Social Security

Social Security, a system of provision by the state or public organizations for persons in need of assistance due to permanent or temporary disability, as well as those who have fallen into need through misfortune. The only country in the world where Social Security exists as a unified system of state assistance in all cases of need is the USSR. In the USSR, this assistance is based not on the principle of charity or philanthropy, as in capitalist countries, but derives from the right of working people to assistance from their socialist state. Social Security in the USSR covers all groups of workers (including foreigners) in all cases of need. The program of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) defines the tasks of Soviet power in the field of Social Security as follows: 'In the field of Social Security, the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) strives to organize broad state assistance not only for victims of war and natural disasters, but also for victims of abnormalities in social relations, fights against all kinds of parasitism and idleness, and sets as its task to return to working life everyone who has been thrown out of the working rut.' In the field of social insurance for workers, tsarist Russia and other capitalist countries were forced, under pressure from the working masses, to make minor concessions at certain times. Thus, social insurance was created, covering a very narrow circle of workers, and this insurance was carried out, for the most part, at the expense of the workers themselves (see Social Insurance). The same situation existed with respect to war invalids: while conducting aggressive wars, capitalist governments were forced to organize assistance for those who suffered on the war, at least to a limited extent. For other contingents of the needy—invalids of labor, the elderly, the blind, the deaf-mute, etc.—no system of state assistance existed, just as it did not exist in tsarist Russia. Assistance to the needy in tsarist Russia. In the history of poor relief in tsarist Russia, as in other bourgeois countries, three main moments can be noted: 1) personal feeling of mercy, 2) state repression, and 3) the labor principle. The principle of personal feeling of mercy was usually carried out in the form of almsgiving; among the rural population, personal feeling of mercy mostly manifested itself in the form of material assistance. From the end of the 10th century, the state power granted the clergy the right to care for the poor. Care for the poor was not an act of charity on the part of the church, since the latter received for this purpose not only donations and contributions from private individuals, but also a regular income from the treasury in the form of the 'tithe' (one-tenth of state taxes). Judging by the colossal wealth accumulated in the monasteries, it can be definitely said that 'the principle of mercy, resting on the demands of morality and religion' (Klyuchevsky), was by no means an unprofitable business for the church. The assistance provided by the church to the needy was extremely meager: beggars usually received alms at the church porch from parishioners. From the second half of the 17th century, state power gradually took into its own hands 'the affairs of the poor' along with the income; special orders were organized. The period of state repression begins; the fight against begging is motivated by the presence of many thieves and healthy people among the beggars, while reference is made to the example of 'European countries'. State repression takes especially sharp forms from the time of Peter I. The forms of repression are quite numerous and varied: expulsion from cities to their homeland, exile, corporal punishment, deprivation of liberty, conscription into the army, placement in correctional houses. In order to force people to donate to almshouses, a fine was imposed on those who gave alms. The principle of state repression against begging was carried out by state power in tsarist Russia until the October Revolution. The tsarist government, in its fight against simulated begging, set as its only goal to conceal the causes of begging: the exploitation of workers and their unparalleled poverty. The labor principle. Schwittau in his work 'Labor Assistance in Russia' (Petrograd, 1915) defines the role of the state in carrying out the labor principle as follows: 'The modern state cannot directly and immediately react to the constantly arising requests, which are so lively and changeable as the requests and interests of modern public opinion. In order to undertake the satisfaction of even the most important of the needs arising in society, the modern state has neither the strength nor the means at its disposal.' Naturally, the labor principle could not find application either in tsarist Russia or in other bourgeois countries. In tsarist Russia there were several 'workhouses', which resembled more prison houses than labor institutions. From the end of the 18th century, a number of charitable societies with sonorous names arose: 'the philanthropic society', 'the society of beneficence', 'the society of charity', etc. Individual attempts were made to organize labor institutions for the poor. But even reliable societies did not enjoy special confidence from the tsarist government: thus, the society for visiting the poor in St. Petersburg, organized by Odoyevsky at the end of the first half of the 19th century and which had developed significant activity, was closed in 1855 by the government. Assistance to the needy, organized by zemstvos and urban 'self-governments', was also meager. Only isolated cases of organizing assistance institutions at the expense of the population, i.e., peasants, have been noted. Although the City Regulation of 1892 obligated urban self-governments to care for the needy and to stop begging, however, according to the explanation of the senate, 'cities are granted the right to establish charitable institutions, but this by no means constitutes their duty.' It can be definitely said that urban self-governments very rarely used this right—the number of such institutions can be counted on the fingers. Starting from 1872, a number of legislative proposals on labor assistance were developed. In 1892, a special commission was organized under the chairmanship of Grot. The commission considered several