Sanitary Education

SANITARY EDUCATION in the USSR, the popularization of sanitary and health measures, propaganda of the resolutions of the party and government in the field of healthcare, and the equipping of the broad masses of workers with hygienic and medical knowledge and skills for the purpose of involving them in the ranks of active and conscious builders of socialist healthcare. Sanitary education in the USSR sharply differs from sanitary education in capitalist countries, where it amounts, on one hand, to hygienic education of bourgeois population groups and hygienic upbringing of their children, and on the other hand, to the dissemination among the broad masses of the population of a minimum of hygienic knowledge and skills in which the bourgeoisie, as the ruling class, is interested. Under Soviet conditions, sanitary education is directed toward improving the sanitary and cultural service for the builders of socialism, toward strengthening the dictatorship of the proletariat. The methodological foundations of Soviet sanitary education, as well as of all healthcare and all political-educational work in the USSR, are fully based on the teachings of the classics of Marxism on the proletarian revolution, culture and upbringing, on agitation and propaganda, on mass work, etc. Along with the term 'sanitary education,' the term 'mass sanitary and cultural work' is widely used in the practice of Soviet healthcare. Sanitary education in capitalist countries. In a class state, sanitary education is always directed toward serving the interests of the ruling class and is thus used by it to strengthen the given state system. The development of sanitary education in capitalist society was connected with the immediate interests of the commercial and subsequently industrial bourgeoisie (the fight against epidemics, the protection of personal health, the obscuring of the class roots of proletarian diseases, the reduction of losses for entrepreneurs connected with their share of material responsibility for industrial trauma, the interests of capital invested in certain branches of industry, insurance societies, etc.). Marx points out that 'the bourgeoisie's fear of contagious diseases' gave rise to a whole series of sanitary acts, investigations, etc., aimed at creating for the bourgeoisie a certain security with regard to the development and spread of contagious diseases. 'The capitalist gentlemen cannot with impunity allow themselves the pleasure of dooming the working class to epidemic diseases; the consequences fall back on them themselves' (Engels). Hence, a large share in the subject matter of sanitary education in capitalist countries is occupied by questions of the fight against contagious diseases (including so-called social diseases). The political significance of bourgeois sanitary propaganda, directed toward the fight against social diseases, lies in obscuring the class roots of these diseases, in emphasizing the moments of personal prevention (as the main ones) in the fight against these diseases, in shifting the responsibility for the spread of social diseases from the bourgeoisie to the working class ('Tuberculosis can be conquered, one only needs to want to,' see Poster), in the propaganda of class peace. Sanitary-educational activity of various philanthropic societies (leagues for the fight against tuberculosis, against venereal diseases, temperance societies, etc.) achieves great development here. By propagating the fight against 'social diseases,' philanthropic societies create in workers the illusion, the belief in the possibility of eliminating venereal diseases, tuberculosis, alcoholism, etc., within the framework of capitalist society, and thereby fulfill a very definite political order of the bourgeoisie. In the same vein, one can also view the sanitary-educational work in colonial countries, where it is conducted separately for whites and separately for natives, reflecting the general policy of capital in the colonies in the field of healthcare. In this respect, a bright illustration can be the activity of the so-called Rockefeller Mission (Rockefeller Foundation), as well as of individual national committees of the Red Cross society. Sanitary education has reached its greatest development in the advanced capitalist countries, especially after the world war, in connection with the revolutionary situation. The legislation on partial material responsibility of entrepreneurs for industrial traumas, won by the working class, stimulated the bourgeoisie in regard to the fight against industrial trauma; along with the rapid development of safety engineering, methods of agitation and propaganda for the correct use of this technology and measures of personal prevention receive wide distribution. Of course, all this propaganda (mainly in the form of tens of thousands of posters and warning texts) is thoroughly imbued with bourgeois ideology, and along with the communication of corresponding technical and sanitary-technical knowledge, pursues the goals of the political processing of the worker. The development of technology (conveyor, fine construction of machines, etc.) required a higher general and sanitary culture of workers, a higher sanitary discipline in production (sobriety, cleanliness), which naturally also reflected on the sanitary-educational activity in capitalist countries. The competition of capitals invested in certain branches of industry leads to the use of sanitary propaganda as 'scientific' advertising of the produced products. The American firm 'Maltine Company,' producing a nutritional product for children 'Maltine,' in its advertising explains in detail the benefit of vitamins for children, noting that all four types of vitamins are present in 'Maltine.' It is also said here: 'Every mother should have a copy of our brochure - 'The Doctor Talks About Vitamins.' The firm 'Chlorodont,' producing toothbrushes, powder and paste, widely propagates tooth brushing as a hygienic skill. When it is beneficial to the bourgeoisie, even positions that contradict the foundations of hygiene can take on a 'scientific' form. Here one can mention, for example, the brochure of Dr. Bergmann 'Bier und Gesundheit,' proving that beer is a useful hygienic drink. It is interesting to note that such a major world scientist as Kraepelin could not publish in the German press articles aimed at clarifying the harm of alcoholic beverages. The press feared losing the lucratively paid advertisements by alcoholic capital, advertising a rich assortment of alcoholic beverages. In a number of countries, temperance propaganda is conducted with the participation and on the means of capitals competing with alcoholic ones. To some extent, the propaganda of medicine as a science, conducted by licensed physicians in the fight against folk healers, homeopaths, etc. (the fight for clientele), can be considered as self-advertisement. On the other hand, it can be noted that reactionary physicians of the idealist camp naturally relate to sanitary education with prejudice, and sometimes with open hostility, as it destroys the 'faith' in the physician by explaining to the 'uninitiated' the 'secrets' of medicine. ['If to be frank, I would rather see a doctor selling sausages than a colleague explaining to a film audience or straining himself during health week.' (E. Lick.)] Sanitary education in capitalist countries is closely connected with religion. This connection has both a completely open character and a more veiled one. Vogel places the priest in the matter of hygienic education alongside the physician. Sanitary education in the USSR carries out in its sphere the political tasks posed by the course of socialist construction. These tasks in the field of agitation and propaganda are clearly formulated in the resolution of the CC VKP(b) (1929) 'On the organization of agitation among workers.' 'Under the conditions of the restructuring of the entire national economy, political agitation must mobilize the broad masses of the working class for active and conscious participation in socialist construction, direct the energy of the masses toward overcoming the difficulties of this construction. It must develop the revolutionary vigilance of the proletariat, teach to understand the special forms of class struggle of the transitional period in their concrete manifestations, show the face of the class enemy, teach to fight with non-proletarian influences within the working class itself. Concrete, sometimes small, questions of attitude toward labor and toward production must be raised to a political height. On the living, topical facts from the life of a given enterprise, on the attitude of workers toward their duties, on the successes and shortcomings of production, to cultivate the class consciousness of workers, giving a rebuff to manifestations of group and shop interests of individual groups of workers.' Class-hostile influences manifested and manifest themselves in sanitary education both along the line of content and along the line of methods and forms of work (apoliticism, the separation of theory from practice, mechanistic and idealistic interpretations of individual problems, incorrect understanding of the relationship between form and content, the distortion of Lenin's teachings on agitation and propaganda, underestimation of the significance of mass sanitary and cultural work as a lever for involving the masses in healthcare work, etc.). All these questions of sanitary education are resolved on the concrete healthcare material.'

