Aliaksandr Hužaloŭski. Destroying Family: Sexual Revolution in 1920s Soviet Belarus as it Mirrored in Periodicals.

For the first time on the basis of wide circle of information extracted from newspapers, magazines, books, the rebuilding and functioning of Sexual Revolution in the post-revolution Soviet Belarus is presented in the article. During the first stage of the Revolution, its leaders deliberately attempted to destroy marriage and the familyFree love was glorified by the official «glass of water» theory. The legal distinction between marriage and casual sexual intercourse was abolished. The Communist law spoke only of contracts between males and females for the satisfaction of their desires either for an indefinite or a definite period, a year, a month, a week, or even for a single night. One could marry and divorce as many times as desired. Husband or wife could obtain a divorce without the other being notifiedIt was not even necessary that marriage be registered. Bigamy and even polygamy were permissible under the new provisions. Premarital relations were praised and extramarital relations were considered normal. Within a few years, hordes of wild, homeless children became a menace to the Soviet Belarus. Millions of lives, especially of young girls, were wrecked; divorces skyrocketed, as did abortions. The hatreds and conflicts among polygamous and polyandrous mates rapidly mounted – and so did psychoneuroses. The results were so appalling that the government was forced to reverse its policy.