projects; in 1897, the commission, without completing its work, was closed 'due to the illness of the chairman'. The bill on labor assistance was never considered and did not even reach the State Council. Tsarist Russia left as its legacy a mass of millions of invalids of the imperialist war, a mass of the blind, deaf-mute, and other invalids. In terms of the number of blind and deaf-mute, tsarist Russia occupied one of the first places in the world both in absolute numbers and in relation to the population. This entire mass was completely unprovided for. Soviet power from the very first days of its existence proclaimed the right of working people to security in all cases of need (illness, disability, natural disasters, etc.). The workers' and peasants' power*, having granted all working people the right to work*, also guaranteed them the right to security in those cases when they were deprived of the ability to work. This major achievement of the October Revolution found its expression in the decrees of the Council of People's Commissars of 30/X 1917 and 30/IV 1918. The Soviet government renamed the People's Commissariat of State Care into the People's Commissariat of Social Security. At the same time, the government indicated that in place of charity and philanthocracy, state assistance should be established. The People's Commissariat of Social Security was entrusted with the duty of providing for peasants, war invalids and their families, the elderly, children, the blind and deaf-mute, and invalids of accident. Along with social insurance*, covering all wage workers (social insurance since 1922 was separated into a separate system—see Social Insurance), state Social Security* of all population groups not belonging to the category of persons working for hire was consolidated. The provision of these groups is carried out at the expense of the central and local state budget. Assistance is provided to all needy persons who do not exploit the labor of others. Soviet power took upon itself in the years of the civil war the heavy task, since the number of persons in need of state assistance was colossal. To the mass of invalids of the imperialist war and victims of the social injustice of the tsarist regime were added invalids of the civil war, their families, families of Red Army soldiers, as well as victims of the famine in 1921. To satisfy the needs of these masses, it was first necessary to follow the path of material provision. The People's Commissariat of Social Security* developed a vast network of invalids' homes, children's homes, on a large scale developed pension payments, distribution of food products and necessities of life. The scale of this assistance can be judged by the number of persons who received assistance in 1920 from the organs of Social Security*—over 8 million; in invalids' homes there were over 93 thousand. With enormous effort, Soviet power in the first years of its existence, while repelling enemies, managed to establish assistance for the huge mass of needy persons. The contingent of invalids of the imperialist war consisted mostly of peasants. During the civil war, the urban proletariat played a decisive role, filling the ranks of the Red Guard, detachments of Red partisans and volunteers of the Red Army (on individual enterprises the entire personnel went to the army), but in the Red Army peasants constituted a significant part.

Most peasant invalids, especially those not classified as 'severe' invalids, returned to the village. This mass needed help and received the right to restore their farms at the state's expense, labor assistance, and land cultivation, sowing and harvesting of crops, as well as supply of seeds, agricultural machinery, and timber. The work of providing for rural invalids, as well as for those in need from among the farm laborers, poor peasants, and middle peasants, was carried out in committees of the poor from 1918, and from the end of 1921 it was concentrated in committees of peasant mutual aid. In the cities, however, remained a large number of invalids from urban contingents and not a few peasant invalids not connected with farming in the village or suffering from severe forms of disability, as well as those in need of systematic treatment and aftercare. For invalids possessing residual work capacity, a system of professional training or retraining was organized to prepare them for working life. The Soviet power, having set as its task the return of the invalid to working life, pursued the goal of improving not only the material position of the invalid but also his moral state. The imparting of work skills, as well as training and retraining, began in homes for invalids, then a network of special courses and educational-production workshops was developed. Invalids possessing professional qualifications or having received training in the workshops of the S. o., in large part found employment in general industry. Part of the invalids organized the first artels, which laid the foundation for invalids' cooperation. By this time a law on the cooperation of invalids had been issued (December 8, 1921). Thus, the care for providing for the rural contingent of invalids and those in need was transferred to public organizations-peasant committees, which also systematically received substantial material support from the state (land, lands, enterprises, agricultural machinery, products, money). The center of these committees was the Central Committee of Peasant Mutual Aid. The work of organizing the labor of invalids in artels was concentrated in the system of invalids' cooperation, headed in the center by the All-Russian Union of Invalids' Cooperation. In 1923, on the initiative of the blind, the All-Russian Society of the Blind was organized (see Blindness), and in 1926-the All-Russian Society of the Deaf-Mute (see Deaf-Mutism). In 1926, within the system of the NKSO, mutual aid funds of invalids' cooperation were organized for mutual aid and insurance of invalid artel members. These funds later merged into the All-Russian Union of Mutual Aid Funds. The structure of the organs of S. o.: In the union and autonomous republics, the People's Commissariats are in charge of S. o., in the provinces and regions-departments of S. o., in the districts-inspectors of S. o., in the cities-departments of S. o. or inspectors of S. o., in rural localities-rural