Die Sexualrevolution in Russland

Dr Batkis worked at the Social Hygiene Institute at the University of Moscow and in this pamphlet outlined the situation in the Soviet Union in relation to family law, women’s and children’s rights, and also explained the impact of the new legislation concerning homosexual relations.

A reading of this pamphlet reveals the immensely progressive changes introduced by Soviet law compared to the old Tsarist legislation. For example, couples living together had the same rights as legally married couples. Children deemed ‘illegitimate’ under Tsarist law, i.e. born to unmarried mothers, were now deemed to be equal in law to ‘legitimate’ children. The new laws were very advanced for the period. They even placed the interests of the child above those of the parents in cases of legal disputes. The subordinate position of women was ended and “full political and economic equality between the sexes” was declared. Maternity rights were introduced throughout society, including the provision of crèches in workplaces.

Dr Batkis also explained that acts of homosexuality “…and any other forms of sexual pleasure” had the same legal status as heterosexual relations, adding that, “All forms of intercourse are treated as a personal matter.” The state intervened only if violence, abuse and coercion were involved. This was an extremely advanced outlook on same-sex love and remained the case until the Stalinist political counter-revolution reversed everything back to the old Tsarist measures of repression.

Batkis’s text highlights the approach of the Bolsheviks in power on these questions. It was later buried and forgotten about after the Stalinist regime in the 1930s undid a part of what had been achieved for women and homosexuals. Since the 1930s, reactionary anti-communists could always point the finger at Stalin and say “see, this is what communists do to gays!”. But the truth is always concrete and this document shows that communists actually acted far in advance of what most advanced capitalists countries were doing at the time, both in terms of women’s rights and the rights of homosexuals.