A fertile mother Russia: Pronatalist propaganda in revolutionary Russia

The Soviet consultation with its attendant propaganda, visiting nurses, and vacation homes attempted to set science and the doctor as the ultimate authority in matters of child rearing in place of old authorities, deny the contention that motherhood was a natural ability of women, and takeover the father's place in the home. Soviet health care policy bridged pre- and postrevolutionary thought, blurred the boundaries between public and private, and mirrored international natalist policies. However the application of these policies conformed to Soviet concepts of citizens' duties and state imperatives.