Authors

Siobhan Hearne¹;  ¹ The University of Manchester, UK

Discussion

This paper will explore the pivotal role that Soviet Red Cross volunteers played in the coordination of blood donation services. The Soviet Red Cross was the largest voluntary organisation in the post-Stalin Soviet Union. As a volunteer organisation, it was closely linked to the state bureaucracy and dependent on state approval and resources in order to function. But the Soviet Red Cross was not just tolerated by the government, and instead, the organisation worked with various state ministries to shape policy, deliver healthcare, and advocate for the vulnerable citizens that they endeavoured to support.
In the mid-1950s, the USSR’s Ministry of Health noted significant shortfalls in the volume of blood required to adequately supply the national healthcare services and began a mass collaborative campaign with the Soviet Red Cross to recruit and retain blood donors. Drawing upon archival material from Estonia, Latvia, and Moldova, this paper explores how this campaign served to shift public perceptions of blood donation and mobilised thousands of Soviet citizens. In doing so, the paper examines motivations behind engagement in voluntary activities and the multifaceted meanings that Red Cross volunteers ascribed to the voluntary act of blood donation.