Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-5-2013 Empire's Children: Soviet Childhood in the Age of Revolution Loraine de la Fe Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI13040301 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Recommended Citation de la Fe, Loraine, "Empire's Children: Soviet Childhood in the Age of Revolution" (2013). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 812. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/812 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida EMPIRE’S CHILDREN: SOVIET CHILDHOOD IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY by Loraine de la Fe 2013 To: Dean Kenneth G. Furton choose the name of dean of your college/school College of Arts and Sciences choose the name of your college/school This dissertation, written by Loraine de la Fe , and entitled Empire's Children: Soviet Childhood in the Age of Revolution, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Tom Ewing _______________________________________ Aurora Morcillo _______________________________________ Bianca Premo _______________________________________ Patricia Price _______________________________________ Rebecca Friedman, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 5, 2013 The dissertation of Loraine de la Fe is approved. _______________________________________ choose the name of dean of your college/school Dean Kenneth G. Furton choose the name of your college/school College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2013 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project has undergone several phases paralleled to Soviet History. It began with a revolutionary fervor and zeal followed by an arduous period of stagnation. After a few perestroikas, it ended with an opening or glasnost. The long journey was supported over many years by various institutions, colleagues, friends, and family. The research for this dissertation was conducted with the support of U.S. Department of State, Title VIII Research Grant, Florida International University Dissertation Evidence Acquisition Fellowship and Dissertation Year Fellowship, various institutions at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Russian, East European and Eurasian Center, the University of Pittsburgh Slavic Language and Literatures, and the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum. The idea of writing on the history of Soviet Childhood sparked during a conversation with my then Russian teacher and now sister, Zayana Dzhimbinova, who in addition to teaching the language, taught me about a hidden world within Russia’s borders. In Russia, I was grateful to receive much support and guidance from the scholars and staffs of many archives and libraries, including Natsional’nii Arkhiv Respubliki Kalmykiia (NARK), Natsional’nii Musei Respubliki Kalmykiia (NMRK), Tsentral’nii Arkhiv Goroda Moskvii (TsAGM), Tsentral’nii Arkhiv Moskovskoi Oblasti (TsAMO). I am indebted to my families: Dzhimbinov— Alexey, Ludmilla, Viktoria-- and Merkulov—Delya, Marina, Vladimir-- for opening their hearts and homes to me in Kalmykia and Moscow. I would also like to thank Olga Vainshtein for her generous time iii and support in this project. In Spain, I would like to thank the archivists in the Archivos de la Guerra Civil in Salamanca for their warm hospitality and guidance. My dissertation would not be what it is today without the friendship, support and guidance of so many individuals, including my incredibly patient dissertation committee, Tom Ewing, Bianca Premo, Aurora Morcillo, and Patricia Price. I am also thankful for the individuals, friends, and mentors who gave so much of their time to make this project successful: Kenneth Lipartito, Gwyn Davies, Sherry Johnson, Nikolai Harsanyi, Lara Kriegel, Mark D. Szuchman, Noble David Cook, Victor Uribe, Amanda J. Snyder, Carolina Zumliaglini, Paula de la Cruz-Fernandez, Erika D. Edwards for your amazing guidance, Olga Klimova of University of Pittsburgh for accompanying me on my first Russian Archival visit, Joseph Lenkart for all your help at the Slavic Library at University of Illinois, and Andrew R. Lazo for your willingness to become an honorary historian and read my work with a critical eye for so many years, and the Department of History at Florida International University. Finally, I would like to thank my family Aida, Ernesto, David and Elvis de la Fe, Pilar Ros, Carmen Vallejo-Ros and Nona Williams Lazo who have always unconditionally supported me in my crazy adventures. Last but not least, I would especially like to thank my confidant, advisor, and mentor, Rebecca Friedman, not only for her time, but her generous spirit and soul that inspired me to become what I am today. In transliterating Russian texts, I have used the Library of Congress system, except in commonly known spellings of names. iv © Copyright 2013 by Loraine de la Fe All rights reserved. v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION EMPIRE’S CHILDREN: SOVIET CHILDHOOD IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTION by Loraine de la Fe Florida International University, 2013 Miami, Florida Professor Rebecca Friedman, Major Professor Ideas of childhood and citizenship stood at the center of the Soviet Union’s empire-building project during the 1920s and 1930s. After the 1917 Revolution the Bolsheviks were faced with the challenge of establishing a new state structure and governing a vast territory inherited from its tsarist predecessor. In the early years of the Soviet project, new leaders enlisted a cadre of professionals tasked with not only creating the norms of childhood and the everyday, but also implementing policies to modernize habits and values of the empire’s younger citizens. To understand how children became a prime focus of Soviet imperial and ethno- cultural politics, my dissertation employs discourse analysis and compares the ways in which Soviet imperial policies were implemented in two ethnically different regions: the Buddhist Republic of Kalmykia as the colonial case study and Moscow as the Metropole. The current project examines newspapers, treatises, and inspectors’ reports over the span of twenty years. It finds that the Bolsheviks’ initial values and discourses in the realm of children’s education, health, leisure and nutrition, all which were scientifically designed to transform children into ideal Soviet and modern citizens, changed over time as a result vi of the competing ideologies among local elites and the challenges they faced while intervening in children’s everyday lives. The most significant conclusion in this dissertation reveals that, contrary to previous scholarly arguments, the modernization projects that took place in Moscow and Kalmykia were more similar in the challenges and outcomes that local officials faced when implementing state policies. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION: IMAGINING THE EVERYDAY SOVIET CHILD ........1 II. THE CHILD COMPASS: SPACE AND PLACE IN THE SOVIET IMAGINATION ..............................................................................................34 III. A CHILD’S HEALTH IS DEPENDENT ON DISTORTIONS OF THE BYT: THE CHILD’S BODY AND HYGIENE IN EARLY SOVIET RUSSIA ......69 IV. SOCIALIZATION IN THE LUNCHROOM: CHILDREN’S FOOD CONSUMPTION IN EARLY SOVIET RUSSIA .........................................103 V. INTO THE LIGHT: LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL ENLIGHTENMENT IN SOVIET SCHOOLS .................................................................................144 VI. CONCLUSION: BORDERLESS EMPIRE: SOVIET CHILDHOOD AND THE EVERYDAY IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT ......................................186 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………..193 VITA………………………………………………………………………..203 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Map of Russia……………………………………………………………………23 2. Girl Playing Instrument Wearing Traditional Kalmyk Clothing ...........................82 3. Pre-Revolutionary Kalmyk Boys’ Uniform ...........................................................83 4. Early Soviet Kalmyk Boys’ Clothing………………………………………………………………………….84 5. Example of Kalmyk and Russian Children in Pioneer Uniform ...........................86 6. Illustration of Men and Women Working ...........................................................103 7. Example of Outdoor Stolovaia in Kalmyk Children’s Institution ......................141 8. Example of Outdoor Stolovaia in Moscow Kindergarten....................................141 9. Example of Kalmyk Language Geography Textbook in Latin Characters ..........160 10. Example of Kalmyk Language Literary Textbook Printed in Cyrillic ...............161 ix LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Average Daily Food Intake in Kindergartens/ Per child……………………………………….…………………………………….116 2. Food Distribution in Kalmyk Children’s Homes ................................................130 3. Food Distribution in Moscow Children’s Institutions According to Age Group 137 4. Average Number of Hours Departmentalizing Kalmyk Education, 1923 ...........166