The save the children fund and the Russian famine of 1921-23: Claims and counter-claims about feeding "bolshevik" children

Abstract

Drawing on literature on the social construction of social problems, this paper examines the British Save the Children Fund's claims making activities regarding support for child famine victims in Russia in 1921-23. It examines 1) how the Fund constructed famine in Russia as a social problem that was worthy of British, and wider international, support and attention; 2) the rhetorical strategies used by the Fund to construct the causes of the famine for the British public; and 3) the claims the Fund made about why Britons should care about starving children in Russia. We also attend to counter-claims made about the Fund and its involvement with Russia. We used unpublished letters, memos and reports from The Save the Children Fund archives to examine how the Fund responded to attacks on its activities coming from Russian émigrés and from The Daily Express. We suggest that the examination of this case through the concept of claims making offers a lens to understand how children in distress in the early 20th century became the objects of British, and wider international aid. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.