The Education of the children occupies as important a place in the administration of the Soviet Government as the maintenance of the Red Army. The Budget for education and child welfare is unstinted, and at every turn one encounters evidence of actual accomplishment in the interest of the growing generation. “First we must defend the workers’ state against its enemies,” said a Commissar to me, “then we must prepare the coming generation to carry on and develop the state won for them by the Red Army.”

In the two years of the revolution 10,000 new schools had been opened. There were but few children in Soviet Russia who are not attending classes in grades from kindergarten to high school. I saw few children idling indoors or out during school hours, nor did I see any at work in the factories. They troop out from the schools in great bands into the parks at recess hour. Teachers complained to me of the lack of text-books, due to the scarcity of paper. They resented bitterly, too, the necessity of assembling their charges in cold class-rooms.

But in spite of meagre facilities, every one connected with the government worked hard to make every possible provision for the care and protection of the children. The government was feeding 359,000 children daily in the schools in Moscow, and 200,000 in Petrograd. The most nourishing food obtainable was requisitioned for the children. Milk, butter and eggs went first to hospitals and to the school restaurants, where the children were provided with food free. Only when there was an extra supply were healthy adults permitted to purchase these foods.

I used to watch the children, happy, robust little folk, going from their class-rooms in great crowds to the restaurants, where they sat in rows at the long tables. The noon recess lasted for two hours—one hour for eating and one for play. The children were chaperoned by their teachers, of whom there were two for each roomful of pupils. One looked after the mental studies, while the other directed their physical training.

The children of kindergarten age were called for in the mornings by their teachers, and were brought home by them at about four o’clock in the afternoon. At least ninety-five percent of the teachers were women, and they had all received special training for their profession.

The Soviet law prohibits the employment of children under sixteen years, except in cases of greatest necessity. Child labor under fourteen is forbidden. Children between fourteen and eighteen permitted to enter certain industries are not allowed to work more than four hours a day; between sixteen and eighteen they may work not more than six hours daily, and all must spend two hours in school.

With much of the work of preparing meals and the care of children of school age taken away from them, the women of Russia were enjoying a new freedom. They had found themselves suddenly with time to work away from home. They rushed into industry and the professions and set to work with an ardor and enthusiasm that has done much to establish the Soviet system.

Women conductors were employed on the street-cars in all the cities in the daytime, men being employed only at night. Women police also were employed, and no one seemed to think this extraordinary.

Housekeepers were accorded the same right to vote as factory workers. If a married woman had a desire to work elsewhere than in her home she did so, and took her meals with her husband and friends in a Soviet restaurant. Women shared in the discussions in the Soviet, and were elected to offices. Far from being “nationalized,” women were accorded the same respect and treatment as men.

The right of inheritance has been abolished, although dependents such as minors unable to work, or invalids, are supported out of the property of the deceased former owner, and no discrimination is made against children born out of wedlock.

The government recognizes only civil marriages, but an additional religious ceremony is optional with the contracting parties and is not restricted in any way by the government. An oral or written statement of the parties desiring to contract the marriage is required by the nearest Department of Registration. Boys under eighteen and girls under sixteen are prohibited from marrying, and the laws of consanguinity in force in other countries are observed in Russia also. Births must be registered in the Department of Registration nearest the mother’s residence, and children born out of wedlock have the same status as those born of a registered union.

Divorces are granted on the petition of either or both parties. When the petition is mutual the persons are obliged to state what surnames the children of the marriage are expected to bear in future. In case only one party petitions, the surname of the children and the responsibility for maintenance are decided by the judge.

In Moscow I visited a lying-in hospital under the Division of Motherhood and Infants, of the Department of Social Welfare. This was one of many similar institutions this department had established in all the large and many of the small cities. Here the working women receive care and nourishment without cost for several weeks before and after child-birth. They have the best food and medical treatment obtainable, and are paid their full wages during the time they are out of their accustomed employment. In connection with this hospital in Moscow, which was established in an imposing white stone structure formerly an Élite finishing school where the daughters of the rich learned French and the gentle arts, there was a training college where five hundred young women, chosen by various trade and peasant organizations throughout the country, were attending a six months’ course of lectures and practical demonstrations on obstetrics and the care of children. Already three classes of five hundred each had been graduated and sent back to their respective communities to apply their experience and to train others.

Moving pictures were shown daily, portraying to the mothers the best methods of bathing, dressing, and caring for their infants, and these were supplemented with lectures. Older children of working mothers were cared for during the day in government nurseries, where they were given the best possible care and attention.

The following is a table showing the record of the accomplishments in this department in the year 1919.