Measures of social support for blood donors during the formation of the donor movement in the USSR

Abstract

Introduction. The period of formation of the donor community in the USSR fell on the 30–40s of the twentieth century. The first measures to organize the donor community were of a spontaneous nature. However, beginning in the 1930’s, with the support of the state and public organizations in the USSR, on the eve of the war, a mass donor community arose based on the ideology of the time and system of motivations.Aim — to reconstruct the measures of social support for blood donors, which contributed to the formation of the donor community in the USSR and to identify the role of the state in organizing the donor community in the USSR.Main findings. To conduct the study, a set of methods was used, including the study and generalization of experience based on archival sources, monographic description, and narrative analysis. A number of archival materials are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Decrees of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR, issued in the 30–40s of the 20th century, which formed the basis of the legal framework for organizing social support for donors, are given. This article is devoted to the emergence and development of the donor community in the USSR. A number of measures of social support for blood donors are described, which are characteristic of various stages in the development of the donor community (“attracting and retaining” donors in the 1930s, “survival” of donors at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, and their “encouragement” at the final stage of the Great Patriotic War). Measures of social support for blood donors, which arose in the pre-war period, proved their effectiveness (attracting about 5.5 million people into the ranks of donors, from whom 1.7 million liters of blood were harvested) during the Great Patriotic War, and with some changes, maintain their relevance today.