"Labor House "Noah"" for the homeless. Houses of Industry and Workhouses The initiative to create houses of industry belongs to

How many homeless people are in Moscow! They hang around the center, spend the night at train stations, beg from churches ... We either turn away in disgust, or stick a coin; sometimes we call the Social Patrol in winter if it seems that a person is about to freeze on the street. But more often we are indignant: that they beg - they would go to work!

Good idea. But can a homeless-passportless-unregistered person get a job? That's just it ... And it happens that he doesn’t want to, because lately there are social services, and volunteers who will feed, heat, wash, give out new clothes - and you can again return to the street, to your usual homeless life and drinking buddies.

Emilian Sosinsky, a parishioner of the church of Cosmas and Damian in Shubin, at first also participated in feeding, dressing and treating the homeless, but soon realized that this was not enough.

« This does not solve the problems of the homeless: for many of them, constant handouts are simply harmful - people get used to their situation and no longer want to return to normal working life" he says.

How can you really help? The answer to this question was the appearance in 2011 of the first shelter House of Diligence "Noy". The parishioners who supported this idea helped to raise funds for the rent of the first cottage in the Moscow region.

Emilian's "ark" was open to everyone who found himself in a difficult life situation. The homeless were provided with housing, food, social and legal assistance, subject to two main conditions: to work and not to drink.

Let's leave aside all the trials that befell Emilian on this path: the claims of the police with the FMS, and the courts, and crooked employers ... In 3.5 years, 8 labor houses were created, in which about 400 people live and work.

But Emilian does not consider "Noah" his know-how: more than a hundred years ago, this model of caring for the homeless was implemented by St. Righteous John of Kronstadt - his House of industriousness saved people "from laziness, idleness, apathy, parasitism." The "Noahites" are trying to follow in his footsteps: they live by the rules, which are based on the Gospel.

« If any of our rules is not in accordance with the Gospel, we must cancel or change this rule. The main thing is that you can’t put an end to a person», – Emilian says. And they don’t put it: if someone has to be expelled for drunkenness or parasitism, then, having repented of his deed, a person can return, and even more than once, but subject to the conditions prescribed in the rules.

The principles of St. John of Kronstadt are a guide for "Noah", but time makes its own adjustments to the "economy" of labor houses. Large donations were sent to the famous shepherd for his wards from all over Russia, and the inhabitants of Noah live at their own expense - about half of their earnings go to the organization's statutory goals (rental of houses, food, doctors, social workers, lawyers), the other half is their legal salary.

Someone lists her as a family; someone tries to buy the “standard set” of a person recovering from alcoholism: clothes, phone, laptop – to search the Internet for options to continue their independent life that has begun; someone improves their health, starting, as a rule, with false teeth ...

When things were going well for “Noah” - there was auxiliary work at the construction sites, for which they were regularly paid - they managed to accumulate a “stabilization fund”. The leaders of the houses of industriousness (and these are not employees hired from outside, but well-established, responsible former homeless people) jointly decided what to do with this small, but still fortune: to arrange more comfortable living conditions inside the houses? Get transport? Invest somewhere to generate income?

But behind the threshold of labor houses stood those who could no longer work on construction sites - homeless old people, women with children, the disabled - and asked to be taken away from the streets. Some, of course, were taken: in each labor house, approximately 25% of the inhabitants are those who cannot do hard physical labor, but can cook food, run the household, and keep order.

« It always weighed on us that we couldn't take more - that would undermine the self-financing of the workhouse. With a constant sense of guilt, the majority had to refuse. You only know how hard it is to say "no" to a person when he asks for a chance to lead a normal life. And what is it like to refuse a mother with a child! .. Emilian says. - And we decided to use the accumulated money to arrange a separate social home for them.».

His assistant, one of the "veterans" of "Noah" Igor Petrov, believes that the organization of such a social home has become a real miracle:

« Just think: people not only get out themselves, start a normal working life, but they can also afford to help those who are even worse, completely helpless. It's a completely different feeling! There is a well-known prayer: “Lord, when I feel really bad, send me someone who is even worse.” This is how we did it».

And it really worked! In July 2014, two cottages with a garden plot were rented in the Moscow region, which could accommodate 100 people. The guests did not keep themselves waiting - they found here a house, food, clothes and work feasible for everyone with a small but salary.

Here it is just right to be surprised: also pay them a salary? Aren't old people entitled to a pension from the state? Yes, but they must have at least a passport and registration. Isn't it possible to arrange a lonely old man or a disabled person in a nursing home? Still as possible, but only if he "wins the competition" out of 38 of the same, only with documents.

According to Emilian, the possibilities of social care in most regions of Russia are about 30 times less than the needs: it’s good if funds are allocated for 30 homeless old people for the whole region. The same is true with places for women with children, and with receiving child benefits.

And in “Noah” there is a general rule: if a resident has not violated discipline for a month, a social worker helps him restore his passport, and after that, get the required policies and start issuing social benefits.

