Sexual revolution in soviet Belarus in the 1920s: Ideological origins and the legal basis Cover Image

Сэксуальная рэвалюцыя ў Cавецкай Беларусі ў 1920-я гг.: Ідэйныя вытокі і юрыдычнае абгрунтаванне
Sexual revolution in soviet Belarus in the 1920s: Ideological origins and the legal basis

Author(s): Aljaksandr Gužaloўskі
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Family and social welfare
Published by: Uniwersytet Warszawski - Katedra Studiów Interkulturowych Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej
Keywords: sexual revolution; ideology; gender; morality; family and marriage relations; Marxism; love; laws; family code; the actual marriage; divorce;

Summary/Abstract: All totalitarian regimes which existed in the 20th century tried to use sexual energy of the population like a tool of social engineering. In Soviet Union the Communist Party ideologists strived to change sexuality and sexual behavior of people according to Marxist doctrine. Sexuality in the USSR went through the cycle from unbelievable freedom in the 1920s through the conservatism of Stalinism and a relatively liberal decade of “the developed socialism” to the sexual boom in the end of 1980s – beginning of 1990s. The first decades after Bolsheviks came to power was characterized by unbelievable freedom of even for today. Revolution changes in the sexual behavior took place in the Soviet Russia then in the Soviet Union. Those changes have already got name in contemporary historiography – “sexual revolution”. Many aspects of it were described by Russian and Western researchers. Particular facts on the Soviet sexual revolution can be also found in the work of Belorussian researchers, who have studied the gender aspects of the past. The 1920s are traditionally presented in Belorussian historiography in the context of national or new economic policy. The author tried to have a close look at this decade through “unusual” for most Belorussian historians’ optics – construction of ideological origins and legal basis for new intimacy and sexual relations. The choice is nonrandom. The first decade after the Bolsheviks’ revolution the USSR was the field of experiment, transformation of gender relations. The range of sources is not random too. Printed media as well as the Communist Party and Government officials of the liberal 1920s are openly discussed sexual sphere of human activity.

  • Issue Year: 2/2017
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 9-59
  • Page Count: 51
  • Language: Belarusian