“Are you defective or immoral?”. Problems of selection and socialization of “morally defective” children in the 20s of the 20th century in Soviet Russia: regional aspects

We consider the regional features of the social protection system of “morally handicapped” children in Tambov province in the first decade of Soviet government (1918–1928). We representatively and comprehensively investigate various poorly studied aspects of the declared scientific problem on the basis of attraction and processing of a wide complex of primary archival sources and other materials. We reveal typical regional features of the social education system formation in relation to homeless children and children with criminal tendencies in the formation period of the new socialist state at the provincial and county levels, different from the capital’s projects and instructions. We also show spontaneity and haste in the search for different forms and methods of organization of care for such socially neglected children. We clarify the main educational practices and organizational measures for the opportunities and needs of provincial institutions of the social education. We identify the main ways and methods of work with juvenile offenders during the period under review. Conclusions are drawn about the results and features of support for such “special” children and adolescents at the level of the province and county, which allowed to reconstruct the system of social protection of post-revolutionary Russia. Special attention was paid to the social protection of women’s councils female workers’ children and other regional public organizations. Attention is paid to the importance of taking into account regional specifics and specific historical, socio-political, socio-cultural and ethno-confessional features of the social education system. We clarify the factors that had the strongest impact on the personnel, financing of children’s social institutions, as well as trends in their development in the Soviet era. We reveal the catastrophic impact of the new economic policy on the regional system of social education and the work of orphanages, where homeless children gathered, who lacked other opportunities for socialization and survival.

1. Krashevskaya I.A. Problema obucheniya «defektivnykh» detey v period stanovleniya sovetskogo gosudarstva [Problems of “handicapped children” education in the period of Soviet state]. Nauka, tekhnika, obrazovaniye – Science, Technology and Education, 2015, no. 2 (8), pp. 106-107. (In Russian).

2. Ryabinina N.V. «Moral’no-defektivnyye» – kto oni? K istorii detskoy besprizornosti i prestupnosti v 1920-e gody. [“Morally defective” – who are they? To the history of child homelessness and juvenile delinquency]. Vek nyneshniy, vek minuvshiy... [Present Century, Past Century…]. Yaroslavl, P.G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University Publ., 1999, pp. 57-66. (In Russian).

3. Kolokolnikova Z.U., Podlesnaya N.V. Uchrezhdeniya sotsial’nogo vospitaniya dlya moral’no-defektivnykh detey v Priyeniseyskoy Sibiri v 20–30-e gody XX veka [Institutions of social education for morally defective children in Yenisei Siberia in 20–30s of the 20th century]. Mezhdunarodnyy zhurnal prikladnykh i fundamental'nykh issledovaniy – International Journal of Applied and Fundamental Research, 2015, no. 1-1, pp. 136-140. (In Russian).

4. Kashchenko V.P. (ed.). Defektivnyye deti i shkola [Defective Children and School]. Moscow, 1912, 125 p. (In Russian).

5. Kalinnikova-Magnusson L.V., Magnusson M. Sotsial’naya politika v otnoshenii detskoy «defektivnosti» v voyenno-revolyutsionnyy period i v pervuyu dekadu sovetskoy vlasti (1914–1927 gg.) [The social policy on child “defectiveness” during the First World War, revolution and the first decade of soviet power (1914–1927)]. Vestnik Pomorskogo universiteta. Seriya: gumanitarnyye i sotsial’nyye nauki – Vestnik of Pomor University. Series: Humanitarian and Social Sciences, 2005, no. 1, p. 158. (In Russian).

6. Kashchenko V.P., Murashev G.V. Isklyuchitel’nyye deti. Deti nervnyye, trudnyye i slaboodarennyye. Ikh izucheniye i vospitaniye [Exceptional Children. Nervous, Difficult and Poorly Gifted Children. Their Examination and Education]. Moscow, 1929, 125 p. (In Russian).

7. Shcherbinin P.P. «Fizicheski-defektivnyye deti» i ikh prizreniye v pervoy treti XX veka: regional’nyy aspekt [“Physically defective children” and their care in the first third of the 20th century: the regional aspect]. Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki – Tambov University Review. Series: Humanities, 2019, vol. 24, no. 178, pp. 140-148. DOI 10.20310/1810-0201-2019-24-178-140-148. (In Russian).

8. Shcherbinin P.P. «Pustite detey ko mne...»: «deti bedy» i popechitel’stvo do i posle 1917 goda [“Suffer the Children to Come unto Me...”: “Children of Misfortune” and Patronage before and after 1917]. Tambov, Publishing House “Derzhavinsky”, 2018, 370 p. (In Russian).

9. Smirnova T.M. Deti strany Sovetov: Ot gosudarstvennoy politiki k realiyam povsednevnoy zhizni. 1917–1940 gg. [Children of Soviet Country: From State Policy to Everyday Realities. 1917–1940]. Moscow, St. Petersburg, 2015, 382 p. (In Russian).

10. Badulin V.V. Uchrezhdeniya sotsial’nogo vospitaniya [Institutions of social education]. Narodnoye obrazovaniye v RSFSR (po statisticheskim dannym Narkomprosa na 1-e aprelya 1923 g.) [Public Education in RSFSR (According to Statistical Data of People’s Commissariat for Education on April 1, 1923)]. Moscow, 1923, pp. 10-12. (In Russian).

11. Ryabinina N. Po delam «moral’no-defektivnykh» [On materials of “morally defective”]. Rodina – [Rodina], 2011, no. 11, pp. 99-101. (In Russian).

12. Vasilyeva E.A. Zadachi sotsial’nogo vospitaniya [Tasks of social education]. Vestnik prosveshcheniya [Vestnik of Enlightenment], 1919, no. 1-2, pp. 10. (In Russian).

13. Smirnova T.M. Detskiye doma i trudkolonii: zhizn’ «gosudarstvennykh detey» v Sovetskoy Rossii 1920–1930 gg. [Orphanages and “trudkoloniyas” (work-houses): “state children” life in Soviet Russia in 1920–1930s]. Vestnik Rossiyskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Istoriya Rossii – RUDN Journal of Russian History, 2012, no. 3, pp. 16-38. (In Russian).

14. Kukulin I.V., Mayofis M.L., Safronov P.A. (eds.). Ostrova utopii: Pedagogicheskoye i sotsial’noye proyektirovaniye poslevoyennoy shkoly (1940–1980-e) [Utopia Islands. Pedagogical and Social Design of Post-War School]. Moscow, Novoye literaturnoye obozreniye Publ., 2015, 696 p. (In Russian).

15. Kelly C. Children’s World, 1890–1991. New Haven, London, Yale University Press, 2007.