites" during the war were diverse: they helped the families of Red Army soldiers in various matters, such as chopping firewood, carrying water, cleaning apartments, caring for young children, reading newspapers and writing letters ^[2].

In the Irkutsk region, assistance was organized for children of multi-family, evacuated and front-line soldiers thanks to the efforts of collective farms and public organizations. It was decided to allocate two or three workdays to the fund to help children who were in a difficult life situation. Local residents from Timurov actively acted as nannies to help parents go to work. A special assistance fund was established in the region, and in 1942 and 1943 2,500 and 3,000 scholarships were paid, respectively ^[3].

Considerable assistance was provided by collective farms. At the time of field work, meals in collective farm seasonal kindergartens and playgrounds were carried out at the expense of deductions of products in the amount of 2%. The necessary linen and dishes were provided with materials allocated for children. Due to financial difficulties, most of the seasonal sites planned for opening did not work. Even during the sowing campaign of 1943 in Buryatia, out of the planned 490 sites for the opening, only 153 were working ^[4].

The District Committee of the Komsomol organized monthly actions to help military families. In 1944, several types of products were collected, such as meat, grain, milk, wool and sheepskins, and many pairs of shoes were repaired and manufactured. 83 dairy goats were provided to families, and more than 4,000 food gifts were given to children. It was also decided to issue special clothes and shoes for children of military families. Thus, assistance was provided in various forms, and the committee took patronage of 268 families ^[5].

Before the winter of 1944, a survey of military families was conducted in the city of Ulan-Ude. The results showed that more than 500 children of front-line soldiers cannot go to school due to lack of shoes, and more than 1,000 children cannot go to kindergartens and nurseries. On December 17, 1944, a Sunday party was organized at the enterprises of local industry and industrial cooperation for the manufacture and repair of winter shoes for these children. Funds were created that provided assistance to military families. These funds consisted of voluntary contributions from workers, contributions from individual enterprises and trade unions, as well as in-kind funds ^[6].

In the Baikal region, weeks of assistance to families in need were regularly organized. In January 1943, 8856 kg of food, 3431 pairs of shoes, 7278 sets of clothes and 702640 rubles of money were collected in Buryatia alone. The collection was carried out in ten rural and three urban districts of the republic, in order to help 16 thousand families. Annually 1,670 scholarships were given to children of military personnel, students in schools, which in rural areas were transferred to collective farm funds ^[7]. Nevertheless, there were difficulties with the creation of natural funds.

The departments of state provision of over-planned products had to provide goods with funds that they received from city trade departments, ORSos and local industrial enterprises. However, trade departments and sales offices did not always receive goods from the allocated funds, so local industry enterprises had high plans for the production of goods for everyday demand. These funds were important for providing for military families in cities, but in rural areas they were almost not created due to limited supply opportunities. Based on materials from the archives, it can be found out that these forms of assistance have not become widespread. They most often existed only on paper in the places where they were created. All types of assistance corresponded only to the material needs of military families to some extent. The State Support Department constantly received complaints and applications from families who needed help ^[8].

From July 15 to July 22, 1942, 327 applications from military families were received in the Railway District of Ulan-Ude. Of these, 219 were satisfied, 9 were rejected, and 99 did not receive verification or consideration, which is 30.3%. The applicants asked for financial assistance, allowances, pensions, assistance in finding housing and work. The provision of military families was recognized as a national concern and occupied a place in the daily attention of both the relevant Soviet bodies and public and economic organizations. It was of great military and political importance to support each family of a serviceman through the timely issuance of benefits and its provision with benefits provided by law, as well as assistance in meeting material and household needs ^[9].

In rural areas, families of Red Army soldiers and collective farmers were provided with partial assistance in food, which was financed by 10% of the grain that was deducted to the state. In May 1942, thanks to this, 100 tons of flour were allocated to needy families of Red Army soldiers and evacuees. Also, products were purchased from collective farmers, for example, in the autumn of 1942, 500 tons of potatoes were harvested in the Baikal region for families of veterans and disabled people in exchange for salt, kerosene, matches and soap for 91.8 thousand rubles ^[10]. In order to assist the families of military personnel in matters of taxation, consulting and reference tables were created in Houses of Culture and reading huts.

Families of servicemen, war invalids and evacuees who needed help were sent to rural areas in the Irkutsk region during the spring and summer. The local authorities were obliged to look for housing for them and settle them there. Assistance in the form of allocation of a small plot of land for living and 50 kg of potatoes for crops was also provided. In addition, they were still provided with bread according to city standards through rural shops, which was financed by special funds.

