Creating Cadres of Soviet Nurses, 1936–1941

Abstract

This chapter explores the development of Soviet nursing during the period 1936–1941, a time when moves towards greater professionalization took place. But this was also a time when the Soviet Union underwent militarization, and nursing was a part of campaigns to involve more people in medical work, be that first aid courses or nursing. These divergent trends—professionalization and militarization—impacted nursing and this chapter examines if and how these were reconciled. It also considers the role of the nurse within a gender narrative that positioned nurses—predominantly women—as both modern and traditional. It argues that nurses were active participants in the professionalization of nursing in the late 1930s and contributed to creating a more inclusive vision of Soviet health care.