For example, healthcare workers, in their struggle against non-proletarian influences within the working class, exposed the reactionary, anti-proletarian essence of the 'theory' about the wear and tear of workers in connection with shock work and socialist competition; remembering that agitation consists not only in persuading but also in exposing, healthcare workers identify in their work specific pests, class enemies, individuals who bypass the workers' demands for improvement of their sanitary conditions; while cultivating class consciousness among workers, sanitary propaganda sharpens attention to the attitude toward health as public property, to the class assessment of kulak agitation against vaccinations, etc. 'Hygienic culture is an indispensable companion of political culture' (N. Krupskaya). 'We are representatives of political enlightenment among workers in the medical profession and representatives of medical-sanitary education in the overall system of political enlightenment' (Ya. Lifshits). Being agitation and propaganda in healthcare in the broad sense of the word, Soviet sanitary education is closely linked with political enlightenment along the lines of defensive, anti-religious, cultural-domestic, etc. themes. The resolution of the CC VKP(b) of August 5, 1931, on technical propaganda had a great influence on the development of sanitary propaganda in the USSR. This resolution put forward the task of accelerating the pace of technical mastery by economic workers and workers in order to increase labor productivity, improve product quality, intensify the pace of production, etc. Comprehensive mastery of production technology includes mastery of a certain minimum of sanitary knowledge, and therefore health authorities and doctors closely linked up with the system of technical propaganda, including their questions in the general programs of technical training. The content and methods of sanitary-cultural work are basically determined by the specific tasks of involving the broad masses of workers, collective farmers, and toilers in the construction of socialist healthcare. In the system of Soviet healthcare, sanitary-cultural work is a function of every medical worker (doctor, middle medical personnel). In addition, there are specialist doctors in sanitary culture, who develop issues of organization, methodology, and technical equipment of mass sanitary-cultural work. Sanitary education work in schools is mainly carried out by teachers with the organizing and consultative participation of the school doctor. Broad masses of political enlightenment workers, health activists, etc., are also carriers of sanitary culture. The history of sanitary education in Russia is rich in materials that have not yet been fully studied. The rudiments of sanitary educational activity in Russia can be found already in those years when trade capital formed and strengthened. At this time, healthcare began to noticeably develop, and a significant number of doctors, mostly foreign ones, appeared in the capitals of Russia (mid-18th century). Some of them were authors of original popular brochures both for 'scholarly people,' 'kind landlords caring for the preservation of their own and their subjects' health,' and for 'the common people' and 'people of all estates.' Part of these brochures had an advertising character for the authors. Part represented 'healing books,' which popularized various methods of treating diseases and found wide circulation due to the lack of doctors. At the same time, a number of translations of foreign popular books appeared (Peken, Epish, Eisen, Tissot, Hoffman, etc.). At the end of the 18th century, a number of brochures and leaflets were published by the state medical collegium ('Brief description of anthrax,' 'Brief instruction on how to revive the drowned,' 'Brief outline of methods to protect oneself from infectious diseases,' etc.). The first Russian professors of the medical faculty in Moscow distinguished themselves in the field of broad popularization of medical science (E. Mukhin, 'Conversation on the benefits of cowpox vaccination,' M. Mudrov, 'Brief instruction on how to protect oneself from cholera, cure it, and stop its spread,' etc.). The interests of trade capital, which required strengthening the country's military power, prompted the government to take the issue of army health more seriously, and in particular, the propaganda of certain information on military hygiene (leaflets on campaign hygiene, etc.). The severe epidemic condition of the country (in particular, smallpox epidemics, associated popular unrest, etc.) was one of the reasons that constantly forced the landlord-bureaucratic government to take some steps to spread hygienic knowledge both in aristocratic circles and among 'the lower strata of the population' (lubok posters about the benefits of smallpox vaccination in the era of Catherine II). Some sanitary educational character was possessed by 'instructions,' 'methods,' 'words' of a religious-moral nature, belonging to the clergy (Archpriest Levshin, Hieromonk Antony, etc.). This type of literature propagated care for health by references to evangelical texts, etc. 'Health, like life, is an invaluable gift of God; therefore, negligence about it is ingratitude' (priest Voskresensky). Articles on various medical issues were published in general journals intended for aristocratic circles. The disintegration of the serfdom economy, the development of capitalism, and at the same time the revolutionary movement in Russia led to a series of social reforms ('emancipation of peasants,' organization of zemstvo institutions). With the development of zemstvo medicine, the random activity in the field of sanitary education entered a more definite channel and received new social stimuli for its development. So-called popular readings on various general educational issues became widespread, including readings on medicine and hygiene. Leaflets and brochures were published. This was partly caused by the need to fight folk healers in the countryside and accustom the population to using medical help. On the other hand, doctors with a populist orientation saw in the popularization of medical knowledge one of the ways to get closer to the people. Taking this into account, the tsarist government severely eradicated the possibility of using the popularization of medicine for the purposes of revolutionary propaganda. The rules on the organization of popular readings in provincial cities (1876) stated: 'Works designated for public reading are not delivered as speeches, but are read from the text without any changes or additions. If the readings are accompanied by experiments or explained with pictures, then verbal explanations of both are allowed, not going beyond the content of the text. In case of violation of any of the conditions established for popular readings, these readings are to be immediately stopped...' In 1894, at the V Congress of the Society of Russian Physicians in memory of N. I. Pirogov, the 'Permanent Commission for the Spread of Hygienic Knowledge Among the People' was founded (see Pirogov Society, congresses). This commission developed rather intensive activity, especially along the lines of publishing leaflets, brochures, organizing bibliographic-review work, releasing slides, albums, etc. In the commission's report to the XI Congress, data were presented indicating that in 15 years of the commission's existence, it had published 13 brochures and 26 leaflets—about 6 million copies. The publishing activity of the commission reached its greatest peak in 1905. In just this one year, 2,182,760 leaflets and 227,200 brochures were distributed. By the XI Pirogov Congress, more than 40,000 copies of light pictures had been sold. Their catalog, published in 1903, included 1,081 titles. Of the commission's later publications, the following should be noted: the album of infectious diseases (104 tables), the album 'Harmful conditions of industrial labor and protection of workers' health' (100 wall charts). In most cases, this product reflected the general political position of the Pirogov Society, which was 'progressive and radical' only insofar as this was in the class interests of the liberal bourgeoisie seeking the destruction of autocracy. The cultural work of the zemstvo was brilliantly characterized by V. Lenin as 'nurturing culture within the framework permitted by autocracy.' In the early 20th century, some philanthropic societies began to develop propaganda work (league against tuberculosis, league against child mortality, etc.). In 1911, the 'white rose day' was held for the first time in Russia, which was then repeated annually. The educational activity on 'white rose day' and the days adjacent to it consisted mainly in organizing public, free, and accessible lectures, in distributing reports, flyers with appeals and rules for fighting tuberculosis, posters, etc., and in work in the press. All this propaganda, as a rule, had a liberal, cultural character, the same character was also the 'pink flower day' (league against child mortality). The October revolution placed the matter of sanitary education on a completely new foundation. Soviet medicine from the very first day of its existence raised the high slogan 'protecting the health of the working people is the business of the working people themselves.' The broad masses of workers and peasants firmly took up the cause of healthcare with their own hands. This created for the first time in history special conditions for the rapid development of sanitary education.