Complaints and statements from families in the Bodaybinsky district of the Irkutsk region are very numerous. These are mainly requests for help with work, firewood delivery and housing. Requests for financial assistance are less common. After the end of the war, when demobilized soldiers returned, the forms of assistance to disabled people and military families gradually decreased, and social protection began to play a major role in this ^[10].

In conditions of acute shortage of resources and meeting the needs of the front, the state resorted to other sources of social assistance to the population, including the enthusiasm of young people. Most of the young people entered into a patriotic upsurge and sincerely wanted to help their country by participating in social assistance outside of the main working hours on a voluntary basis and without payment. The state did not take into account the results of the participation and contribution of young people to social policy and instead used vivid examples of their help for ideological work and patriotic education.

Young people actively participated in helping children, including work assignments. One of the practices included patronage of children's institutions, where young people carried out various types of work: breaking firewood, moving furniture, building slides for children, organizing walks on the street, creating toys and other children's items. As part of this program, concerts were organized, premises were renovated and boarding schools were visited.

Young people with medical knowledge provided assistance outside of medical institutions, for example, went out daily to clear train stations, squares and streets of snow and debris in the districts of the region. Female activists of the Red Cross carried out sanitary and preventive measures at railway stations to prevent the spread of infectious diseases among people. Young people equipped mother and child rooms at train stations, made children's toys and organized concerts for the wounded. Many children and teenagers helped the medical staff ^[11].

Komsomol members of the Baikal region organized events aimed at helping disabled people, children and families of front-line soldiers throughout the war. They took over patronage, created funds, raised funds at Sunday parties and paid concerts, made individual gifts, toys and shoes, as well as repaired premises. In addition, they collected berries and mushrooms, as well as things and products for the population ^[12].

The war era caused changes in social policy, thanks to which the survival of the country and the care of its people were ensured. Young people actively participated in most areas of the state's social policy, although the mobilization function still had priority. Immediately after the outbreak of the war, the state began to pay benefits to the families of front-line soldiers, as well as allocate resources to maintain the standard of living of the population. Due to their acute shortage, young people contributed to the social policy of the country through labor participation, inspired by a patriotic impulse and a desire for a quick victory in the war. Although the youth did not have great financial opportunities, they made a significant contribution to the social policy of the state.

School workers and teachers of those years were caring and attentive to children, although they themselves also experienced hunger and need. Today, veterans gratefully remember their teachers for their attention and care. They gave the children a lot of affection and time, taught them to sing, dance, read poetry and arranged concerts. Without musical accompaniment, but these performances always lifted the mood and helped to distract from difficult everyday life and experiences.

The extent of the assistance provided was regularly reported in the newspapers. For example, the workers of the Kachugsky district collected 1,750 carts of firewood and 22 carts of hay for the evacuated residents, as well as financial assistance of more than 20 thousand rubles. The collective farm of the Red Army of the Tulunsky district sent 27 quintals of meat, 14 thousand liters of milk to needy families, and the collective farm Krasnaya Niva of the same district – 2 thousand pieces of eggs ^[13].

Another type of help was provided by hunters. Since the men went to the front, the hunt passed into the hands of young boys. For example, in 1942, students of the Kutulik school Filippov and Sobolev, who had just turned 14 and 10 years old, respectively, at the Krasny Oktyabr collective farm were known for regularly bringing harvested furs, the funds from the delivery of which went to help the needy Kutulik residents ^[14].

In the same year, commissions for collecting clothes and shoes operated in the Tulun district. People brought valenki, dresses, hats, coats and many other things to help the evacuated children. 559 things came from educational institutions: the Sheragul school, elementary schools and even from the orphanage "Fresh Shoots" ^[15].

Moral support was also important. The evening of evacuees living in the Stalinsky district of the city was held in the Irkutsk House of the Red Army. Those present listened with interest to the report of Comrade. Podshivalova about the Patriotic War. Then the evacuees themselves performed, among whom was Z. V. Akulshina. She shared her thoughts about how during the war the people united even more into one fraternal family ^[16].

In the city of Irkutsk, a commission was created under the Stalin District Council, which was engaged in providing assistance to children of Red Army soldiers and evacuated families. Deputy Chairman of the district Council Kalininskaya was appointed chairman of the commission. More than 530 evacuated children from the Stalinsky district were busy studying, and 167 of them were placed in kindergartens and received the necessary assistance. In addition, 71 children were placed in a nursery, and 362 teenagers were employed or sent to study at vocational and vocational schools. Some patriotic women have adopted children without parents. However, workers and employees of all enterprises and institutions of the district had to continue to support the evacuated children, which was regularly called for by propaganda.

