In pre-revolutionary Russia prostitution was regulated. After the Russian Revolution this system was abolished but prostitution continued. Any estimates of the extent of prostitution were hampered by the state's denial of its existence. In the textbooks on Soviet criminology, it was argued that social sores such as prostitution, drug addiction, etc. In the Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary , published in , it was stated that prostitution arose in a class of antisocialist society and is widespread under capitalism.
The topic of prostitution in newspapers , journals and in contemporary writing was taboo. The rationale was that the publication of the existence of this phenomenon could undermine not only the moral and moral foundations of the country, but also significantly weaken the political authority of the country.
Prior to Nicholas I , prostitution was banned by law, starting in when Alexei Mikhailovich ordered city burghers to watch "that there should not be harlots on the streets and lanes". Starting in , the reign of Nicholas I, until , there was a forced examination of prostitutes in the Russian Empire. There was no prohibition on engaging in prostitution before the revolution, but there was punishment for procuring and pimping.
Immediately after the February Revolution , all aspects of police regulation of prostitution were abolished. The "sex workers" tried to create their own trade unions and defend their rights as other professions had done.
The Soviet government, based on ideological ideas, pursued prostitutes as part of the " war communism ". Lenin , amongst the emergency measures to prevent the insurrection in Nizhny Novgorod , demanded "to take out and shoot hundreds of prostitutes who are causing all the soldiers to drink" [4]. At the beginning of the New Economic Policy NEP , prostitution experienced a new surge, it was practised almost openly by representatives of all strata of society.