The era of the civil war, which was an expression of the most acute period of class struggle—the armed collision of classes—is characterized by the mass involvement of medical workers in sanitary education work, the mass production of leaflets, slogans, posters, and the rapid growth of houses of sanitary education. 'Cleanliness Week,' 'bath weeks,' 'water supply weeks,' 'clean-up weeks,' and other campaigns to combat epidemics of typhus, cholera, and other diseases mobilized the initiative of the working masses on a vast scale in the field of public health. This was a most serious task, and in resolving it, sanitary education was most closely linked its agitation-propaganda and organizational work in the field of public health with the direct interests of the proletariat. The work of sanitary education in the Red Army reached an exceptional height and scale, where in the fight against epidemics the method of mobilizing the initiative of the Red Army soldiers was widely applied. 'The results... of the initiative stand in direct dependence on the sanitary-cultural level of the Red Army mass. Correct guidance of the Red Army's initiative can be ensured only by the widespread implementation of sanitary education' (3. P. Solovyev). Sanitary education work in the Red Army was built as part of political education work and in this respect received active assistance from the political workers of the army. The necessity of the most active struggle against epidemics forced the search for new and most diverse forms of sanitary agitation and propaganda. To guide this work, as early as 1918, special sanitary education departments were created in the administrations of sanitary units of various fronts, primarily the eastern front. In the Red Army earlier than anywhere else, sanitary education moved from episodic work to the systematic elimination of sanitary illiteracy. By order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic and the People's Commissariat of Health of June 11, 1921, No. 1242, it was stated: 'At the present time, it is necessary to include among the tasks set by the general and political education work in the Red Army the elimination of sanitary illiteracy—the inevitable companion of general illiteracy and ignorance—and to create from the Red Army soldier such a steadfast defender on the front of protecting public health as he was on the military front.' Organizational guidance of the work of sanitary education in the Republic was formalized in 1918 by the creation of a special department of sanitary education in the apparatus of the People's Commissariat of Health. In 1921, the first All-Russian conference on sanitary education was held in Moscow (March 15-20). 209 people participated in it. The conference evaluated the completed stage of work, summarized the experience, and adopted a resolution: '...to recognize sanitary education as a spearhead in the organization of public health in the republic... To recognize it as necessary to pay special attention to sanitary education work in the village, among the broad masses of the peasantry... To recognize as urgent and particularly important the work among national minorities.' For the further development of the work of sanitary education, it is necessary: 'to increase the cadres of qualified sanitary education workers in localities both by the uniform transfer... and distribution of sanitary education workers between military and civil departments, and by the organization of special courses for training workers in sanitary education; to implement the staffs_g proposed in the report of the People's Commissariat of Health on the organizational issue.' In 1924 (May 20-26), the second conference on sanitary education was held in Leningrad (section of the 8th All-Russian Congress of epidemiologists and sanitary physicians). The main issues on the agenda of this conference were: work in schools, among the peasantry, among trade unions, the experience of mass elimination of sanitary illiteracy, the role of the dispensary in sanitary education, etc. Several more conferences were held: two All-Union conferences of military sanitary education workers, three All-Ukrainian conferences, etc. In the restoration period, in connection with the major shifts in the country's economy and the improvement of the material and living conditions of workers _g the subject matter of sanitary education significantly expanded and was basically reoriented to serve the work of improving labor and living conditions.' Alongside agitation forms, more in-depth propaganda work (circles, courses, museums) gained greater prevalence. The Second All-Russian Congress of the Red Cross of the RSFSR gave directive instructions for the widespread development throughout the country of first aid circles as self-activity cells preparing the population for sanitary defense. Z. P. Solovyev defined the tasks of the Red Cross in this period as follows: 'Involving the masses of the working and peasant population in the protection of the health of the Red Army and all the working population during military operations, and then creating extensive cadres of prepared workers and peasants who can manifest their initiative and take conscious and skillful part in this protection.' Significant masses of medical workers were involved in conducting first aid circles. In the reconstruction period, sanitary education, together with the entire organization of public health, sharply turned toward production. A differentiated approach to serving individual branches of industry and professional groups of workers deepened. Considerable attention was paid to the social sector of agriculture. All work was placed on the rails of mass involvement of the working population in health protection work, on the rails of socialist competition and shock work. 'The methods of shock brigade work and socialist competition are indeed those methods where agitation and propaganda cease to be verbal methods and pass into mass actions of exceptional force (organization of shock brigades to carry out specific sanitary-hygienic tasks, socialist competition both within a given enterprise and between them, to implement specific sanitary-hygienic measures, e.g., to improve canteens, organize public catering, organize a public bathhouse, laundry, improve water supply, increase sanitary literacy, training in first aid techniques, etc.)' (S. Volkonskaya). New mass forms of sanitary-cultural work appear—sanitary-cultural campaigns, sanitary-cultural relays, raids, etc. The struggle for sanitary culture becomes a genuine matter of the broad working and laboring masses. The resolutions of the party and government concerning public health issues are widely propagated. The resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued in 1930 on the sanitary minimum (see) marked a new stage in mass sanitary-cultural work, as it clearly defined the role of the public in the struggle for sanitary culture. In March 1931, the VSKF published a regulation on the 'Ready for Labor and Defense' badge, which became the basis of the mass physical culture movement in the USSR (see Physical Culture). Doctors were tasked with actively propagating the passing of norms and tests for the GTO badge, as well as other types of mass physical culture and health work (e.g., tourism, which by the end of 1932 covered up to 300,000 people). Regarding mass work of the Red Cross, it should be noted that from 1933, without weakening its defense work, it approached more closely to the issues of improving labor and living conditions, propagating them through 'circles of sanitary and military-sanitary knowledge' and organizing sanitary posts in enterprises, workers' housing, in collective farms, and in schools. The number of members of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies reached 4,500,000 by the end of 1933. In 1928, the fourth conference on sanitary education was held in Leningrad, and in 1930 in Odessa—the fifth. At these conferences, issues of the five-year plan for the development of sanitary education, scientific research work, work in clubs, etc., were discussed. At the beginning of the reconstruction period, a scientific institute of sanitary culture was established in Moscow (1929) and several institutes in the Ukrainian SSR, departments of sanitary culture were strengthened in sectoral scientific institutes, and courses in the methodology of sanitary education were introduced into medical education. The publication of scientific-methodological literature increased. General methodology of sanitary education work. The doctor conducting sanitary education work mainly uses the general methods and forms of political education work. The basis of this work is the close connection between agitation and propaganda with the tasks of socialist construction. 'We must re-educate the masses, and only agitation and propaganda can re-educate them; we must link the masses with the construction of the general economic life, above all. This must be the main and essential thing in the work of every agitator-propagandist, and when he grasps this, then the success of his work will be assured' (Lenin, Volume XXV). Through sanitary education, the doctor must involve the broad working and laboring masses in the construction of socialist public health, in improving labor and living conditions. This mass participation in carrying out sanitary health measures and organizing medical care finds concrete expression both in the daily work of health activism (health sections of soviets, public sanitary inspectors, groups supporting health care in workshops, in MTS, in state farms, health cells in factories, collective farms, school health cells, sanitary representatives in dormitories, sanitary posts, etc.), and in the mass sanitary-cultural movement of the working population, which takes various forms (sanitary-cultural campaign, sanitary-cultural relay, raids, assaults, monthly events, ten-day events, Saturday work drives, emergency work drives, sanitary-cultural loans, and other forms of self-commitment).