soviets, mutual aid funds of collective farms. In their work, the organs of S. o. rely on public organizations included in the NKSO system (cooperation of invalids, mutual aid funds of collective farms, society for assistance to the sick and wounded Red Army soldiers, societies of the blind, societies of the deaf-mute, and mutual insurance funds of invalids). The main types of S. o.: 1) material provision, 2) pensioning, 3) labor placement. Persons completely unable to work due to old age, disability, or chronic disease are directed to homes for invalids, provided that these persons do not need systematic treatment and that they do not pose a danger of infection to those around them (otherwise invalids are directed to hospitals). The network of homes for invalids numbered 37,925 places in 1934. The reduction in the number of places compared to the first years of the Soviet regime was due to the enormous improvement in the socio-domestic situation of invalids, including a greater coverage of employment and systematic treatment in hospitals. Pensions are appointed in cases where the invalid is unable to work or cannot, due to disability, earn wages corresponding to his pre-disability qualification. The right to a pension is granted to all war invalids and categories equated to them. Invalids of the civil war receive higher pension norms than invalids of the imperialist war. Pensions may also be received by other categories of invalids. In total, pensioners of S. o. numbered over 550,000 in 1934 (military pensioners, their families, and other contingents). In addition to ordinary pensions granted to invalids or, in case of their death, to their family members (for invalids of the civil war higher than for invalids of the imperialist war), special pensions have been established-personal, for length of service, etc. The right to receive personal pensions is granted to persons having exceptional services to the republic in the field of revolutionary, military, professional, and public activity, Soviet construction, as well as in the field of science, art, and technology. Personal pensions are appointed in cases of establishing disability or upon reaching the age of 55 for men and 50 for women. In case of death of a person receiving a personal pension or having the right to receive one, the right to a pension is granted to disabled or minor members of the deceased's family who were dependent on him at the time of death; the disabled-for life, and minors-until the age of 18; family members studying in educational institutions-until completion of the course, but not more than until reaching the age of 25. Issues concerning the appointment of personal pensions and allowances are resolved by central commissions for personal pensions under the SNK of union republics, chaired by the People's Commissar of S. o. or his deputy. Personal pensioners may be deprived of pensions only in cases of deprivation of their voting rights or by court decisions on deprivation of pensions. Personal pensioners are granted a number of special privileges: payment of the housing space they occupy with a 50% discount compared to workers and employees; preferential terms for using public utilities, an additional separate room, payment of excess space at ordinary rates on a par with the main one; equalization with workers of industry and transport in terms of receiving housing space. Personal pensions are exempt from all taxes and levies on the pension regardless of the amount of the pension. Personal pensioners also enjoy benefits on local taxes. Personal pensioners and their children are given priority admission to institutions of S. o. and health care; dependents of personal pensioners are admitted to educational institutions and receive scholarships out of turn. The same right is also granted to the pensioners themselves. To persons having outstanding local merits, personal pensions are appointed by decision of the Central Executive Committee of autonomous republics or regional (provincial) executive committees. For scientific workers, a special form of provision with a pension for length of service has been established. The right to the said pension (so-called academic pension) is enjoyed by full professors and teachers of higher educational institutions, full members and scientific workers of the first and second categories of scientific institutions on state and local budgets, full-time teachers of workers' faculties, teachers and heads of Soviet party schools, teachers, educators, and instructors in labor in schools and institutions for the blind, deaf-mute, physically defective, difficult-to-educate, and mentally retarded children and adolescents. The right to a pension is linked to the length of scientific and teaching work. Professors and teachers of higher educational institutions, as well as scientific workers of scientific institutions-on condition that they have worked as scientific workers for not less than 25 years, including not less than 10 years under Soviet power, and in cases of reaching the age of 65 for men and 60 for women, the said persons acquire the right to pensions if they have served in an educational institution or scientific institution for not less than ten years under Soviet power. The pension to these persons is paid in the amount of the salary for the last position held by them on the day the right to a pension arose or upon leaving service; the amount of the pension must not exceed the amount of wages at the highest rate for responsible political workers (including payment for workload). Persons receiving a pension and continuing to work in their specialty for at least 2 years receive a pension in the amount of the salary for the last 6 months, but in any case not less than the amount of the original pension. Professors, scientific workers, and teachers in case of loss of their work capacity before reaching the age of 65, if they have served in the respective positions for not less than 25 years, including 10 years under Soviet power, have the right to receive a pension in the full amount of the salary, and those who have served 15 years, including 10 years under Soviet power-in half the amount of the salary. In cases of loss of work capacity while performing or in connection with the performance of scientific or official duties, the right to a pension in full amount arises regardless of length of service.