In general, a lot is happening in the social home, life is in full swing here. Lyuba is the mother of the baby Olenka the other day received a marriage proposal from one of the inhabitants of the shelter (by the way, during the years of the existence of "Noah" 16 weddings were played between its inhabitants).

A resident with two children testifies to a radical change in thinking: before, she says, any problem plunged her into a binge; now, in "Noah", she realized that "if God sends difficulties, then this is necessary for me, I must go through them", and does not drink ...

The inhabitants of the shelter

Here, while undergoing rehabilitation after being released from prison, you can get a new specialty: the head of the social home, Alexei, set up a small farm (hens, goats, several pigs), and Maxim learned the basics of rabbit breeding - now he knows how to get 6 times more from 28 rabbits donated to the shelter more offspring.

Elderly nuclear engineer Victor masters the specialty of an accountant, but leaves no hope of returning to his main profession. A successful director in the past, Anatoly, runs a small artel for the production of cemetery wreaths - any work is welcome at the shelter, and Anatoly, with sad self-irony, says that his current position has helped him rethink a lot in life.

To rethink, to re-evaluate - life circumstances also help in this, and, quite purposefully, Father Dimitry is a young priest who not only invites the inhabitants of a social shelter to a church nearby, but also conducts weekly catechetical conversations with them.

As the residents of the shelter admitted, the priest inspires trust and interest, he speaks so sincerely that it is hard not to believe him. In addition, you can ask him any questions. In all the houses of "Noah" for the first time, many get acquainted with the Gospel, with spiritual and church life, and are baptized.

When you visit this forest "sanatorium", you talk with its inhabitants, you want to talk about it in the most enthusiastic colors. Moreover, the residents themselves say: “It's just paradise here! If not for Noah, we would no longer be alive.” They have something to compare with: many of them suffered a lot on the street, and then they also visited organizations where the homeless are used as slaves and where else you try - break out ...

House of industriousness Noah

Digression about organizations that deal with the homeless

These organizations can be divided into 4 types:

1. Charities : rooming houses, tents and distribution points for food, clothing, medicines, vacancies, tickets home, etc. In these places, the homeless are provided with various types of material and social assistance, while nothing is required from them - they can continue to lead the lifestyle that is convenient for them. But after all, most of them (90%) suffer from alcoholism and therefore can neither work independently, nor use the benefits received, nor restore a social way of life.

Almost all job placements organized by philanthropists end in dismissal in the first month. The restoration of documents does not give anything either - people on the streets simply lose them at the first drunkenness. Tickets bought home are handed over to the box office or remain unclaimed - rarely anyone wants to leave the capital. And it is not at all surprising that the “side effect” of this assistance is an increase in the number of parasites among the homeless.

2. Rehabilitation centers (religious or secular) - organizations involved in the spiritual and physical rehabilitation of patients. Most often they have a religious origin and are supported by the money of believers.

There is always a problem with financial resources: it is extremely difficult to raise funds for the maintenance of the homeless, because family ties have long been lost, there are only a few philanthropists, and the state allocates subsidies, for example, for the rehabilitation of drug addicts, only on the basis of registration in a certain territory (and 95% of Moscow's homeless - visitors from other areas). Therefore, there are very few such organizations working with the homeless - almost none.

3. Social business organizations that exist on self-financing at the expense of money earned by the homeless in any ancillary work and use the work of the homeless for profit. It turns out that with the right organization of living and working, people on the streets can earn money!

These organizations are divided into: 1) "Voluntary slaveholding", where the wards do not receive payment for their labor, but work for food and accommodation. In such organizations, almost all income goes into the pockets of management. It is one of them, as the inhabitants of "Noah" testified, that it is difficult to escape - cheap labor should not flee ... 2) "working houses" - business projects that pay the homeless money for work and make a profit from this work - everything is like in ordinary business.

4. Socially oriented non-profit organization (NPO)- differs from others in that all funds remaining after the issuance of salaries to the homeless do not go into the pocket of the leadership, but for the statutory goals of the organization, i.e. to work with the homeless. So far, this type of NPO represents only the “House of Diligence “Noi”” – there are no other communal labor houses of this type in the Moscow region anymore.

***

Let's return to the social house "Noah". Previously, Emilian and his associates had never promoted him - the organization's own resources were enough to support him. But now they are ready to use every opportunity to shout with pain and hope in all media spaces: SOS! The crisis has hit the entire economy of Noah, and the very existence of the social shelter is under threat.

As already mentioned, the system of work houses is quite stable and self-sustaining - in the event that there is work. And since January 2015, in Moscow and the region, for well-known reasons, 58% of construction projects have been curtailed. Finding a job is becoming increasingly difficult, and there are fewer workers in the summer - traditionally, some of the homeless go on “vacation”, return to their previous way of life, because you won’t freeze to death on the street in the summer.

