Children's "aid weeks" as a form of effective fight against homelessness in Soviet Russia in the early 1920s

Тhe paper analyzes special features of the organization of “aid weeks” for street children in USSR in the early 1920s. One of the most difficult problems of the first years of the Soviet regime was the catastrophic level of homelessness, as a result of which several million children found themselves on the streets. In the early 1920s, the organization of “aid weeks” became an effective measure of assistance to street children. These activities included fundraising for the needs of poor children, working over the forms of struggle against social orphanhood, taking criminological and pedagogical measures aimed at improving the situation. The first all-Russian children’s “aid week” resulted in the establishment of the VTsIK Commission for Children’s Lives Improvement, a special body aimed at eradicating homelessness in Soviet Russia.