For teachers of workers' faculties and school workers who entered service before 1925, one year of service during this period is counted as two years. In case of death of a person entitled to a pension, this right is acquired by minor or incapacitated members of the family who were dependent on him; the pension is paid to the incapacitated spouse in the amount of half the pension rate, and to other family members in the amount of one quarter; the total pension amount cannot exceed the full pension rate. Benefits and advantages for disabled persons. In accordance with the general line of Soviet legislation aimed at protecting the interests of workers and first and foremost the poorest population, disabled persons enjoy an extensive system of benefits, exemptions and advantages in the tax, public education, health care, municipal, land and other areas. These benefits apply not only to individual disabled persons, but also to organizations uniting them (peasants' committees of mutual public assistance, disabled persons' cooperatives, societies for the blind, societies for the deaf-mute, etc.), as well as enterprises where disabled persons work. The main benefits for disabled persons registered with the organs of Social Security: free medical aid in all medical institutions—hospitals, outpatient clinics, dispensaries, physical therapy institutions, etc.—both for the disabled persons themselves and for all members of their families (disabled veterans of the Civil War enjoy a number of special benefits); sanatorium-resort treatment and stay in rest homes at the expense of state or public organizations; preferential admission of children of disabled persons to schools, children's homes, as well as benefits upon admission to educational institutions for the disabled persons themselves; significant reduction in rent and other benefits in this area; free travel on trams, a number of benefits and exemptions from taxes and fees, including agricultural tax; travel at the state expense when a disabled person is sent by the organs of Social Security for prosthetics, treatment, etc. If the actual benefit of these advantages to a disabled person is calculated, it amounts to a considerable sum, which naturally should be added to the pension. The benefits and advantages received by public organizations also constitute significant amounts. These benefits and privileges, which reduce state revenues, should be considered as direct appropriations from the state budget. Disabled persons with limited capacity for work (partial disabled persons) who wish to work—after treatment or convalescence, if necessary, are sent for prosthetics; those needing retraining are sent for training or retraining. The final stage is the employment of the disabled person. Treatment and convalescence are carried out in institutions of the health care organs; prosthetics, training and retraining, as well as employment are within the system of the organs of Social Security. Taking into account that 'prosthetics is closely related to the employment of disabled persons', the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR on 14/VII 1930 decided to transfer from the People's Commissariat of Health to the NKSO the network of enterprises and workshops manufacturing prostheses and orthopedic footwear, including the Leningrad Institute of Prosthetics and the Tomsk Institute. The network of prosthetic enterprises, united in the prosthetics administration of the NKSO, currently numbers 26 factories and workshops. In recent years, the output of prosthetic products has shown a sharp increase; in 1931—3,947.8 thousand rubles, in 1933—6,710.9 thousand rubles. The number of workers in prosthetic enterprises increased by 30% during this period. Significant scientific work is also being carried out in the field of prosthetics. For more details on prosthetics, see Prostheses. Training and retraining of disabled persons. A large number of disabled persons needed professional training or retraining. The experience of the mass introduction of labor of disabled persons in the USSR showed that disabled persons can work in many branches of labor. It was necessary to set as a goal to use their labor with the greatest efficiency for production and with the least harm to the health of the disabled person. Special medical examination organs, when determining the degree of disability, took these circumstances into account. For training and retraining, homes for disabled persons were initially used, then educational and production workshops and courses, as well as vocational and technical schools and technical schools in the NKSO system were developed. Disabled persons studying in technical schools and schools of the NKSO receive full maintenance from the state and special sums for small expenses. Families of disabled persons studying in technical schools and schools of the NKSO receive pensions and scholarships from the disabled persons' cooperatives. A special network of central vocational and technical schools and technical schools of the NKSO numbers over 