Soviet Families

Social Problems in Post Soviet Russia

Coming to power, the Communists launched a complete war against the family and religion, the foundations of any society. The very understanding of “family” was declared bourgeois a form of repression of individuals' personality. In the '20s, Soviet legislation legalized abortions, made divorces easier, affirmed the principle of free love and the public discussion of “the gender question”. The  enormous number of neglected children and the spreading of venereal diseases obliged the government to reject the idea of sexual revolution by the mid-1930s, and the concept of a stable family was once again valued.