Changes in the Legal Status of a Woman-Mother in the Soviet Law After the Bolshevik Revolution and in the Stalin’s Era (1917–1953)

Abstract

The Bolshevists’ coming into power in Russia in 1917 changed the life of every woman significantly, since a new social status was immediately created. It was also defined in law, i.e., the Soviet woman. In the framework of this research, a detailed analysis is provided of one of the social statuses of a Soviet woman – a mother. The status of the mother is especially important, since every change in the social role of the mother in the upbringing of the child changes the entire society. The reforms of Stalin’s era turned the mother into a public person in the Soviet state, fulfilling a mission important for the state in improving the demographic situation. At the same time, her rights to choose how to raise a child, how much time to devote to a child, what values to instil were continuously decreased. Mothers who did not conform to the ideology could be deprived of their mother’s rights, subjected to repression and separation from their children.

Keywords

• Soviet law
• women’s rights
• legal status of the mother