Today, there are about 100 empty beds in the labor houses of "Noah". The houses themselves are somehow still “going to zero,” says Emilian, but there is no money left for the maintenance of the old people's orphanage (and this is at least 800 thousand rubles a month). Collected one-time donations will hardly last until the middle of summer. “The situation is critical,” says Emilian. He himself knocks on all doors, every Sunday he stands with a box for donations at the early liturgy in the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. Alas, no money has yet been raised. He cannot imagine that the inhabitants of the social home will have to be sent back to where they came from.

“We won’t leave them anyway,” says Aleksey, head of the social shelter. What will we do if there is no money? I don't know, let's trust it to God. Now we live and rejoice, and thank God. And people believe in the authority of Emilian.”

Igor Petrov, who experienced more than one miracle in his life after meeting “Noah” and going to church, also does not leave hope: “I believe that the Lord keeps a balance in the world: so that those who need and those who want to help find each other".

Popular wisdom says: "In a crisis, there is no time for fat, I would be alive." Yes, today the most important thing for "Noah" is to maintain a social shelter. But if you ask Emilin about his plans, you will hear the incredible: “Father John of Kronstadt set the task of taking 3/4 of the homeless off the streets. We also want ¾ of Moscow's homeless to leave the streets and get a chance to lead a sober working life.”

He also laments that he cannot take “heavier” people to the social shelter (after all, there are narrow steep stairs) and dreams that there will be an opportunity to take care of wheelchair users and others who are very weak. I am sure that the “Noahites” will come up with a feasible job for them, so that a person feels like a person. Emilian says: “Ideally, we will be able to take from the street anyone who wants to change and is ready not to drink and work.”

What is needed for this? From the state - almost nothing. On the contrary, the “Noah” model, if given a way, would save the state a lot of money: according to Emilian, now 44 thousand rubles are allocated for the maintenance of one homeless person in a state social institution. per month, and for “Noahites”, even in a social shelter, 10 thousand is enough. And most importantly, conditions for work are not created in state shelters and, in fact, homelessness and dependency are only encouraged in this way. And "Noah" - he works and even supports the weak!

But something is still needed from the state: rental benefits, social and legal support, and most importantly, assistance in providing jobs for people who have not yet restored their documents. And Emilian also hopes for a state order for the inhabitants of the social shelter - so that they sew bed linen and mittens, raise rabbits, etc. for a specific buyer. Here Emilian again recalls Father John of Kronstadt, at whose call the townspeople bought up everything that was produced in the House of Diligence.

Usually, non-profit social organizations complain about the imperfection of the legislation. But in this case, the problem seems to have been solved: on January 1, 2015, Federal Law 442 “On the Fundamentals of Social Services for Citizens in the Russian Federation” came into force, which makes it possible for NGOs to become “providers of social services” and count on state support. Without delay, "Noah" applied, but it was rejected. Apparently, some other social services seemed more worthy of state support.

“Caring for the homeless is an area where the state and the Church could really work together. The number of homeless people will only grow if we do not support such initiatives, where there is already a well-established structure for the socio-psychological rehabilitation of people in need. The main thing in "Noah" is that such people get the opportunity to live and work together, as a community. This allows them to refrain from alcohol, not to become an inveterate drunkard.

I believe that the path chosen by Emilian and his team, following Fr. John of Kronstadt, - the best. He needs to be supported by the whole world.”, - calls on believers and non-believers, the rector of the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian Archpriest Alexander Borisov who blessed Emilian for the creation of "Noah".

Archpriest Alexander Borisov

“He’ll drink everything anyway!”, “We’d go to work!” - we say in our hearts at the sight of a homeless man with an outstretched hand. But so that these words are not an empty condemnation or a patch on our conscience, let's support the conditions for work and human life that have already been created in the community houses of Noah.

This part of the Sokolniki district - between the Yauza River and the current Korolenko (formerly Ermakovskaya) Street, was once the property of the royal Preobrazhensky (or Staro-Preobrazhensky) Palace, which was built here for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the 60s of the 17th century. The palace itself and all the buildings surrounding it were wooden, just like the Church of the Resurrection of Christ built nearby in 1671. The palace existed until 1740, when it was dismantled for dilapidation, while the church was rebuilt and preserved until 1789. After the dismantling of the church, the entire vast territory of the former palace was sold to private owners. The central part (the quarter between Korolenko St. and Kolodezny Lane) was bought by the merchant Chorokov to set up a cotton factory here. In the 1860s, the property passed to the merchants Borisovsky, who built a small sugar factory here.

In 1897, this large property, along with all the buildings, was acquired by the Moscow City Council. In one part of it, overlooking Ermakovskaya Street, the Coronation Asylum for incurable patients was located, in the other (where the plant itself was located) the Sokolniki branch of the Moscow City Work House was set up. The former factory buildings were rebuilt and adapted for residential needs, as well as for the construction of a hospital, an almshouse and workshops.

