At the dawn of the USSR, not only radical ideological and political transformations took place, but also noticeable socio-psychological changes. In the early 1920s. the sexual revolution began, which led to the discrediting of the institution of family and marriage and the emergence of organizations promoting alternative cultural values. Such was the society “Down with shame!”, Whose members marched naked through the streets of Moscow, demonstrating freedom from “bourgeois prejudices”.
Illustration for the collection of scenarios of Komsomol propaganda performances.
In Krasnodar, according to the recollections of A. Trushnovich, an eyewitness to the events, the following happened in 1922: “Completely naked, adorned only with a ribbon with the inscription“Down with shame”, an orator on Krasnodar Square shouted from the rostrum:“Down with philistinism! Down with the priest's deception! We communards do not need clothes that cover the beauty of the body! We are children of the sun and air! " Passing there in the evening, I saw a tumbled down podium, "the son of the sun and air" was beaten."
In 1922, the movement * for a new way of life * became popular with the slogan * Down with kitchen slavery! *.
“Naked demonstrations” were carried out not because of shamelessness or emancipation, but with a fundamental ideological rationale: “The clothes are worn by the bourgeois who profit from exploitation. We are not bourgeois, so we must reject clothes. " Even the ideas of Darwinism served as motivation: “Man descended from a monkey. So people are animals. Animals don't wear clothes. Therefore, we should not wear clothes either."
Ideologist of society * Down with shame! * Karl Radek.
The ideologist and one of the founders of the movement was a friend of Leon Trotsky, the revolutionary Karl Radek. It was he who led the columns of naked people of the new formation, marching on Red Square. N. Kuzmin called him "an erotomaniac with an extremely repulsive appearance." According to some reports, Alexandra Kollontai, a preacher of free love, was also involved in society.
Ideologist of society * Down with shame! * Karl Radek and cartoon by N. Bukharin.
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The most massive demonstrations took place in 1924-1925. About 10,000 people took part in them. They spoke on the square with the following addresses to the people: “We have destroyed the feeling of shame! Look at us and you will see free men and women, true proletarians who have thrown off the shackles of symbols of bourgeois prejudices!"
The ideologist of free love Alexandra Kollontai.
Naked "downystydists" not only marched through the streets, but also traveled in public transport. M. Bulgakov in September 1924 left the following entry in his diary: “News: recently completely naked people (men and women) appeared in Moscow with bandages over their shoulders“Down with shame”. We got on the tram. The tram was stopped, the public was indignant. " The artist Severtsova-Gabrichevskaya spoke about the reaction of passers-by: “Someone laughed to tears, someone spat. The old women were baptized, saying: “Apocalypse! End of the world!" and bewilderedly asked passers-by: “What is this? And they will force us to undress?"
The ideologist of free love Alexandra Kollontai.
Down with Shame! led to an increase in the number of "naturists" (nudists). Foreign correspondents who worked in the early 1930s in Moscow, left written evidence of this. American journalist Knickerborger said that there are thousands of naturists in the USSR. And the Belgian consul Joseph Douillet recalled: “In 1925, under the patronage of the Soviet government, the society“Down with shame!”Was formed. For propaganda, some members of this eccentric society were sent on trips: to Kharkov, Rostov, Mineralnye Vody, and so on. I saw them in the costume of Adam and Eve in Rostov."
The demonstrations weren't just that & hellip;
Very few documents about this movement have survived. Mostly, these are the memories of contemporaries. Researcher S. Agarkov explains it this way: “The party subsequently had a very negative attitude towards the period when it promoted sexual freedom and licentiousness. Get pictures, minutes and documents about the society "Down with shame!" more difficult than some documents of the NKVD. There are several dozen photographs of demonstrations on Red Square - they are so hidden in the archives of the party that it is difficult to get to the bottom of them, some have been taken abroad."
Caricature of society * Down with shame! * And of the bashful People's Commissar Semashko, 1924-25.
Among the people, the movement of “down-shame” did not cause anything but indignation. In the end, the party leadership also had to pay attention to this. People's Commissar of Health N. Semashko issued the following verdict to the society: “Such behavior should be condemned in the most categorical way from all points of view. Firstly, they are cruelly mistaken when they think that walking naked, it will be a real "revolutionary" … Secondly, traveling around Moscow in a naked state is completely unacceptable from a hygienic point of view. You cannot expose your body to dust, rain and dirt … Thirdly, it is very debatable whether this wild innovation of morality promotes it."
Morning exercises. Photo by A. Rodchenko, 1932.
Soon this movement disappeared by itself, and the "naturists" did not walk the streets, but sunbathed in the summer in deserted places, which also caused a lot of controversy.
