To this category belong those who were invalided during the imperialist war, men who were wounded while serving in the Red Army, the families of these Red soldiers, the victims of the counter-revolution, or of natural catastrophes and misfortune (conflagrations, floods, epidemic disease, etc.). We also have to care for those who have been unfitted for work through conditions operative in the old order of society, the victims of the shameful social conditions that then prevailed. To this category belong professional beggars, the homeless and shelterless, mental defectives, etc.
Moreover, in case of death, help must be given to the family of the deceased.
The number of persons thus requiring care is enormous. Those of the first category, who are unemployed or who have lost the capacity for work but are in one way or another connected with the field of production, are the concern of the Commissariat for Labour which is actually under the control of the trade unions. Those of the second category are the concern of the Commissariat for Social Welfare.