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9     COLLECTIVIZED INSTITUTIONS FOR THE NEEDS OF THE POPULATION

Published onApr 23, 2021
9     COLLECTIVIZED INSTITUTIONS FOR THE NEEDS OF THE POPULATION

WE WILL CREATE EXEMPLARY INSTITUTIONS, DINING HALLS, NURSERIES, WHICH WILL FREE WOMAN FROM HOME CARES. … THESE INSTITUTIONS, LIBERATING WOMAN FROM THE POSITION OF A DOMESTIC SLAVE, SPRING UP EVERYWHERE WHERE THERE IS THE SLIGHTEST POSSIBILITY FOR THEM TO DO SO.

LENIN

Institutions for children should be divided into the following groups:

  1. ) nurseries for children up to 3 years of age;

  2. ) kindergartens for those from 4 to 7;

  3. ) dormitories and camps for those from 8 to 14;

  4. ) dormitories and camps for those from 15 to 18.

Nurseries can be organized in two ways: 1) for 45 to 60 children; 2) for 90 to 120 children. The smaller number of children in the nursery is determined by the calculation of services rendered the separate age levels; the larger limit is determined by the level beyond which the accumulation of children of the same age represents too great a danger of infectious disease. In my opinion the most reasonable total would be from 45 to 60 children for nurseries.

The arrangement of the nursery depends on its size. According to the specifications of Narkomzdrav the greatest volume of space necessary per child in the nursery is from 50 to 55 m3 including the service and related accommodations.1

Kindergartens, according to the specifications of Narkompros,2 consist of groups of 20 children each. It is not possible to concentrate in one accommodation more than three groups, i.e., 60 children. The largest volume of space necessary for children is determined by Narkompros to be from 50 to 60 m3 per child.

School dormitories (for children from 8 to 14 years of age) are recommended by Narkompros to be arranged for from 80 to 100 children. Each child should have from 50 to 60 m3 of space.

Youth dormitories (for ages 15 to 18) need not be built at all since the adolescents can live in the general residences together with adults or in special collective dwellings differentiated from the others only by the absence of nurseries and kindergartens.

The ceiling height for all these accommodations is calculated to be roughly 4 m and could be reduced without harm to 3.2 m as long as the volume is maintained at 50 m3 for each child and adolescent, regardless of age.

Not included in this cubic measurement are: 1) kitchens, since food will be prepared either in factory kitchens or (under the system of food-combines) in the kitchen-dining room of the dormitory; 2) special school accommodations (laboratories, auxiliary rooms, etc.), since these must be quartered in special buildings and counted as services for the dormitories.

The number of children per thousand people is approximately as follows:

  1. ) under 3 years .................... 100

  2. ) from 4 to 7 ....................... 60

  3. ) from 8 to 14 ..................... 140

Altogether, of those under 14 there are 300 and from 15 to 17 (inclusive) there are 65.

It must be kept in mind that these figures vary for different categories of the population and for various cities. Thus, the number of children per thousand of population under 14 in Moscow is 236, in Sverdlovsk–279, in Ivanovo-Voznesensk–283, in Motovilikh–349, at the Votkinskii Plant–342, etc.

In the layout of children’s quarters, the following must be taken into account:

  1. ) the lower the age of the children, the closer they should be to their parents and the easier it should be for them to communicate with each other;

  2. ) the older the children, the closer they should be to collectivized and productive institutions and activities in order that the influence of their parents gradually be replaced by that of the collective;

  3. ) between children close in age there must be provided a constant communication and proximity for their mutual influence; this is important for their development.

It will, therefore, be correct, if in planning dormitories, we will lay out the nurseries and kindergartens of the residences with covered walkways (but not with interior corridors, in order to avoid spreading of contagious diseases).

It would be best that the accommodations for children of school age be situated in special residences, connected with the school buildings.

Buildings for children of pre-school age should never be multistoried.3 The best would be a one-story building having a sliding glass south wall with a small low open terrace in front of it containing a shallow pool for running water. Everything must, of course, be surrounded by greenery. The distance from the children’s residence (nurseries as well as kindergartens) to the residence for grownups should be from 20 to 30 meters. The children’s residence should be on the side of the adult quarters that is away from the productive zone.

The following figures should determine the dimensions of the general dwelling.

Assuming that each dwelling should have a nursery and kindergarten, we see that:

  1. ) the smallest general dwelling may be organized for 400 people (i.e., about 100–125 families), 300 adults and 100 children of pre-school age;

  2. ) the largest general dwelling will be for 800 people (i.e., 200–250 families), 600 adults and 200 children of pre-school age.4

It is self-evident that these figures must be considered as average and therefore deviations from them are inevitable in individual cases. These variations can be compensated for by relocating orphans in the children’s residences, and single people and adolescents in the adult quarters.

The so-called communal body which includes dining room (with kitchen), barber shop, small library, and recreation rooms (billiards, chess, etc.) would best be put into a separate building connected with the adult residence by a heated corridor.5 The space necessary for this would be on the order of 1 m3 per person. If the quarters for recreation and the small library were put together, the average height of the communal body would then be about 4.5–5 m, whence the general cubic capacity of these buildings would be set at from 5 to 6 m3 per person.

By calculating several shifts for the operation of the dining room, its area—and consequently the volume of the communal body—can be reduced by 30–50%.

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