During the start of the revolution the previous governments effect was still showing as explained in this book “Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution”, written by Richard Stites (1991)"
"A major problem for the Soviet government in the early 1920s was what to do with the besprizorniki, or homeless children.
Most besprizorniki were orphans, their parents killed in the First World War, the Civil War or the Great Famine of 1921. A smaller number were runaways, fleeing abuse, forced labour or poor conditions at home. According to Nadya Krupskaya in 1920, there were an estimated seven million besprizorniki in the Soviet Union. Some cities seem to have been awash with them. The situation was particularly dire in southern Russia. Relief workers reported the cities of Ufa, Orenburg, Chebliabinsk and Simbirsk (the birthplace of Lenin) each had populations of between 40,000-70,000 besprizorniki. In the winter of 1921 the frozen corpses of besprizorniki, including toddlers and babies, were being removed from city streets.
As you might expect, the besprizorniki maximised their chance of survival by forming gangs. In large cities, they could be found wherever there was shelter, warmth and food. Large numbers camped under bridges or in public buildings like train stations (see photograph below, taken in 1922). They lingered outside hotels, markets and stores, begging and waiting for food scraps. Some naturally turned to crime, mainly the theft of food or valuables which could be traded for food. The besprizorniki also tended to be nomadic: they moved in numbers from city to city, always in search of better conditions.
The besprizorniki were usually shunned by affluent and conservative Russians. But the Bolsheviks recognised the besprizorniki as victims of poverty and circumstance, and took steps to help them. Ironically, one of those most concerned about the fate of the besprizorniki was the notorious CHEKA leader, Felix Dzerzhinsky. In January 1921 he was put in charge of the Detkomissiia, or Children’s Commission, which planned to remove besprizorniki from the streets and provide them with state accommodation. Not only would this ‘clean up’ the cities and reduce crime, there was also a political advantage. Dzerzhinsky recognised that the besprizorniki were ‘blank slates’, without parents, politics or religion. They were ‘children of the revolution’ who would become ‘children of the state’, indoctrinated with socialist ideas.
The removal of besprizorniki began in earnest in 1921. They were taken from the streets and placed in children’s homes, special camps and youth communes, where they could be politically educated and trained to work. By late 1922 there were 6,500 facilities holding more than a half-million children. But the conditions in these homes were often no better, and occasionally worse, than life on the streets. Malnutrition and diseases like typhus were rife in many of the state homes. Disciplinary regimes were brutal and physical and sexual violence was common. Many besprizorniki, accustomed to the freedom of itinerant life, hated the state homes and escaped. Others were deported into the countryside, to be billeted with peasant families to work on the land.
The Detkomissiia’s mission to save Russia’s children ultimately failed. Numbers of besprizorniki continued to spiral through the mid-1920s, worsened by civil war and famine. The Soviet Union’s child welfare system had collapsed by 1924 and the state could only afford to house 280,000 children. By 1926 the Bolshevik attitude towards the besprizorniki had hardened: they were no longer seen as victims of war and capitalism, but victims of their own fate. The besprizorniki became increasingly criminal, engaging in begging, pick-pocketing, scams, muggings and prostitution. As a consequence they were increasingly despised by ordinary Russians. One Moscow man said of the besprizorniki: “I would put all of those sons of bitches into a sack and drown every last one in the river. They are a burden to the state.”
After the revolution and during the time of the USSR Children were given some weird names.
Examples of Revolutionary Names:
Ninel is just Lenin spelt backwards.
Revmark is a combination of Revolutionary Marxism
Tacklis is a name created from the first initials of the phrase, Tactic of Lenin and Stalin.
Naming children in such a way is not exactly new, but the Russian craze distinguishes itself by both the variety and ingenuity of the names they came up with.
Names based around the initials of leaders were a good place to start.
The name of the great Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, was recognised in names such as Vil or Vilen with Vilena for a girl and also Vladlen and Vladlena.
Combining Marx Engels and Lenin together gave Marlen and Maels was created by taking the initials of Marx Engels Lenin and Stalin.
A most amusing name is Dazdrapetrak.
The name is formed from the initials of the phrase, Da Zdrastvyet Pervi Traktor, (Long Live the First Tractor!). The tractor was very important in the Soviet collective.
The word October was most popular from 1925-1931.
Boys were named October, and there were many girls called Octobrina around the country.
Idea and Era were two other male names among the most popular.
A common Russian name ending was OR, signifying the October Revolution.
It was common to add this OR on to the end of names giving Marlenor, Vilenor and Melor.
In some cases, the Or could stand for Otets (Father) of the Revolution, as in Vilor - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Otets of the Revolution.
Stalen or Stalena, a combination of Stalin and Lenin, also found its way to some children.
And after Lenin’s death, children of Russia carried his revolutionary message at all times, when they were named, Leundezh - Lenin Umer, No Ego Delo Zhivyot (Lenin is dead but his work lives on!)
It’s almost too much for a young kid to live up to!
Spare a thought for poor old Trotsky who was remembered by a name that sounds like a trolleybus, Trolebuzin coming from a combination of leaders’ initials - Trotsky, Lenin Bukharin and Zinoviev.
On a more serious note, people bearing the name Ledavov (from Trotsky’s first names Lev Davidovich) were earmarked for a trip to the gulags.
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