The Moscow Workhouse, which existed since 1777, was a kind of shelter for beggars, drunkards, beggars (who most often came here on the orders of the police) and simply poor people (often who came voluntarily), who were provided with work, housing and food. There was also an almshouse for the disabled and a children's department, later an orphanage named after Dr. Haaz was opened at the Workhouse. In 1903, the Workhouse was divided into two institutions - the Workhouse itself, which received those delivered by the police, and the House of Diligence for those who came voluntarily. Prisoners worked in workshops - carpentry, blacksmithing, plumbing, bookbinding, and were also engaged in unskilled labor - gluing boxes and envelopes, weaving baskets, sewing on buttons. The workhouse was maintained at the expense of the Moscow authorities and private donations.

In the 1910s, it was decided to build a church for the Workhouse - money was donated by the manufacturer's widow Olga Titova. The project was ordered by the architect of the Moscow City Council Nikolai Lvovich Shevyakov, who built the temple in the forms of neo-Russian "modern". Elements and details of the Pskov-Novgorod and Byzantine temple architecture were used in the decor of the church facades, the main (western) portal was decorated with a large fresco. It is noteworthy that the dome of the temple was made entirely of concrete. The construction of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist was completed by 1917, the main altar was consecrated on January 15, and the chapel of St. Apostle Matthew - June 10, 1917; it is believed that this church is the last of the Moscow churches built and consecrated before the October Revolution of 1917.

In the 1930s, an electromechanical plant (later - MEZ No. 1) was located in the buildings of the abolished Workhouse, all existing buildings, including the church, were adapted to the factory's needs. The church was decapitated and surrounded by faceless outbuildings, all the interior decoration was destroyed.

In the late 2000s, the church building was returned to believers and the Patriarchal Compound of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Sokolniki was located here, to which two buildings of the former Workhouse were also transferred. At the moment, the restoration of the temple and both buildings is underway.

From the time of the baptism of Rus', the distribution of alms and hospice were considered an indispensable virtue of every Russian person - from a commoner to a grand duke. Charity for the needy was made a duty to monasteries and parishes, which were supposed to maintain almshouses and give shelter to wanderers and the homeless. In the 18th century, the attitude towards the poor, the poor, the orphans changed. Life, rebuilt in many respects in the Western manner, has given rise to philanthropy, when help is provided for reasons of abstract humanism, and not out of love for a specific person.

In the photo: House of industriousness in Kronstadt.

Mercy - instead of compassion (1). The condescending charity of the prosperous to the downtrodden and the orphan will exist in society until the revolution.

In the 19th century, private secular charity unfolded: charitable institutions, various charitable societies, almshouses, shelters, charity houses, and overnight houses were founded. Needy able-bodied men and women aged 20-45 could only hope for small cash benefits and free meals. Finding a temporary job was not easy. A man in rags, emaciated, without documents, but willing to work honestly, had practically no chance of getting a job. It broke people morally and physically. They got to the Khitrov market, where they became professional "shooters". It was not an easy task to teach such people to work again, to return them to society.

The first decree, which refers to the workhouse, where "young sloths" should be forcibly placed, receiving "sustenance from work", was given by Empress Catherine II to the Moscow chief police chief Arkharov in 1775. In the same year, the Institution of the Provinces entrusted the construction of workhouses to the newly created orders of public charity: "... in these houses they give work, and as they work, food, cover, clothing or money ... completely miserable people who can work are accepted and they themselves voluntarily come ... "(2) The workhouse was located at two addresses: the men's department in the premises of the former Quarantine House behind the Sukharev Tower, the women's - in the abolished Andreevsky Monastery. In 1785 it was combined with a chastity house for "violent sloths". It turned out to be an institution like a forced labor colony, on the basis of which in 1870 a city correctional prison arose, known today to Muscovites as Matrosskaya Tishina. Workhouses were still in Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk and existed until 1853.

The number of beggars also grew, but there were no institutions where they could be helped. The situation turned out to be especially unfavorable in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where crowds of the needy flocked in search of work and food, especially in lean years. In 1838, the charter of the Moscow Committee for the Analysis of Cases of Beggars was approved. The Moscow city workhouse, established in 1837 with the aim of providing earnings to those who came voluntarily and forcing professional beggars and idlers to work, was also transferred to the jurisdiction of the committee. The Yusupov Workhouse, as it was called by the people, was located at 22 Bolshoi Kharitonievsky Lane, opposite the Yusupov Palace. The building was rented to the government in 1833 as a shelter for the poor. There were up to 200 people here. The shelter was supported by the Order of Public Charity. Over time, the number of prisoners increased. By decision of the Board of Trustees and thanks to the donation of the merchant Chizhov, the Yusupov Palace was bought. In 1839, he finally passed into the jurisdiction of the city and became a workhouse.

The Chairman of the Committee of Trustees Nechaev, and following his example, all members of the committee and employees of the workhouse worked without remuneration, making their own contributions. The number of prisoners reached 600 people, a hospital with 30 beds was opened. At the same time, G. Lopukhin donated his estate to the workhouse - the village of Tikhvino, Moscow province, Bronnitsky district (3).

New applicants were given a probationary period. After six months, they were divided into two categories: experienced good behavior and experienced unreliable behavior. The former were engaged in housework, receiving (4) kopecks per day and half the price for orders. The second was assigned a guard, they were entrusted with the most difficult work and forbidden to leave the house. Children learned to read and write.