The health sections consist, on the one hand, of council members who have elected the section for their practical work, and on the other hand, of workers, collective farmers, and working people for whom work in the council section is an expression of their social activity. The health sections are closely linked with health authorities and carry out their work in various medical-sanitary institutions. Along trade union lines, the activity of workers in the field of health is organized in the form of workplace groups supporting health at enterprises, attached to factory committees. Health center doctors must take an active part in guiding the work of these groups. In barracks, hostels, and schools, health cells, sanitary commissions, sanitary trios, and sanitary authorized persons are established, working under the guidance of the treating district and sanitary doctors. The institute of public sanitary inspectors, selected by enterprises, barracks, and others, has extremely great importance in the work of the sanitary organization. Public sanitary inspectors are assistants to sanitary doctors in the line of sanitary supervision and carry out their work without leaving production. At medical-prophylactic institutions, so-called KOTIBs (commissions for the improvement of labor and living conditions) are organized. The current day-to-day work of the health activist at certain periods takes the form of a campaign drive, in which new forces of workers, collective farmers, and working people are involved. On the basis of a unified plan for carrying out sanitary-cultural campaigns, party, Komsomol, professional, Soviet, and public organizations take the most active part in mass sanitary-cultural work. Being an expression of social activity, all this mass sanitary-cultural movement is built on the basis of socialist competition and shock work. The effectiveness of the initiative of working people in the field of health must be measured by the actual improvement of labor and living conditions. For this purpose, health authorities together with the health activist develop concrete plans of sanitary-health measures, distribute forces, set deadlines, check fulfillment, and generalize experience. The distribution of forces can be carried out either by the method of attachment to areas (containing various objects) or by the method of routes (along similar objects). Involving hundreds of thousands of working people in practical work, the mass sanitary-cultural movement, along with carrying out health-improving work, serves as a good school of sanitary culture. Mass sanitary-cultural campaigns can be organized independently by health authorities or can represent 'routes' in campaigns of a more general nature. These 'routes' in turn can be broken down into routes of a narrower significance. For example, the Stalinian relay in the Zamoskvorechye district of Moscow in 1932 consisted of the following routes: 1) communal and domestic institutions, 2) public catering institutions, 3) industrial enterprises, 4) schools and preschool institutions, 5) hostels, 6) barracks, 7) medical institutions. In addition, a special route was followed for preventive vaccinations in the district. The health campaign in the Moscow region in 1932 proceeded along the following routes: 1) for the best organization of the health activist, for cadres, 2) for the sanitary minimum, for reducing morbidity and 641

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642 cases of agricultural traumatism, 3) for the mass deployment of kindergartens and children's playgrounds, 4) for bringing medical aid to the field, for organizing model health posts and health stations. An example of the unification of a number of people's commissariats, institutions and organizations for the joint conduct of a campaign can serve as the Daghestan sanitary-cultural campaign (1931). This campaign was conducted on the basis of a general agreement that established the obligations of each organization in terms of personnel, financing, etc. The agreement was signed by the following organizations: NKPS, Komsomol, trade unions, NKZdr., Kolhozsoyuz, Rybakkolhozsoyuz, Kustpromsoyuz, Potrebsoyuz, ODN, Vostokkino, editorial offices of newspapers, publishing houses, Radio Center, etc. The control figures for the cultural army were set as follows: Komsomol - 2,500 cultural army members, trade unions - 6,000 people, Dag-kolhozsoyuz - 7,000 people, Rybakkolhozsoyuz - 500 people, Potrebsoyuz - 1,000 people, etc. The financial plan for the campaign: state budget - 1,455,000 rubles, trade unions - 300,000 rubles, subsidy from the regional executive committee - 50,000 rubles, ODN - 200,000 rubles, Dagrybtrest - 50,000 rubles, etc. In the field of healthcare, the sanitary-cultural campaign planned the following measures: to vaccinate at least 500,000 people against smallpox, to subject 119,000 schoolchildren to medical examinations, to cover all enterprises, state farms, MTS, collective farms, new construction sites and rural soviets with agreements for the implementation of sanitary minimums, to cover 20,000 children with permanent and seasonal kindergartens, to train 150 kindergarten workers, to organize 800 cells for supporting healthcare, to publish posters and brochures on sanitary minimums, etc. The main features of a campaign (relays, raids, ten-day periods, etc.) are: mass character, operational efficiency, precise planning and accounting of work, clear deployment of forces, high public discipline, etc. The working masses involved in the sanitary campaign, from being objects of sanitary-cultural influence, become subjects of this influence, active fighters of the sanitary-cultural army. The plan for a sanitary campaign is composed of specific individual tasks with indication of responsible performers and deadlines. The basis for the clarity and operational efficiency of work is the clear organizational structure of the sanitary campaign: a guiding center, leaders of individual routes, instructors, team leaders, etc. Accounting finds its expression in operational reports. Public activity and conscious discipline are strengthened by a series of measures of public encouragement and criticism (red and black boards, awarding certificates to shock workers, material prizes, honorary and burlap pennants, evaluation of work through the press, 'signals,' etc.). One of the extremely effective means of mobilizing the working masses during the conduct of a sanitary campaign is various forms of self-commitments (agreements, etc.). A special form of self-commitment has become widespread - the sanitary-cultural loan. Its essence consists in the issuance of bonds, the repayment of which is made through participation in various