How the "red commissars" determined the fashion and customs of socialist society

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The women born of the revolution are red "commissars", "commanders" and feminists who stand for equal rights and free love. They not only became participants in military battles in the Civil War, but also dictated fashion and customs in the new proletarian society. Liberated and self-confident, they fought and debauched on a par with men, not considering it a sin and a shameful deed.

What role did women commissars play in the formation of the Bolshevik government?

After the overthrow of the monarchy in February 1917, active and assertive representatives of the weaker sex appeared in Russia, who, with ardent enthusiasm, began to agitate some for the Bolsheviks, some for the Left Social Revolutionaries. Explaining to the soldiers and workers in the "popular language", they often found support and approval for their passionate speeches. Dressed in men's leather jackets over a cloth dress and red scarves on their heads, with an eloquent Mauser in the river - such ladies quickly became known as "commissars".

The lively young ladies, who turned into comrades, were really not a mistake - they shot no worse than men, possessed enviable self-confidence and successfully forced everyone to obey their will. So Comrade Yakovleva, in a leather jacket and riding breeches, with youthful fervor confiscated weapons from the non-commissioned officers and the outskirts of St. Petersburg. Another comrade, an employee of Krasnaya Zvezda, Lagutin, disarmed the soldiers by bursting into the barracks during the February events. Making a fiery speech, she demanded to support the revolution and surrender weapons to her. The men were far from timid, they obeyed unconditionally without any attempts to resist.

Many commissars, armed with rifles, were engaged in the protection of factories and patrolling Smolny. Some of them took part in clashes with the cadets loyal to the Provisional Government. As they wrote in the revolutionary newspapers of that time: "Women are in the same place as men - there are no more obstacles for them."

When women were officially granted the right to study martial arts and what came of it

In addition to the desperate commissars, after the October Revolution, commanders also appeared - so nicknamed by the people for their emphatically courageous appearance, tough disposition and dedication. Ladies in military uniform appeared thanks to Trotsky: the people's commissar advocated that women could have a military education and serve in the army on an equal basis with men.

This right for women appeared already in 1918: on January 15, a Decree was signed on the organization of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), which opened access to the service for all adult citizens of the country. Three months later, in April, the decree "On compulsory training in the art of war" was published - it stated in a separate line that "citizens are trained, by their consent, on a general basis."

It was not only former peasant women and factory workers who rushed to take advantage of legal equality - well-educated young ladies who had received an excellent education in tsarist times also became "commanders". One of them, for example, was Larisa Mikhailovna Reisner: the professor's daughter, who graduated from high school with a gold medal, managed to visit both a scout and take part in the Civil War as the commissar of the reconnaissance detachment of the headquarters of the 5th army as part of the Volga-Kama flotilla.

How the Red Amazons became famous in Russia

And yet most of the "commanders" were from the common people. Short-cropped, in Circassians and shirts, with cloth helmets and hats on their heads, the fairer sex looked little like women. In order not to differ at all from the men of the Red Army, some commanders took for themselves the appropriate names and surnames, while showing themselves on the battlefield like real heroes.

An illustrative example of the image of a commander is the machine gunner Pinkova, who joined the ranks of the Red Army under the name Ivan Pinkov. The former peasant woman repeatedly participated in battles and died from Cossack blades, covering the retreat of her native unit with a machine gun.

Another participant in the Civil War, editor of the revolutionary newspaper Tatyana Solodovnikova, took the name Timofey when she entered the service in the Petrograd reserve regiment. The truth that she is a woman surfaced rather quickly, but this did not prevent her from fighting first on the Polish front, and then fighting banditry as part of the Tambov army.

"Red Amazon" Pavlina Kuznetsova was the gunner of a machine gun of one of the cavalry regiments of Budyonny's division. Once, her regimental team, faced with the White Guards, engaged in an unequal battle. At that moment, only the fortitude of Kuznetsova, who, without worrying about her own life, shot the enemy, helped to get out of the difficult situation. Under endless fire, the enemies retreated, and the desperate machine gunner was presented for the award - in 1923, the Peacock was awarded the Order of the Battle Red Banner.

Who in Russia was called the "market women of the Revolution"

The Russian revolution gave women freedom not only socially, but also morally. Family ties were no longer considered sacred, since with the onset of equality, marriage was replaced by a comradely union. Living with each other without getting married and not registering a relationship has become the norm, like free love without obligations. Some, especially liberated women, who used to be afraid of criticism for indecent behavior, began to lead an undisguised dissolute life. For this, among the people, they received the nickname "the waitresses of the revolution."

In the archives of Academician Bekhterev, a rather indicative case for that time is described that happened to a married couple. The husband complained and asked to cure the unfaithful wife from fornication, accusing her that she was constantly among the soldiers and security officers. A woman, serving first in the Red Army, and then in the Cheka, showed not only military fervor in battle, but also was distinguished by high lovingness, being in the men's team. The “waitress of the revolution” did not agree with the claims of her husband, answering them: “If men are allowed, then women too!” This, almost, that the slogan for post-revolutionary times, was supported by the weaker sex until the mid-twenties.

And these women became heroes of wars in Latin America.