By the middle of the 19th century, "the magnificent palace of Prince Yusupov, a noisy, brilliant house, in which taste, fashion and luxury reigned and self-willed for more than 20 years, where music thundered for whole months, bizarre balls, dinners, performances were given," became extremely unattractive, " equally huge, gloomy and sad. The three-story building housed the men's, women's and "old man's" departments. The latter contained the disabled, requiring care. In the large halls, bunks and bunks were side by side with tiled stoves, statues, and columns. The police often brought the convicts to the Yusupov house, but there were also volunteers who were driven to the extreme. Gradually, the influx of volunteers practically ceased. No orders were received, household work was not paid, the detainees refused to work. The workhouse turned into "a shelter where the beggars, detained by the police on the streets of Moscow, spent their time in idleness" (5). The problem of employment of the poor has not been solved.

In 1865, the charter of the Society for the Encouragement of Diligence was approved, the founders of which were A.N. Strekalova, S.D. Mertvago, E.G. Torletskaya, S.S. Strekalov, S.P. Yakovlev, P.M. A.N.Strekalova was elected chairperson. Since 1868, the Society for the Encouragement of Diligence has been included in the Office of the Imperial Humanitarian Society. Various charitable institutions were opened, for example, "Moscow anthill" - a society for providing temporary assistance to the poorest residents of Moscow. Members of the "Anthill" - "ants" - contributed at least 1 ruble to the cashier and during the year had to make at least two items of clothing at their own expense. The name "murashi" with time was assigned to the workers of the "Anthill" workshops.

In February 1894, at the corner of 3rd Tverskaya-Yamskaya and Glukhoy Lane, a women's house of industriousness was opened. Anyone could get a job - in sewing workshops or at home. Gradually, a whole charitable complex was formed: workshops, a folk tea shop, a bakery (located in a house on the corner of 4th Tverskaya-Yamskaya and Glukhoy Lane). The bakery supplied the women with quality bread at an affordable price. The poorest workers were given bread free of charge. While the mothers worked, the children were looked after in the nursery. For literate girls from poor families, a school of dressmakers and cutters was organized in 1897. Orders were received regularly, manufactured products were sold at a cheap price in open warehouses. It was the first Moscow charitable institution of this type. In St. Petersburg, by that time, there were already three houses of industriousness and one in Kronstadt for 130 people, founded in 1882 with private donations from Father John of Kronstadt. The main work of the detainees of the Kronstadt house was plucking hemp. There were fashionable and seamstress workshops for women and a shoemaker's workshop for boys.

One of the most passionate propagandists of "labor charity" in Russia was Baron O. O. Buksgevden. Through his efforts, by 1895 houses of industriousness were opened in Vilna, Elabuga, Arkhangelsk, Samara, Chernigov, Vitebsk, Vladimir, Kaluga, Simbirsk, Saratov, Smolensk and many other cities of the Russian Empire, including the Evangelical second house of industriousness in St. with funds raised by the baron among the Lutheran merchants. All employees of the House were from the number of conscripts, which allowed to reduce costs and increase the number of jobs. The institution was closed, that is, the detainees in it were fully supported. “Experience has shown that the workers did not know how to manage the money they received and remained in a distressed state, which prompted the council to provide them with shelter and grub. In view of this, with the exception of a few married old people, everyone who was looking for work was given the condition that they live in a house of industriousness "(6).

Gradually, benefactors became convinced of the need for two types of labor assistance institutions for volunteers: one - where a person would receive only temporary work before finding a permanent one; the other is closed, providing for the isolation of the detainees from the outside world for educational purposes and, accordingly, their full maintenance. In the latter case, "self-sufficiency" was out of the question; financial support from the state and private benefactors was required. The most expedient form of institutions of the second type seemed to be an agricultural colony: "A person who came in rags to look for work is no longer capable of independent work ... For such an individual, the only salvation would be a working colony far from the city" (7). A person who recently lost his job could well have been helped by the city house of industriousness.

Almost all houses of diligence were subsidized by the state or private benefactors. The average supplement to cover the expenses of the House was 20-26 kopecks per day per person. Mostly unskilled people came, their work was low-paid: plucking hemp, making paper bags, envelopes, mattresses from bast and hair, ruffling tow. Women sewed, combed yarn, knitted. Moreover, even these simple crafts often had to be taught first, which significantly increased costs. Some of the houses of industriousness, as already mentioned, simply turned into houses of charity. The earnings of a laborer in the workshops ranged from 5 to 15 kopecks per day. Work on cleaning the streets and sewage dumps was paid more, but there were not enough such orders for all the detainees.

