F. E. Dzerzhinskii Commune

F. E. Dzerzhinskii Commune 

a children’s educational institution. It was established in the settlement of Novyi Kharkov, a suburb of Kharkov, through voluntary deductions from the wages of members of the Cheka of the Ukraine as a memorial to F. E. Dzerzhinskii and opened on Dec. 29, 1927. A. S. Makarenko was the director of the commune until 1935, and the nucleus of the group consisted of former wards of the M. Gorky Colony. The educational process in the commune combined instruction with productive labor, initially in workshops and later in factory sections. In January 1932 a plant for electrical equipment was put into operation in the commune, producing the first Soviet electric drill (the FD-1); later, a plant for cameras was opened (the first FED series was manufactured in 1933). In 1930, a workers’ department of the Kharkov Machine-building Institute was opened, and in 1934, a ten-year secondary school was established.

A number of literary works by A. S. Makarenko have been devoted to the commune, notably The March of 1930, FD-1, Flags on the Towers, Major Key (play), and Rebirth.

In the 1930’s the commune was transferred to the system of correctional labor institutions.

REFERENCES

Bobrovskaia, M. E. “K istorii detskoi trudovoi kommuny im. F. E. Dzerzhinskogo.” Izv. APN RSFSR, 1952, issue 38.
Ter-Gevondian, A. G. “Detskii proizvoditel’nyi trud ν kommune im. F. E. Dzerzhinskogo.” Ibid.