health-improving measures. In the Ukrainian SSR in 1932, the All-Ukrainan Loan for Sanitary Culture was issued. The circulation of the loan was set at 25 million hours. Bonds were issued worth 10, 25, 50 and 100 hours and were distributed in accordance with control figures through the system of trade unions, the Red Cross Society, the Society for the Improvement of Labor and Living Conditions, etc. The owner of a bond was either attached to a specific object for the time indicated on the bond, or worked on specific assignments of the health department and medical institutions. Each type of work was converted into hours. Approximate rates for work under the cultural health loan: sanitary inspection of an object - 3 hours, drawing up an act of sanitary inspection - 2 hours, working out the sanitary minimum for an object - 6 hours, organizing a sanitary workday - 10 hours, installing a ventilation window in a rural hut (for each window) - 3 hours, an article in a wall newspaper - 1 hour, organizing a sanitary corner and small library - 4 hours, organizing a primitive toilet in a rural courtyard - 25 hours, a trash can - 10 hours, etc. Named bonds for which all obligations were fulfilled were checked and sent to the circulation commission. A premium fund of 60,000 rubles and 25,000 different awards was established. Doctors and other workers in the field of sanitary culture must take into account in mass agitation and propaganda work a number of conditions that increase its effectiveness. The content of sanitary-cultural work, as well as general sanitary-educational work, should be built on local material and proceed from the pressing issues of the current day. However, sanitary-cultural work, starting from private practical concrete questions, should raise the masses to an awareness of more general political tasks, the interests of their class as a whole; for example, propaganda of personal hygiene in production should be linked with the task of reducing morbidity, and the latter with the general tasks of increasing labor productivity, because 'labor productivity is in the final analysis the most important, the main thing for the victory of the new social system' (V. Lenin). In the same way, propaganda of hygiene of public catering should be linked with the political task of improving the material and living conditions of workers. The effectiveness of sanitary-cultural work, as well as political-educational work, depends to a large extent on a skillful differentiated approach to individual groups in the working and collective farm masses. 'To the masses,' Lenin said, 'one must learn to approach with special patience and caution, in order to be able to understand the peculiarities, the specific features of the psychology of each layer, profession, etc., of this mass' (Lenin, from theses on the main tasks of the 2nd Congress of the Comintern). The effectiveness of sanitary-cultural work will be the higher, the more the sanitary-educational worker is armed with the methodology and technique of agitation and propaganda, because 'the art of every propagandist and every agitator consists in being able to influence a given audience in the best possible way, to make a certain truth for this audience as convincing as possible, as easily assimilable as possible, as vivid and firmly imprinted as possible' (Lenin). Widely applying the general methods and forms of political-educational work, sanitary-cultural work at the same time has its own specific features, arising both from the subject matter and from the nature of the population groups served (not only healthy but also sick) and from the specifics of certain places of work (dispensary, hospital, etc.). In sanitary-cultural work, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of iatrogenic diseases (syphilophobia and gonophobia, cancerophobia, etc.) and the possibility of using S. p. as a psychotherapeutic factor (at outpatient appointments, in sanatoriums, etc.). In sanitary-cultural work, all methods and means of agitation and propaganda are widely used. A general review of these means is given in the resolution of the CC VKP(b) on technical propaganda. 'The main means of technical propaganda amount to approximately the following: a) literature (from technical leaflets to technical encyclopedia); b) oral propaganda (reports, lectures, seminars, conferences, etc.) and mass short-term correspondence courses; c) radio; d) cinema, photography, slides; e) exhibitions, museums, houses of technology, etc.; f) technical libraries, repositories of models, patents, diagrams; g) teaching aids of all kinds (diagrams, models, lanterns, etc.); h) excursions; i) mobile propaganda means (agittrucks, steamboats, street installations); k) technical toy. Depending on the specific tasks, sanitary-cultural workers in their work use various methods and means of propaganda. The same sanitary-cultural topics can be covered at a flying meeting, in a series of slogans, in bright calling posters and at a circle corner - a study session, in a popular medical book, in a series of teaching visual aids. The methodology of sanitary-cultural work is extremely diverse (for more details, see Exhibitions, Cinema - cinema in sanitary education, Lecture, Visual method, Printed word). For medical workers, the method of living word has considerable value. This is the most widespread, accessible, flexible method, allowing maximum concretization of the material and 'immersion' in the audience. With the elimination of illiteracy in the USSR and the growth of general cultural level of the population, the printed word is acquiring ever greater and greater importance as a factor increasing the sanitary culture of the population. The effectiveness of sanitary-cultural influence increases when using visualization and imagery. Visualization and imagery as techniques of influence can be present in the living and printed word, but for the visual method these techniques are specific; the artistic image has the strongest effect (S. p. through theater, cinema, painting, artistic literature). Every doctor should be familiar with the issues of general and private methodology of sanitary propaganda. 'Without proper methodology, propaganda will either not lead to the goal at all or will be associated with excessive expenditure of effort on both the teachers and the students... That is why in the training of propaganda cadres, one must ensure that propagandists master not only the corresponding theoretical knowledge but also the methods of teaching' (Theses on propaganda activity of KI and its sections; adopted by the V Congress of KI). Poster, brochure, slogan, film, slides, etc. constitute the so-called technical equipment of sanitary-educational work (see).