House of industriousness for exemplary women in St. Petersburg. It was opened in 1896 on the initiative of O. O. Buksgevden and with the support of the Trusteeship for Labor Houses and Workhouses (see Trusteeship for Labor Assistance), which allocated 6,000 rubles for the establishment. Originally located at: Znamenskaya st. (now Vosstaniya street), 2, by 1910 moved to Saperny per., 16. The Chairman of the Trustee Committee in the 1900s was a bar. O. O. Buksgevden, then - V. A. Volkova, secretary - G. P. Syuzor.

The institution provided women with the opportunity for intelligent labor and constant earnings "until a more stable arrangement of their fate." As a rule, graduates of secondary educational institutions, orphans, widows, ladies abandoned by their husbands, often burdened with children or elderly parents and not receiving pensions, applied here.

There were houses of industriousness for children- in Kherson, Yaroslavl, Yarensk. The Kherson Society generally believed that such institutions were necessary, first of all, precisely “for the younger generation, in order to give them a proper upbringing from childhood and to eradicate the begging and begging of children that had developed in the city. It seemed less necessary so far to build a house of industriousness for adults in view of the very favorable conditions under finding work and a sufficiently high salary for almost the entire year..."(8) In Yaroslavl, in 1891, the local Charity Committee for the Poor opened a cardboard-binding workshop for the poorest children to distract them from begging. She had a cheap canteen. For work, children received 5-8 kopecks a day. They could stay in the House from one month to a year. Child labor, even less than the labor of adults, paid off the costs of charity.

The budgets of the houses of diligence consisted of membership dues, voluntary donations, proceeds from the sale of manufactured products, payments for city work, funds received from charity concerts, lotteries, mug collection, as well as state and Society subsidies. "The meaning of labor assistance is not everywhere correctly understood by local leaders of houses of industriousness. There is a significant difference between labor assistance, which is provided to a person under the condition of real work, and such assistance to an elderly person or a child. The work required of them has no real character. It happens that a house diligence becomes its own end, forgetting that it must be a means to another higher end" (9).

Until 1895, 52 houses of industriousness were established in Russia. In 1895, a regulation on guardianship under the auspices of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was issued to assist and provide material assistance in the opening of new houses, as well as to maintain existing ones. By 1898, there were already 130 houses of industriousness in Russia. In November 1897, the Trusteeship Committee began to publish the journal Labor Assistance. The idea of ​​labor assistance is firmly entering the public consciousness: “We serve a piece of bread, which the poor man repels with anger, because he remains homeless and without clothes and cannot get by with bread alone. We give the beggar a coin to get rid of him, and we realize that we actually push him even deeper into need, since he will drink the alms given to him. Finally, we give clothes to the undressed, but in vain, for he returns to us in the same rags.

On May 15, 1895 the hereditary honorary citizen S.N. and S.N. Gorbov. For construction, the Duma allocated a plot in Bolshoy Kharitonievsky Lane. The two-story stone building, facing the lane, was designed for 100 workers. On the second floor there were two workshops where linen was sewn, on the first floor there were apartments for employees and a folk canteen, transferred by the founder to the city. The workers received lunches consisting of cabbage soup, porridge and black bread, at a price of 5 kopecks. Free meals were often donated by philanthropists.

Women came to the House themselves or were sent by the city guardians and the Council. They were mostly peasant women and petty-bourgeois women between the ages of 20 and 40, often illiterate (10). Upon admission, each was given a passbook, a sewing machine and a cabinet for storing unfinished work. On average, 82 women worked here daily. Wages were received once a week - from 5 to 65 kopecks per day. The cost of material, thread, deductions in favor of the House were deducted from earnings. In 1899, a nursery was organized at the House. Sales of products were provided by regular city orders for various charitable institutions. For example, in 1899, an order was received from the City Council for sewing linen for all Moscow hospitals.

In more difficult conditions was the city workhouse, which provided labor assistance to both volunteers and those delivered by the police. Until 1893, it was under the jurisdiction of the Committee, which had very meager funds, for the analysis and charity of beggars. No work was done here, mostly beggars brought by the police (the number of volunteers was minimal). Soon the Committee was abolished, and the charitable institutions subordinate to it were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Moscow City Public Administration. Gradually, things began to improve.

In 1895, the House was given work at the Spasskaya sewage dump, the bookbinding and envelope and basket-linen workshops were revived. P.M. and V.I. Tretyakov donated two thousand rubles to the House. In 1897, 3358 people were accepted for voluntary charity. About 600 people (11) had shelter directly in the House.

