Fighting the Epidemic of Typhus in Russia, 1918–1923: A Case Study of Samara

This article focuses on the experience of combating the typhus epidemic in the initial years of Soviet power, with a particular emphasis on the situation in Samara. The massive demobilization of soldiers from the fronts of the First World War following 1918 resulted in the penetration of typhus, which had previously been a disease of soldiers and marginalized people, into the center of the country. Typhoid is a bacterial infection spread by body lice that causes fever, headache, and rash and is fatal to those who do not receive proper medical care. The railways and, to a lesser extent, river transport became catalysts for the spread of the disease. Starting in 1919, the epidemic became a determinant of many social and economic processes. The fight against the epidemic presented a significant challenge to the young Bolshevik regime. In the Volga region, the typhus epidemic was accompanied by a famine of unprecedented proportions. The actions of the Bolsheviks (the creation of “communal apartments”, the policy of “war communism”, the fight against doctors as class enemies) often aggravated the epidemic situation. In Samara, a combat sanitary detachment of communists was created to fight the epidemic. Its work is an example of the everyday heroism of the Russian people. Soldiers of the Communist sanitary and epidemiological detachment were responsible for patrolling train stations, transporting sick individuals to hospitals, overseeing children’s reception centers, and arranging for the burial of the deceased. Based on archival documents first introduced into scholarly circulation, this article recounts the story of the difficulties and challenges faced by the sanitary and epidemiological detachment, as well as the difficult situation in the Russian province in the first years of Soviet power. The authors evaluate the assistance of foreign organizations in the fight against hunger in the Volga region, analyzing the results of the activities of the combat sanitary and epidemiological detachment, as well as the actions of the authorities in the conditions of the epidemic. The experience of combating the typhus epidemic had a significant impact on the development of the Soviet healthcare system, one of the key principles of which was total control over the incidence of human disease.