Poster, Cinema, Exhibitions, Visual Method, Printed Word). The creation of technical means for sanitary agitation and propaganda is carried out by a number of organizations and institutions (Medgiz, isoproduktsiya publishing house, factories of visual aids, films, slides, etc.). Sanitary-educational work in enterprises is carried out according to a plan and mainly by the health posts, which are tasked with 'carrying out general sanitary and sanitary-cultural work among the workers of the enterprise' (from the Regulations on Health Posts). Sanitary-cultural work here is one of the most effective methods for carrying out mass health measures with the participation of the workers themselves. In the enterprise, the medical worker deals with a working collective united by common specific production and cultural-domestic interests (factory, shop, brigade). Factory worker organizations, the system of worker education and technical propaganda, and individual units of factory management (technical safety, etc.) actively help in the development of mass sanitary-cultural work. The content of sanitary-cultural work in the enterprise fully follows from the health plan of the enterprise and is subordinated to the tasks of increasing the level of health and labor productivity of workers, reducing morbidity and injury rates, improving cultural-domestic service for workers (public catering, nurseries, organization of rest, introduction of physical culture in production, etc.), fulfillment of the industrial-financial plan both in terms of quantitative and qualitative indicators. In a number of enterprises, the quality of products is directly related to the level of sanitary culture of the workers. The resolution of the CC VKP(b) of December 22, 1933, proposes to pay special attention to sanitary-cultural work in food enterprises, linking it with the struggle for the production of high-quality products. The CC proposes: '1) To achieve the strictest observance of sanitary-hygienic regime in enterprises, in particular, observance by workers of the rules of personal hygiene... 2) To carry out among workers systematic propaganda of the basics of hygiene and sanitation of food production by organizing lectures, circles, distribution of visual aids, organization of socialist competition for model workshops, etc. 3) To establish that every foreman, brigade leader and other leading technical personnel of enterprises must pass an examination on the sanitary-hygienic minimum'. In the instruction of the People's Commissariat of Health on mass sanitary-cultural work in food enterprises, it is stated that the task of this work is: 'a) Active involvement of workers in improving product quality and increasing labor productivity through their mastery of the sanitary-hygienic aspects of production processes and ways of hygienic rationalization of production, b) On the basis of the interested and conscious participation of workers in the improvement of production, to assist in the fulfillment of the industrial-financial plan of the enterprise in terms of quantitative and qualitative indicators' (instruction of the People's Commissariat of Health on mass sanitary-cultural work in food enterprises). The sanitary-cultural work plan in an enterprise is included in the unified cultural-domestic plan or the cultural-political work plan in the enterprise. In sanitary-cultural work in the enterprise, hygiene topics are closely linked with current political problems: education of a socialist attitude toward labor, toward public property, increasing labor productivity, strengthening the defense capability of the USSR, international education, anti-religious work, etc. Sanitary-cultural work is included in all major economic-political campaigns conducted in the enterprise: conclusion of the collective agreement, re-election of the council, re-election of the FZK, conclusion of a contract for socialist competition, collection of worker proposals, etc. In these cases, sanitary-cultural work has the task of mobilizing the activity of workers to include demands in mandates and contracts along the line of healthcare. Methods and forms of sanitary-cultural work in the enterprise are extremely diverse. The widely developed system of technical propaganda in enterprises (technical minimum circles, skill improvement circles, mass technical propaganda) opens wide opportunities for introducing sanitary-technical knowledge to the mass of workers. A complex of sanitary and sanitary-technical knowledge and skills is introduced as mandatory into the programs of technical circles and courses. Thus, in the programs on technical minimum, published in 1932 by the technical propaganda department of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, there are inclusions of sanitary-technical knowledge in the complex of general technical knowledge for various professional groups. In the plan of introductory production training, the health post organizes for new workers sanitary and sanitary-technical instruction (the minimum of sanitary-technical knowledge and skills necessary to start work). Subsequently, sanitary-technical instruction of workers takes on more in-depth and differentiated forms. Material on sanitary-technical propaganda is inserted into technical exhibitions, production or technical cabinets, technical conferences, etc. The health post organizes special circles and courses for the health activists, kitchen and dining room workers, caretakers and cleaners. Mass work is carried out in all units of the enterprise (shop, domestic institutions, club, stadium, etc.) according to a pre-developed plan. In addition to this planned part of work, individual instructions and group conversations conducted by medical workers during daily current work (inspection of shops and domestic facilities, participation in meetings) should be noted. The exhibition method finds its application in the form of exhibitions, sanitary corners and 'health boards' in the club, waiting room, at the health post, in the red corners of shops. These exhibitions are built mainly on local material. The health post provides necessary sanitary-educational literature in the factory library and mobile shop libraries, popularizing it by various methods (see Printed Word). If the enterprise has its own radio installation, the health post uses radio for its propaganda purposes. The health post involves the club activists, drama circle (staging sanitary living newspapers, etc.), art circle (making posters and slogans), literary, worker correspondent and photo circles (compiling materials for the drama circle, for the factory multi-page newspaper, for exhibitions) in sanitary-cultural work. Great sanitary-cultural work in the enterprise in contact with the health post is carried out by the cells of the Society of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (sanitary posts, circles of sanitary and military-sanitary knowledge, struggle for cleanliness, etc.), physical culture organizations (passing tests for the GTO badge) and other organizations. Special attention in the development of mass sanitary-cultural work in the enterprise is paid, as in all healthcare, to workers in leading industries (metallurgy, chemistry, coal, transport, etc.). For these industries, special literature, special posters, etc., are published. Specific conditions determine the forms of sanitary-cultural work on transport. This work here covers both transport workers and passengers (especially migrants) and the population of points located along railway and river lines. On railway transport, the main type of sanitary-cultural institution is the exhibition car. Sanitary-cultural work in the club should be carried out with the active participation of the health post. The club itself, by its atmosphere, should cultivate in the worker the skills of cultural life. The club should advocate with its comfort, cleanliness, good buffet, children's room, cloakroom, condition of the toilet, sanitary equipment (trash cans, spittoons), etc. 'Clubs at factories and factories, being the most common type of clubs, should adapt their work to the specific features and needs of this enterprise. These clubs should carry out broad technical propaganda appropriate to the nature of this enterprise. Without duplicating the work of shop red corners, clubs should organize higher and more complex forms of cultural service, inaccessible under shop conditions' (from the resolution of the Presidium of the VTsSPS of August 19, 1932). Such forms are evenings of questions and answers, lectures with slides, sanitary courts, cinema, theater, evenings of artistic literature. Sanitary courts and sanitary productions have widely entered the practice of S.P. from the very first years of the development of Soviet healthcare. Initially, these forms were carried out mainly by the amateur forces of worker drama circles. Subsequently, professional theater collectives in the form of traveling theaters emerged. By 1934, there were about 15 professional sanitary-educational theaters in the USSR. The first sanitary-educational plays were either adaptations of old literary works (Brie-'The Spoiled Ones', O. Mirbo-'The Epidemic', L. Tolstoy-'The First Distiller', 'All Qualities from Her', H. Ibsen-'Ghosts', 'Dr. Stockmann', G. Hauptmann-'Before Sunrise', etc.) or crudely made agitki. Subsequently, the artistic value of sanitary plays increased significantly, and major writers and playwrights were involved in their creation. Along with large forms, the theater of small forms (puppet, sketches, living newspaper, etc.) also developed.