Those sent to work were divided into two categories: those who had their own good clothes and shoes and those who did not. Workers of the first category formed an artel and elected a headman who supervised the work and received for this an increase of up to 10 kopecks in addition to their daily earnings. Those belonging to the second category also formed an artel, but worked under the supervision of an overseer. Earnings in summer were up to 25 kopecks a day, in winter - up to 20 kopecks. Volunteers of the first category received 5-10 kopecks more than the second. The last to be given out were clothes, shoes, underwear - of course, very, very second-hand. Here is the testimony of S.P. Podyachev, who described his stay in the House in 1902: “Clothes were given out old, torn, smelly and dirty ... then the undershirt ... The pants were also different: some were made of thick cloth and quite strong, others were some kind of blue, thin, like a rag ... The legs were soft, made of woolen plaits "chuni", exactly the same as in which the women pilgrims go to St. Sergius in the spring..." (12) "Chunies" were woven from old rags and hemmed with felt. Such shoes had to be tied with a belt or rope, which were not always given out, so the "chuni" were sewn by workers to the underpants. "The worker's legs are constantly sewn up, as if in a sack, and then one has to sleep in "chuns", and work, and walk from one end to the other," notes Dr. Kedrov (13). He also writes that “many workers have to go to work with their heads tied with a handkerchief, torn shawl or scarf, including any dirty rag or cloth that comes under their hands. go to work and where at the same time they sleep, spreading on the floor and hiding on the bed, not only dirty, but almost always with torn sleeves, collars, floors.

Over time, about 500 people accumulated in the House, designed for 200 people. S.N. Gorbova temporarily provided the workhouse with most of the premises of the house of industriousness. In 1897, the city government opened a branch of the workhouse in Sokolniki at Ermakovskaya Street, house 3, acquiring for this the estate of the former Borisovsky factory. Two- and three-story buildings accommodated more than 400 prisoners. The falconry branch gradually expanded, which eventually made it possible to receive more than 1,000 people, as well as to open workshops - blacksmith and locksmith, shoemaker, carpentry, box, basket.

In the Moscow workhouse there were also children and teenagers delivered by the police, who in 1913 were transferred to an institution called the Dr. Haas Orphanage. Homeless children under the age of 10 were brought up in the children's department of the shelter. There were also nurseries for the children of the workers of the house of industriousness and the workhouse.

One characteristic touch. “Ask anyone how, they say, you got here,” S.P. Podyachev writes in his essay, “due to a drunken affair ... We are all in a drunken affair ... We are just too weak ... we are prone to wine” (14). Or another testimony: “Our grief is driving us here, and the main reason is weakness for the wine business ... I’m a merchant ... I made such money in the wild, but here for the fifth day without business it’s impossible to leave, I drank to the exhaust gas. we need a whip, bug to remember ... "(15)

The working day started at 7 o'clock. We got up at 5 o'clock in the morning. Before work, they received tea with sugar and brown bread in unlimited quantities. "You can drink morning tea from earthenware mugs, which are kept by those who are being cared for under the pillow or tied to their belts" (16).

However, according to the memoirs of S.P. Podyachev and Dr. Kedrov, “Due to the lack of teapots and mugs for workers, morning tea is always taken with a fight. greenhouses), covering their bottoms with bread or putty. Some of the workers manage to make themselves “cups” for tea from ordinary bottles. The bottle is cut into 2 parts, the neck is corked, and 2 “cups” for tea are ready. At noon, the workers received lunch: hot and porridge with bacon or vegetable oil, in the evening - the same dinner. "Bread and" sparrows "(the so-called small pieces of meat) were given out at the doors of the dining room. Before getting into the dining room, we had to wait a long time in the cold ... Cups with cabbage soup were already standing and smoking on the table - each for 8 people - and there were spoons They started eating, waiting for the full set to be assembled, that is, when all the tables were occupied ... "(17) Workers employed outside the House took with them a piece of black bread and 10 kopecks of money, on which they drank tea twice, and on their return they received a full meal and tea. The total working day was 10-12 hours.

On holidays and Sundays, most of the convicts rested. In their free time, those who wished could use the library and take books to the bedroom, where they read aloud to the illiterate. On Sundays, they also gave concerts in the hall of the Sokolniki branch. In the central department there was an amateur choir. Those who wished could participate in dramatic productions. For example, in February 1902, Gogol's comedy "Marriage" was staged here. Prisoners and two employees of the workhouse participated. The production of The Inspector General (18) enjoyed great success.

In 1902, both institutions of labor assistance, located under the same roof and having a common administration, received an independent status. In addition to those serving sentences under the verdict of the city council, the children's department and departments for adolescents incapable of work, as well as chronicles, were assigned to the workhouse. This improved life and simplified the procedure for accepting volunteers. First, they went to the prefabricated department, located in Bolshoy Kharitonievsky Lane, where they were kept for no more than two days. All accepted went to the bath. "The washing procedure did not last long, because they hurried and urged. Those who washed and dressed were not allowed to stay in the bathhouse, but were ordered to go outside and wait there for the rest to come out ..." (19) Then they received outerwear and "distilled" in Sokolniki. Craftsmen concentrated there, while unskilled workers lived in the central department or in the Tagansky department (on Zemlyanoy Val, in the house of Dobagin and Khrapunov-New). The largest orders for work - removing snow from the tracks - came from the railways. The main problem still remained the provision of employment, as more and more people wished to enter charity every year.