1,500 permanent positions and covers different branches of labor (industry, agriculture and mental work). In the system of the organs of Social Security there is a special network of educational and production workshops. In addition, apprenticeships for disabled persons without professional qualifications are organized in the disabled persons' artels. These apprentices are maintained at the state expense, and their families receive pensions. Disabled persons are also admitted to general higher educational and technical institutions, workers' faculties and technical schools. In these cases, disabled persons receive scholarships, and their families receive pensions. Employment of disabled persons—the form of Social Security most corresponding to socialist construction; The task of the state—physical and moral rehabilitation of the disabled person. A large number of disabled persons does not want to remain on the sidelines of the powerful construction of their socialist state. The government considers it its duty to create conditions most favorable for the application of disabled persons' labor. The basic principles of work of the organs of Social Security in the field of employment: voluntariness (a disabled person can be attracted to work only in case of actual desire and can leave work at any time, continuing to receive a pension); gratuitousness (or rather all expenses are covered at the state expense) and self-activity of disabled masses—through the election of corresponding organs and the active participation of the workers themselves in the management of enterprises. Employment covers not only disabled war and labor veterans, but also the blind, deaf-mute, and disabled persons by accident. A series of laws and government decrees have ensured favorable conditions for the introduction of disabled persons' labor into industry, agriculture and disabled persons' cooperatives. The unprecedented growth of the country's industrialization, the planned distribution of labor force and the complete absence of unemployment, conceivable only in the Soviet Union, make it possible to rationally direct disabled persons into all branches of labor, taking into account working conditions and the peculiarities of disability—both in state industry, cooperatives and institutions, and in collective farms and state farms. A sharp turn in the work of the organs of Social Security toward the employment of disabled persons is noted from 1931 after the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSSR of 10/VII 1930 on the report of the NKSO on the state and prospects of Social Security in the RSFSR. In this resolution, the Council of People's Commissars points to the importance of employment as a form of Social Security most corresponding to the tasks of the Soviet state and giving a significant improvement in the material position of disabled persons. Disabled persons' cooperatives. The desire of disabled persons for work and improvement of their living conditions found its expression in the organization of independent associations—artels, both commercial and production. These artels arose on the initiative of the disabled persons themselves and began to develop from 1920. By the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 8/XII 1921, disabled persons were granted the right to organize artels on their own initiative. These artels were granted a whole series of benefits. The entire system from bottom to top is organized on elective principles (boards of artels, regional and provincial associations, central organ). Disabled persons' cooperatives, with the support of the Soviet government and the public, found good ground for their development. In addition to a whole series of benefits granted to disabled persons' cooperatives (tax, municipal, housing, etc.), the system is provided with extensive state credit, significant capital investments at the state expense. For disabled persons—members of artels—the pension is retained for the first year of their stay in the artel. The share contribution is paid for the disabled person at the state expense; all benefits and privileges are retained for them during their stay in the artel; a fixed wage is established for members of the artel. At present, the number of disabled persons working in the system of disabled persons' cooperatives in the RSFSR reaches 103,538 persons, among them about 30% women; the output of products for 1933 amounted to up to 450 million rubles. Regional and provincial organizations of disabled persons' cooperatives have been reorganized since 1933 into separate unions on a production principle with a united council, and in the center—the All-Union Council of Disabled Persons' Cooperatives. Peasants' mutual public assistance. On 14/V 1921, a decree of the Soviet government signed by V. I. Lenin was issued on the organization of peasants' mutual public assistance. The decree states that 'The Workers' and Peasants' Power cannot leave without help the Red Army and weak households, thereby dooming them to destruction and exploitation'.