Various forms of sanitary-educational work can be combined with sanitary installations: exhibitions in the foyer, conversations during intermissions, distribution of literature, etc. Significant sanitary-cultural work is conducted in parks of culture and rest—in this new type of mass institution that combines broad political-educational work with cultural recreation. Here, sanitary-cultural influence affects the broadest masses of working people. At clubs and parks of culture and rest, health activists are organized, helping to create hygienic conditions for rest and influencing the sanitary-cultural behavior of visitors. Sanitary-educational work in the countryside is one of the means of mobilizing collective farmers and workers of MTS, state farms to fight for strengthening the collective farm system, for socialist labor in the fields, for a prosperous life and cultural growth of the rural population. The collectivization of agriculture eliminated the main obstacles that stood in the way of a sharp and rapid improvement of the countryside. On the basis of the growing economy of the collectivized countryside, new needs and new possibilities for their satisfaction are growing among collective farmers. Numerous letters from collective farmers to Comrade Stalin, published in the Soviet press, characterize the rapid growth of sanitary culture in the countryside. Collective farmers are drawn to sanitary knowledge. 'It is necessary to create a small library of books written in simple language about sanitation and hygiene...' (from the appeal of the first conference on cultural construction of collective farms in the area of operation of the Shaginskaya MTS political department of the North Caucasus). Collective farmers demand soap, baths, improvement of living conditions, conveniences. 'We want to live in cleanliness, culturally. Let our factories produce more good soap, especially toilet, fragrant soap' (a letter to Comrade Stalin from the collective farmers of the area of operation of the Soviet MTS of the Georgievsky district of the North Caucasus). This rapid growth of sanitary culture is the result of the correct policy of the party in the countryside, the result of the attention and guidance of the party in matters of improving the living conditions of collective farmers. 'The struggle for a clean, whitened hut, for a cultural bath and barber shop in the countryside should now occupy an honorable place in the work of our party organizations' [Postyshev, speech at the plenum of the CC CP(b)U on November 19, 1933]. In these new conditions, the importance of mass sanitary-cultural work in the countryside significantly increases, the responsibility of doctors in this area significantly increases. The features of agricultural production require special forms of mass sanitary-cultural work in the countryside. In accordance with the organization of agricultural work, each field brigade designates from its composition a health activist (so-called sanitary post) without release from main work, who must be able to provide first aid to comrades in the field and conduct elementary sanitary supervision and sanitary-cultural work in the field (field stations, public catering, water supply, rest, etc.), as well as fight for sanitary culture in the daily life of collective farmers (improvement of housing, struggle with alcoholism, etc.). These sanitary post workers are the grassroots health activists, propagandists of sanitary culture among the masses. Their training is carried out by medical workers in the form of circle work. An important task of health care agencies in the countryside is to prepare personnel from among collective farmers for summer seasonal kindergartens, cooks for public catering, etc. In passing the agro-technical minimum, certain groups of agricultural workers and collective farmers receive a complex of sanitary-technical knowledge (tractors, dairy workers, workers of the local food industry, etc.). The training of health activists in the countryside (public sanitary inspectors, members of health groups, cultural-domestic commissions) is carried out mainly in the plan of course work (sometimes in the form of course-conferences). Leadership of mass sanitary-cultural work in the district should be carried out by the district sanitary-cultural base. The latter, in addition to the district stationary exhibition on health protection, has mobile exhibitions. In the sanitary-cultural base, the doctor finds the technical equipment necessary for sanitary-cultural work: visual aids, literature, mobile cinema, projection apparatuses and slides, a fund of posters, slogans, etc. Sanitary-cultural work in the countryside is closely linked both with the entire system of economic, domestic and health care measures, and with the plan of general political-educational work (unified plan, exhibitions, circles, newspapers, work on the radio, through the library, etc.). The rural reading hut is one of the mass support points of sanitary-cultural work. The school is one of the most important areas of sanitary-educational and sanitary-educational work, which is conducted here mainly by teachers in contact with the doctor and under his leadership. Questions of health protection find their reflection in the school programs from the first year of study. During the first 4 years of study, the student acquires brief systematized knowledge about the structure and work of the human body, personal hygiene, physical culture, hygiene of housing, nutrition, improvement of populated areas, infectious diseases, organization of health care, etc. With the introduction of universal compulsory primary education, the school is acquiring more and more importance every year among the factors raising sanitary culture in the USSR. The resolution of the CC VKP(b) of July 21, 1932 'On the work of the pioneer organization' draws special attention to the struggle for sanitary literacy in school. Along with this, the student acquires firm hygiene skills in both personal and social life. The general methods of work in the polytechnic school, the organization of school self-activity in the field of health care and the involvement of schoolchildren in mass health-improving work contribute to the education and consolidation of these skills ('The People's Commissariat of Education should strengthen the familiarization of students with questions of sanitation and hygiene and health-improving measures, widely involving them in the active struggle for cleanliness'. From the resolution of the SNK of the RSFSR 'On measures to improve the sanitary condition of cities and new construction sites', 1932). The medical worker organizing sanitary-cultural work in school should build it along the following channels: a) preparation and retraining of teachers in the field of sanitary culture, b) work with schoolchildren, c) work among the technical personnel of the school, d) work with parents. Receiving hygiene education, schoolchildren carry out health-improving work not only in school but also in their family, in their daily life. The Komsomol and pioneer organizations play a huge role in building sanitary culture. Questions of sanitary culture are often worked out by the Komsomol and pioneers—in this work, doctors have the honorable role of initiators, organizers and consultants. Especially effective is the sanitary-educational and sanitary-educational work of the doctor in pioneer camps. Sanitary-cultural work in medical institutions has a number of specific features. In addition to general tasks, sanitary-cultural work here is called upon to actively contribute to the improvement of the quality of work of the given institution by propagating the methods of work of the institution, creating an atmosphere of trust of the patient in the doctor, ensuring the fulfillment by the patient of all instructions of the attending physician, etc. During the treatment of the patient, his sanitary culture is a factor that accelerates the healing process. Therefore, sanitary-cultural work in medical and preventive institutions is an element of outpatient reception and therapeutic influence on the patient (especially in the diet dining room, night sanatorium, etc.). In the doctor's office, the patient receives a number of hygiene advice, relating both to the regimen of his life (patients with heart, kidney, metabolic diseases, etc.) and to the prevention of the spread of the disease. Often for this purpose the attending physician schedules for patients with similar diseases a repeat visit at the same time and conducts with the entire group a conversation about the given disease (so-called preventive reception). In doctors' offices, the practice of issuing patients so-called 'book prescriptions', according to which patients can either buy in a pharmacy or receive in a library the corresponding book, is common. Great importance is attached to the issuance of patients with leaflets and memoranda that consolidate the hygiene instructions given by the doctor to the patient. In the waiting room of a medical and preventive institution, exhibitions are organized on both general questions of health protection and on the specialties of individual offices (e.g., in the office for dental diseases, surgical, gynecological, exhibitions on dental hygiene, prevention of surgical diseases, prevention of women's diseases, etc.). Explanations of the exhibitions and brief speeches by doctors (five-minute talks), mostly of an informational nature, are also practiced here. Of the forms of printed word, the most commonly used are: slogans about the rules of sanitary-cultural behavior of the patient both within the walls of the given institution and outside it; a wall newspaper issued by the collective of medical workers together with health activists and patients; sanitary-educational brochures issued in the waiting room (sometimes in offices by attending physicians) or distributed by sale (in larger institutions, special kiosks are organized). Great importance is attached to the connection of the institution's collective with patients through a question box and an answer board and a book of complaints and suggestions. In hospitals and semi-stationary institutions, it is possible to have a longer sanitary-cultural influence on patients. Here the work is differentiated not only by departments, but also by groups of patients with different diseases.

