On November 30, "Komsomolskaya Pravda" covered topics like the struggles of single women, a harsh coach, and Metropolitan Kirill's thoughts on the show "Behind the Glass."
November 30, 1928
1928. IVANOVO BRIDES SNIFF OUT GROOMS
We enjoyed this publication so much that we decided to reprint it almost in its entirety. We hope that the reflections and stories of early, now long-ago, Komsomol members on the topic of marriage will also pique your interest. It was certainly not easy for them back then! The girls fought hard for their grooms, not sparing themselves on the labor fronts.
The publication opens with the title "Grooms with Economic Calculation."
“The customs of merchant Russia, which thrived on matchmakers, viewings, and dowries, have survived to this day. Komsomol grooms are on the lookout for wealthy brides. Working girls chew on black bread in the name of a Warsaw bed and down pillows. The worth of a woman—her value as a human being—pales in comparison to the price of a dowry. The cold 'economic calculation' tramples on human dignity, pushing camaraderie and love to the background.
A dowry degrades a girl. The concern for it pulls her away from social affairs, from cultural life, and confines her to bread and water.
Ordinary grooms, who cherish dreams of a dowry and a quiet 'family happiness,' have no place within the walls of the Union.”
This is what the author, I. Martynov from Stalino (now Donetsk), tells us:
“...Starting from the age of 16-17, working girls begin to prepare for marriage. They gather dowries. Month after month, year after year, their trunks fill up. First comes the 'most essential'—silk dresses, 'lakirki'—patent leather shoes. Next: a chest of drawers, a bed, chairs…
Without this, you will never get married. Nowadays, grooms are not like they used to be. They first ask: 'Is there a dowry?'
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, they inquire: 'What kind?'
Only after that do they confess their love and propose marriage….
It’s fine to buy a dowry for a girl whose father earns 100-150 rubles. But the working girl who earns 30-35 rubles has a tough time. Out of this money, 20 rubles go to food, 15 to clothing. There’s no money left for the dowry. Without a dowry, you won’t get married. ...Girls deny themselves necessary nutrition, grow thin, and wither away, but they are happy with each acquired item, no matter how trivial: 'The more items in the dowry, the sooner the marriage,' they reason.
Before taking a girl as his wife, a Komsomol member asks about the dowry, and upon receiving a negative answer, quickly ends the conversation: 'Without a dowry? I won’t marry.'
The cell doesn’t even concern itself with this issue. How can the cell fight it when the Komsomol members themselves chase after dowries?”
Here are even gloomier stories under the headline “Health for a Bed.”
“...A.K. Kholkova, a worker at the Sosnevskaya factory, prepares her dowry by eating once a day, often just dry bread. Out of 55 rubles earned in a month, she spends 35 on the dowry. With the remaining 20 rubles, she manages to survive the whole month.
On a starvation diet, sacrificing her health, she has managed to acquire a sofa, a chest of drawers, a Warsaw bed with knobs, and a silk dress.
Perpetually hungry and thin, she enthusiastically recounts for the hundredth time to all her acquaintances about the knobs adorning her 80-ruble bed, her soft sofa, and the six drawers of her bulky chest of drawers. Just a samovar, a lace blanket, pillows, a wedding dress, and… she will be a 100% bride.
The Komsomol member from the tailors’ cell, A. Nikitina, under the influence of experienced old maids, has abandoned her public work and is now meticulously saving. She goes nowhere: neither to the cinema, nor to the theater, nor to the club. She sits at home and sews, sewing endlessly. With great difficulty, she has saved 65 rubles and bought a double bed.
- Why are you doing this? – I ask her. – Isn’t this a silly superstition?
- Maybe it is silly. But it’s necessary, - she asserts. – I don’t want to remain an old maid, and it’s very hard to get married without a dowry!
This silly superstition must be eradicated from the minds of the youth—after all, they are the ones demanding a dowry! The cell does not respond to this phenomenon at all.”
And here’s a fascinating question for “What? Where? When?”: How Ivanovo brides chose their grooms by smell. Let’s read:
“...In old Ivanovo, brides chose their grooms by their smell. The craftsmen, who worked all day in the factory, became so saturated with the vapors of dyeing substances that from a distance, by smell alone, one could accurately determine their qualifications. Red dye smelled awful, yellow was lighter; however, a craftsman working with red earned significantly more than one working with yellow. And the brides sniffed out the more financially secure grooms, giving their preference to the 'red' ones. The 'yellow' ones were left behind. They were sought after by brides with meager dowries.
...All these absurd rituals and traditions have not lost their significance even today. Not only in the countryside but also in the city, the dowry remains almost the primary demand of practical grooms. ...Guseva, a worker at the bus depot, has completely devoted herself to preparing her dowry after her beloved refused her. A chest of drawers, a bed with a quilt, a dress, and lace underwear—these are her dreams. She has become so engrossed in her dowry that she only eats black bread, is terribly emaciated, and often faints.
The communist Kochezhkina, a worker at the Malo-Dmitrovskaya factory, goes without food and sleep but is stubbornly preparing her daughter’s inevitable dowry. A chest of drawers, a bed (with knobs, of course), a down quilt, a samovar…
The Komsomol member S-na from the Zaryadye factory has long stubbornly fulfilled her fiancé’s demands. And he requires the same bed with knobs, a quilt, a chest of drawers, a full outfit for day wear, a nickel-plated samovar, and all the small trappings of family comfort.
S-na is losing weight desperately. Along with her, her friends are engaged in this same relentless concern. They often gather together and exchange savings tips. One of them doesn’t go to the cinema or theater, visits the bathhouse once a month, and eats hot food once a day. Another works overtime sewing dresses for her dowry. From this exhausting work, she has become frail, her eyes and cheeks sunken.
Not long ago, at one of the meetings, a Komsomol member from the Dzerzhinsky factory recounted a funny yet sad feat of a girl named P. After becoming engaged to an enterprising groom, P. was compelled to prepare a dowry within six months. And she broke down. Sleepless nights and hard, excessive labor took such a toll on her body that she fell ill and lost excessive weight. The groom resolutely rejected his completely emaciated bride.
- I don’t want any dowry from a girl looking like that, - he declared.”
But among the Soviet brides without dowries, there were also swindlers who deceived their grooms. Here’s a story:
“At the registry office, a young couple is waiting. They came to divorce on the third day after their wedding. The reason is simple. Marusya promised a dowry when she married Trubnikov. But when her husband realized three days later that he wouldn’t see any mirrored wardrobe or chest of drawers, he bluntly suggested:
- Let’s get divorced, Marusya, I’ll find another one with a chest of drawers and sofa.
...Brides without dowries are helpless in a petty-bourgeois environment. They are met with disdain in their husband’s home. A girl is married for the third time without a dowry and gets divorced for the third time. Finally, the elder sister of the unfortunate bride Lenka arranges for her happiness: she provides a dowry. The groom, a seemingly young party member and plumber, secretly goes to the church with the bride, where the marriage deal takes place. Now, as a happy wife, she rejoices that