In the period of transition from war communism to the New Economic Policy, when the food requisition system was replaced by a fixed agricultural tax, it was necessary to ensure the interests of disabled persons and impoverished workers by creating special public organizations - peasant committees. The purpose of creating these societies was to organize Soviet rural public opinion on the basis of the initiative of the broad masses of the population, to organize assistance and mutual aid to all needy citizens, united protection of the interests of farm laborers, poor peasants, and middle peasant elements against the kulaks, and support for Soviet power in carrying out measures in the field of the socialist reorganization of the village. Peasant mutual aid societies became mass organizations of the rural poor and middle peasants and bodies carrying out social security in the countryside. Peasant societies organized extensive labor assistance to Red Army families and small farms of needy peasants (families of disabled persons, the elderly, widows, orphans). The government constantly cared for the provision for the rural contingent and allocated significant sums to the societies in the form of subsidies from central and local budgets. Large land funds and lands, and many enterprises - mills, oil presses, brick factories, grain mills, gardens, ponds, etc. - were transferred to the committees free of charge. The committees were also transferred abandoned farms and property, livestock, etc. The enterprises served the needs of society members and brought revenues used to meet the needs of needy members. According to government decrees, rural authorities allocated plots of land to the societies for collective farming. Collective farming gave the societies significant income and was the best method of propaganda for the socialization of labor and improved land cultivation. Peasant societies had at their disposal large seed funds amounting to several million poods. Seeds from these funds were issued to the most needy. Societies facilitated the involvement of the population in consumer cooperatives, providing assistance to the poor and needy by paying their membership fees; one-time allowances for the restoration of farms were issued from state funds. Societies had at their disposal a significant amount of agricultural machinery and implements. The machinery and implements served small farms and thus protected the needy from exploitation by kulaks. The committees provided significant support to the organization and operation of cultural and domestic institutions (baths, nurseries, canteens, bathhouses, etc.). Peasant societies enjoyed a number of privileges and advantages in the tax, land, and other areas. From 1924, peasant societies, in accordance with government directives, set themselves the task of collectivizing and cooperativizing small farms and expanding public works. Peasant societies, by involving their members in the work of enterprises and artels organized by them, collective farming, labor assistance, and extensive mutual aid, instilled in the working rural population skills of collective labor, and connected the poor with middle peasant elements. Peasant societies took significant part in the collectivization of the countryside, providing material and organizational assistance in the organization of collective farms. By the beginning of 1932, 62% of all peasant farms in the USSR were collectivized. The Soviet Union, a country of small and petty farming, became a country of the largest-scale farming in the world on the basis of collectivization, the development of state farms, and the widespread application of machinery. The colossal success of the collectivization of the countryside placed completely new tasks before the peasant committees. Peasant societies served the needs of individual poor and middle peasants who had fallen on hard times, came to their aid, protected them from exploitation by kulaks, and organized their farms in the simplest forms of collectivization. When organizing a collective farm, a significant part of these tasks is performed by the collective farm itself. It was necessary to ensure the interests of collective farm members who were unable to work, therefore peasant mutual aid societies in areas where there are collective farms were reorganized into mutual aid funds for collective farm members. In areas that were collectivized, committees remained. The fund aims to: provide for collective farm members who cannot work (the sick, the elderly, disabled persons, widows, orphans, pregnant women, families of Red Army soldiers), improve the production and living conditions of collective farm members by helping to organize or independently organizing cultural and domestic institutions (nurseries, children's playgrounds, baths, canteens, public bathhouses, rest homes, midwifery stations, first aid posts in the field, etc.). Through their work, the funds contribute to the socialist reorganization of the countryside, fight for labor discipline and increased labor productivity, and organize the women's and youth activists. The work of the funds is of very great importance for the entire activity of the collective farm and its strengthening. The growth of funds is proceeding rapidly, just as the growth of the collectivization of the countryside: by January 1, 1934, the number of funds is determined at 44,329, and the number of persons served by them, including families, reaches 50 million. Mutual aid funds are voluntary organizations. A collective farm's entry into a fund on a voluntary basis is decided by a majority vote and in these cases is mandatory for all members of the collective farm. The governing bodies are elected. Funds are formed by deductions from the collective farmer's income up to 2% and deductions from the collective farm's public fund in the amount of 0.5%. The property of liquidated peasant mutual aid committees has been transferred to the funds. The privileges and advantages granted to committees also apply to the funds. The funds also carry out significant work in the area of labor