Another house of industriousness was opened in 1903 on Sadovaya-Samotechnaya Street, in the house of Kashtanova (it was maintained by the Labor Assistance Society in Moscow). 42 women worked in the House. There were institutions to help in finding work. The Moscow Labor Exchange named after T.S. Morozov, which began functioning in 1913, made it possible for workers and employers to easily find each other. It was founded on the donations of M.F. Morozova and was located at the Ermakovskiy doss house on Kalanchevskaya street. Up to 200-250 people were employed here daily, mostly rural workers. Employers came from Yaroslavl, Tver, Ryazan and other provinces. Labor contracts were concluded in a two-story stone building. The exchange provided services free of charge.

As you can see, the measures taken by charitable societies and the government were very thoughtful and purposeful. However, they did not solve the problem of poverty and unemployment in general. This problem, exacerbated by the revolution and civil war, was to be solved by the Russia of the Soviet era. The same problem is once again tormented by "post-perestroika" Russia...

Notes

1. Ostretsov V. Freemasonry, culture and Russian history. M., 1998.
2. Speransky S. Working houses in Russia and abroad. P.19.
3. The Tikhvin estate, later withdrawn from the general management of the workhouse, will become an agricultural colony, where there were few detainees: mainly hired workers engaged in the removal of firewood, brick burning, stone mining, carpentry worked.
4. Yusupov house and those who are being treated in it // Modern chronicle. 1863.? 4.
5. Prison messenger. 1897.? 8.
6. Ger'e V.I. What is the house of industriousness // Labor assistance. 1897.? eleven.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. City institutions of Moscow based on donations. M., 1906.
11. Moscow City Workhouse in its past and present. M., 1913.
12. Russian wealth. 1902.? 9.
13. Medical conversation. 1900.? 8.
14. Russian wealth. 1902.? 8.
15. Ibid.
16. From the life of the Moscow workhouse. M., 1903.
17. Russian wealth. 1902.? 9.
18. News of the Moscow City Duma. 1902.? 2.
19. Russian wealth. 1902.? 9.

E. Khraponicheva
Moscow magazine N 9 - 1999

Needed help:

Money: 35000 r.
Collected: 35,000 rubles

Permanent projects

"Labor House "Noah"" for the homeless

The network of shelters "House of industriousness Noah" is a unique organization for our country, created by Emil Sosinsky under the patronage of the clergy of the Temple of Cosmas and Damian in Shubin for people who, for various reasons, ended up in the Moscow region without a roof over their heads, but are determined to change their lives to the best. With us, people become full members of society: they work, get paid, restore documents, return to old or create new families, and most importantly - live in the house! The main rule for them is to lead a sober and working lifestyle.

At the moment, more than 600 people live in our 14 shelters (5 of which are "social" - for the elderly, the disabled, women and children). The organization restores passports and other documents to the wards, arranges conversations on spiritual, social and psychological topics, and helps to find a job. Payment of rent, the maintenance of residents of social homes, the purchase of food, medicine and necessary household items - all this mainly comes from half of the earnings of our wards - able-bodied men who are employed as auxiliary workers at construction sites (they receive the second half of the money weekly in their hands). These funds are not enough for everything and not always. Therefore, our shelter urgently needs support: charitable, volunteer, prayer.

We will be very grateful for your help in organizing the production and marketing of any products that residents of our social homes, people with limited mobility, can produce. Only by uniting with all those who are not indifferent, only together can we solve the problem of the homeless, making them home!

Work progress

1. In October 2011, with the help of the parishioners of the Church of Sts. Kosma and Damian in Shubin, who helped raise funds for rent, our first shelter was opened;

2. In the summer of 2014, at a general meeting, former homeless people decided to open the first social home at their own expense, in which only the disabled, the elderly, women and children will live;

3. From 2014 to 2016 4 more social houses were opened, the number of people living in them exceeded 200 people. An attempt was made to unite all the elderly, disabled, women and children under one roof on the territory of the mothballed recreation center rented by us in the Sergiev Posad district, but due to financial difficulties and active opposition from local summer residents, we had to leave it and transport people to other houses ;

4. At the moment (at the end of September 2017), the number of our “social wing” is already about 250 people. With the help of charitable donations, we managed to cope with the financial crisis and avoid the reduction of social housing. Now we are again accepting disabled people from the streets.

results

For 6 years of activity we have achieved the following results:

1. 14 shelters in Moscow and the Moscow region, in which more than 600 people live (about 250 of them are the elderly, the disabled (including bedridden, blind, paralyzed), women and children);

2. In total, more than 7,000 people lived with us at different times, each of them received an overnight stay, three meals a day and clothing assistance;

3. With our help, about 2800 documents were restored (passport, SNILS, medical policy), some people were issued disability, benefits and pensions;

4. Conducted about 2,500 medical examinations of residents of our shelters;

5. More than 500,000 workdays worked out by the wards of the houses of diligence;

6. We provided about 550,000 overnight stays and 1,800,000 meals for our residents;

7. We sheltered 163 pregnant women;

8. Residents of our shelters were 40 official marriages;

9. The rules of staying with us categorically prohibit the use of alcohol and drugs, the residents of our houses live in sobriety, work and care for each other - this saved many people from inevitable death from a street lifestyle and severe addictions.