The Stunted “Germ of Communism”: the University Canteen in the 1920s and mid-1930s as a Place for the Formation of Soviet Students

The article examines the history of university canteens in the 1920s and mid-1930s, focusing on their role as a space of everyday life that influenced the formation of a new “red” Soviet student. The main sources used for the research were materials from corporate periodicals of Moscow, Leningrad, Kazan, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, and other universities, which often discussed the issue of student meals. Archival materials devoted to the living and financial situation of students were also involved, as well as memoirs from former students and university professors describ-ing various aspects of student daily life. As a result of the conducted research, it was established that the main prob-lems of university canteens throughout the period under review remained unchanged. Poor food quality, dirt, non-compliance with basic hygiene standards, long queues, and difficult financial situation were the issues that students faced. The authorities tried to redirect the students’ dissatisfaction towards the management and staff of the canteens, representatives of the bodies responsible for catering, and even professors. This situation largely reflected the pro-cesses associated with the actively conducted “proletarization” of university education. Soviet “red” students gradu-ally lost special status and unique role in society that students possessed in the pre-revolutionary period. Instead, they became submissive and learned to exist in humiliating conditions caused by formalism and inefficiency of Soviet management mechanisms. They also acquired fighting skills and access to meager privileges, including access to high-quality food.