placement of disabled persons in collective farms. The All-Union Union of Mutual Insurance Funds of Cooperatives of Disabled Persons (Vsekoopinstrakhkassouz). With the development of the system of cooperatives for disabled persons, the task arose to provide for members of artels in case of temporary disability, as well as to improve the social and living conditions of these disabled persons both at work and in daily life. The special forms and methods of work of the system of cooperatives for disabled persons created the need for organizations carrying out social insurance not within the general framework of social insurance bodies, but within the system of cooperatives for disabled persons. In connection with this, mutual aid funds of cooperatives for disabled persons were created. From 1931, in connection with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars on expanding the work of funds by including the tasks and functions of social insurance, mutual aid funds were renamed into mutual insurance funds. The tasks of the funds include: insurance in case of temporary disability, pregnancy, payment of all allowances established for the insured, for maintenance, for burial, carrying out measures to improve working conditions in artels, sanatorium-resort assistance, improvement of social and living conditions of fund members, service to their children. The primary bodies of these funds in artels are the authorized persons of the artel, relying on labor protection commissions. All bodies of the funds, labor protection commissions, and authorized persons are elected by the general meeting of artel members. Unions of funds, regional, territorial, and central, are elected at congresses of authorized persons of artels or unions. In order to bring the work of the funds closer to its members, all payments are made in the artel through the authorized person. By Vsekoopinstrakhkassouz, regional, territorial, as well as republican funds, a significant network of preventive institutions has been developed: sanatoriums, rest homes, as well as children's institutions. To characterize the work of the funds of cooperatives for disabled persons, the following figures can be cited: budget in 1931 - 11 million rubles, in 1933 - 19 million rubles, number of members in 1931 - 91 thousand and in 1933 - 110 thousand. Sanatorium-resort assistance and rest homes for fund members in 1931 - 18.5%, in 1933 - 20%. The children's contingent served by the funds of cooperatives for disabled persons in 1931 - 14 thousand, in 1933 - 17 thousand. For children of fund members, nurseries, kindergartens, children's playgrounds, and forest schools have been organized. In addition, when necessary, the funds provide sanatorium-resort treatment for sick children. The fight against child disability. The result of chronic or persistent disease of the motor apparatus in children is physical disability - provided there are significant violations of functions and reduction or loss of ability to work. Physical disability is divided into congenital (violation of normal fetal development, difficult births) and acquired (tuberculosis of bones and joints, diseases of the central nervous system and peripheral nerves, infectious diseases, traumatic injuries, etc.). Until 1932, physically disabled and mentally retarded children, both severe and mild forms of disability, were served exclusively by the network of institutions of the People's Commissariat of Health and the People's Commissariat of Education.

In connection with the need to combine educational and vocational training for children suffering from severe forms of disability and profound mental retardation in special institutions, as well as for the purpose of coordinating this work with the matter of vocational placement of disabled persons, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR in 1932 entrusted the People's Commissariat for Social Welfare to organize labor colonies for physically defective and profoundly mentally retarded children. In a short period of time, it was possible to develop a network of labor colonies, which numbered over 1,500 places in 1934. To develop scientific and practical problems, a scientific research base for the fight against childhood disability named after Comrade Kiselev was established in Moscow. The base was reorganized from the former House for Disabled Children of the Children's Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. To study problems related to the employment of disabled persons, in 1930 the Central Institute for the Employment of Disabled Persons was organized in Moscow. This institute is currently the only institute in the world engaged in the study of the organization of labor for disabled persons. The institute studies the following problems: psychophysiological features of disabled persons in connection with the form and nature of disability, methods of restoring work capacity, socio-economic problems of employing disabled persons, methodology of vocational selection and vocational training, rational organization of labor and the introduction of physical culture among disabled persons. At a time when the situation of disabled persons in capitalist countries has sharply deteriorated, and the governments of these countries often use armed force against former 'saviors of the fatherland' demanding bread and work, the Soviet government pays great attention and care to the matter of social security: the first five-year plan in the field of Social Security was significantly overfulfilled in the most important indicators. For example, in terms of the number of pensioners in military contingents, the plan was overfulfilled by 24.1%. A colossal growth is noted in the field of vocational placement for the main contingents (disabled war veterans and categories equated to them) - overfulfillment by 100%, and including other contingents (disabled workers, collective farmers and artisans, disabled persons by accident, childhood) - by 376%. In vocational training of disabled persons in artels, overfulfillment by 266%, and in vocational schools - by 73%.