The prolonged contact of medical personnel with patients creates particularly favorable conditions in hospitals for conducting conversations, organizing loud readings, and so on. In addition to caring for patients, sanitary and cultural work here also covers the institution's personnel (nurses, orderlies, etc.), which is of great importance for improving the quality of patient care, for the proper organization of the fight against hospital infections, and so on. The sanitary and cultural work of medical personnel outside the walls of medical institutions (assistance at home, etc.) is extremely effective, as it helps carry out mass sanitary and health measures, turns this work into a kind of school of sanitary culture for the broad masses of workers, and promotes the advancement and growth of health activists and the conduct of work through them. Sanitary and cultural work in rest homes, sanatoriums, and resorts is one of the most important functions of these institutions. Here, the environment and regime themselves instill in workers and habits of personal hygiene and public activity in the field of health protection. Those newly arriving at rest homes, sanatoriums, and resorts are immediately instructed in a special conversation by a physician on the importance of the regime, individual procedures, and the careful observance of all rules of internal order for increasing the effectiveness of treatment and the general strengthening of health. This explanatory work is usually consolidated by the conclusion of social contracts (ward and individual) on the most rational use of their stay in rest homes, etc. These contracts should be orally published and posted. Every procedure in a rest home, etc., should be used for the purpose of sanitary and cultural influence (conversations on the beach, in the dining room, in the wards before going to bed, passing tests for the GTO badge, etc.). Constant systematic checking, as for example the "dead hour," washing hands before meals, etc., has enormous educational value. Among the forms of sanitary and cultural work, the following are most effective: physician's conversations, question-and-answer evenings, sanitary quizzes with prizes; sanitary lotteries, wall newspapers, cinema, performances by sanitary theaters, etc. It is advisable to organize the giving of hygienic instructions by departing comrades to remaining and arriving comrades. In the Red Army, sanitary educational work is carried out both as part of school instruction in close connection with the tasks of combat training of the soldier, and as part of extracurricular work (in the club, in Lenin corners, in the library). Work on sanitary training in the Red Army has the task: 1) to teach the Red Army man and sailor the methods of providing self-aid and mutual aid in battle; 2) to raise the sanitary culture of the Red Army man to the level necessary to ensure combat training and a conscious attitude toward the health measures carried out in the Red Army; to awaken and organize the initiative of Red Army men in the field of health protection; 3) to prepare from a Red Army man on leave an active fighter for health at the enterprise and in the collective farm, contributing to the socialist reconstruction of labor and daily life. The sanitary training of the soldier begins during the period of pre-conscription training and is carried out by civilian health organizations. The tasks set before the Red Army can be accomplished only with the active participation of the command and political personnel of the unit. The training of the command and political personnel for work in the field of health protection is carried out both in military schools and through special instruction. S. p. in the national republics and regions began to develop only under Soviet power, along with their economic and general cultural growth. "The period of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the building of socialism in the USSR is a period of flourishing of national cultures, socialist in content and national in form" (I. Stalin). The difficulty of work in the national republics and regions in the first years of the revolution was due to the weak development of the network of medical institutions in them, the lack of a sufficient number of national medical workers, the complete illiteracy of the population, the widespread prevalence of folk medicine, etc. The Soviet system ensured the rapid overcoming of this heavy legacy of tsarism. Almost in all capitals of the national republics, houses of S. p. were opened; posters and literature in local languages began to be published. At first, this literature was predominantly translated (from Russian), and changes were made in the translation in connection with the national characteristics of a particular republic or region. Later, cadres of national authors appeared. The publication of sanitary educational literature for national minorities was ensured by a special publishing house—Centrizdat. Later, national sectors were organized in sectoral publishing houses. Sanitary and cultural work in a number of national republics has extremely important political significance. For example, children's consultations were the place where a national woman first became acquainted not only with sanitary culture but also with general culture. Mass sanitary and cultural work in national units of the Red Army is of enormous importance. The role of medical workers is also great in the matter of reconstructing daily life and in the fight against religion. With the massive involvement of national people in secondary and higher medical schools, cadres of national medical workers appeared who can approach the working population more closely, better know the peculiarities of their way of life and national customs, and can carry out work in their native language. As of January 1, 1932, 1,700 national students were studying in medical higher educational institutions of the USSR. Organization of mass sanitary and cultural work. The bases of S. p. are various types of special institutions: institutes of sanitary culture, houses of sanitary culture (see House of Sanitary Education), sanitary and cultural bases at district houses of social culture, stationary and mobile (for example, on transport) exhibitions, workshops of visual aids, sanitary theaters, etc. Along with sanitary and cultural work within the system of health agencies, a physician can actively develop this same work through a number of voluntary societies and other organizations (Society of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Society for the Improvement of Labor and Daily Life, Friends of Children, OPTYe, Society of Militant Godless, physical culture organizations, etc.). Scientific research work in the field of mass sanitary and cultural work has as its main task the study of methods for increasing the effectiveness of mass sanitary and cultural work, which should be expressed in the most rapid and qualitatively high growth of sanitary knowledge, hygienic skills, and public activity of workers in the field of improving working and living conditions. A number of questions requiring scientific study in the field of sanitary culture are common to other branches of political and educational work (organization of mass initiative of the population, methodology of the living word, the printed word, the visual method, etc.), but in addition S. p. also has its own specific themes (organization and methodology of S. p. in the system of medical and preventive institutions, specifics of work with patients, questions of psychotherapy and iatrogenic diseases in connection with S. p., etc.). Centers of scientific work in the field of sanitary culture are institutes of sanitary culture, houses of sanitary culture, departments at sectoral scientific institutes and other institutions. Summing up and generalizing experience is carried out both in the form of literary works and at periodic conferences of sanitary and cultural workers. Teaching questions of sanitary culture is carried out in higher educational institutions, institutes for the advanced training of physicians, and medical technical schools in the departments of social hygiene, often in the form of a special professorial course. In the Ukrainian SSR, special departments for S. p. (sanitary pedagogy) have been created in medical institutes.