During the war, due to the significant deterioration of the material security of the school, teachers and students received support from party, Soviet and public organizations. In 1943 – 1944, in Buryatia, enterprises and institutions allocated their products to schools, produced in 2-3 days. A large number of shoes and clothes for the students were handed over.

By order of the regional party committee, "School and Teacher Assistance Weeks" were organized throughout the republic. During this time, various kinds of assistance were provided, including providing children with education, repairing schools, delivering and harvesting firewood, as well as creating a universal education fund. In 1943 alone, collective farmers donated a large number of products to the universal education fund, including bread, potatoes, milk, butter and meat. About 10 thousand pairs of shoes and many other clothes for children of veterans were also issued. In general, 213 thousand rubles were collected to the universal education fund ^[17].

Thanks to the diligent work of teachers, the constant care of party and Soviet organizations and the care of all residents of the republic about the school, during the war years, the main measures for the general education of children and adolescents were implemented. The teaching staff of Buryatia paid attention not only to the education and upbringing of children, but also carried out a lot of work on agitation and mass education among the population.

Residents of the region provided various assistance to children and children's institutions, not only collecting food and material resources, but also adopting and patronizing many children. The authorities at the State and local levels also played an important role in this direction, conducting summer health campaigns, opening children's canteens and arranging for homeless and orphans, as well as taking measures to protect pregnant women.

The Komsomol organization of Buryatia provided assistance to the families of servicemen. From November 15 to December 13, 1943, a month was held in the B-MASSR to provide assistance to military families, which was organized by the decision of the regional committee of the CPSU (b) and the SNK. During this period, the regional Komsomol organization provided assistance to 3769 families. To do this, Komsomol members and young people collected more than 305 thousand rubles, harvested and delivered firewood in the amount of 10646 cubic meters, brought livestock feed for 8732 hundredweight, and also repaired housing for 552 families ^[18].

The Kyakhta Aimach Komsomol organization distinguished itself in holding Sundays, which covered a larger number of families of front–line soldiers - 1300. In total, 21509 rubles were collected, and 1,380 cubic meters of firewood, almost a ton of animal feed were distributed, 13 apartments were repaired. At school No. 1 in Ulan-Ude, active Timurovians carried out significant and in-demand work. The organization consisted of 195 people who took care of 72 families of veterans, kindergarten No. 7 and organize concerts for residents of the city ^[18].

The volume of assistance in 1942-1943 in Ulan–Ude is presented in Appendix 6. From the data in the table, it can be seen that assistance was provided in all districts of the city and made up a set of all necessary goods for life: fuel, clothing and shoes, underwear, as well as assistance in finding employment and placing children in kindergartens and nurseries. In August and September 1943, the Komsomol City Committee organized three collective events, in which Komsomol members and the youth of the city went out to harvest firewood for military families and schools. In total, more than 1,700 cubic meters were harvested, which were transported to needy families ^[19].

In January 1944, the party and Soviet organizations of the Republic of Buryatia were actively engaged in organizing assistance to military families, which was noticed and highly appreciated by the SNK and the bureau of the regional Committee of the CPSU (b). Enterprises, institutions and collective farms have formed significant food and monetary funds, supporting the initiative of material and household assistance to more than 36 thousand families. Among the resources issued were more than 7 thousand quintals of food, more than 18 thousand pieces of clothing, 16 thousand pairs of shoes and cash allowances totaling 885 thousand rubles ^[20].

In general, the assistance provided to military families was extremely necessary. The supply of clothing, the provision of free meals, assistance in placing children in nurseries and kindergartens, the appointment of allowances and benefits are far from all the measures taken by the Soviet government to support the families of front–line soldiers.

The concern for women and children also came from the trade unions. Trade union bodies were engaged in the accommodation of evacuated workers, controlled housing conditions and the work of canteens, provided financial assistance and monitored the use of funds for capital construction and repair of housing for evacuated citizens. In addition, the trade unions took care of improving working conditions and imposed a ban on involving teenagers in night and overtime work, giving them holidays and days off. During the war, the volume of allocations for occupational health and safety increased significantly.

Thus, during the Great Patriotic War, the population helped those in need in various forms. Involvement in such types of assistance was also part of the country's social policy. Propaganda was actively carried out with calls to support women and children, information about support measures and the amount of assistance was published. One of the most important forms of assistance was the collection of various things, food and money that were sent to families in need. Of great importance was the organization of additional meals for children, including for children from large families and for children of evacuated citizens. In difficult times, the people acted unanimously and created various aid organizations: red Cross societies, charitable foundations, maternity and childhood committees. The population also helped those in need by accepting orphans, evacuated citizens and refugees for temporary residence. For the Baikal region, these measures were as important as for the rest of the USSR.