Best Speech Topics Logo

  • Choosing Good Topics
  • Controversial
  • Demonstration
  • Extemporaneous
  • Informative
  • School/College
  • Special Occasion
  • Public Speaking Help
  • Writing a Speech
  • Free Sample Speeches
  • Share Your Speech

Persuasive Speech on School Uniform Policies

Persuasive Speech School Uniforms Japan

This persuasive speech makes some excellent points in favor of students having to wear school uniforms.

See if you can come up with even more arguments in favor of this idea - or how about a whole new speech arguing against the idea of mandatory school uniforms?

Make sure you start with a good speech outline to make it easier to keep track of any points you want to include in your statement.

Check out these tips on writing a persuasive speech as well. They'll help you to create a great presentation that might convince your audience to come around to your way of thinking!

Beginning of Persuasive Speech

Persuasive Speech entitled: The Case for School Uniforms

Should students be required to wear a uniform to school? That is the question that has been raised for discussion here today.

Private schools have long been known for having school uniform policies. Now some public schools such as ours are deciding whether or not they want their students to wear a school uniform.

Some people argue that requiring students to dress a certain way takes away their sense of creativity and individuality. However, there are several strong arguments in favor of schools requiring school uniforms.

Persuasive Speech Supporting School Uniforms

Wearing a school uniform can encourage some students to take their responsibilities more seriously.

If they wear the same clothes to school that they wear when they go to the mall with their friends, they may have the same laid back attitude in both places.

Wearing "work clothes" to school can change the students' frame of mind and inspire a more serious attitude that is focused on study.

School uniforms can also lessen the negative effects of class status. In some schools you are only popular if you wear the latest fashions and trends.

Students are sometimes left out or even teased if they are unable or unwilling to pay to dress the way the popular students are dressing. Requiring students to wear a school uniform levels the playing field, by reducing the implied class status that is created when only certain students can buy the most expensive clothes.

Not only is teasing decreased, but violence can also be prevented at schools that have a required uniform.

Gang violence is becoming more prevalent at schools around the country. Sometimes fights can start over someone wearing the "wrong color" or gang symbol. There have even been instances of gang members sneaking into schools to recruit or harass students.

Required school uniforms can reduce fighting among students and prevent outsiders from being able to get into the school undetected.

Some opponents of school uniforms worry about the cost, but uniforms can actually cost less than other school clothes.

With regular clothes you usually buy a different outfit for each day of the week. You may even buy more than that. With a school uniform you can just purchase a few items, as you don't have to worry about wearing something different each day. You can also pass school uniforms down to family members, or find them on sale from other families.

There is a lot of controversy over whether or not school uniforms should be required. However, when you look at the facts you will see that there are many benefits to students all wearing the same thing to school.

Students may take school more seriously, teasing and violence can be decreased, and you may even save some money.

Listen to this speech

End of Persuasive Speech Supporting School Uniforms

I hope this persuasive speech has helped you to formulate some ideas on your chosen speech topic. Make sure you believe in the subject you have chosen to present to the audience and try to put yourself in the shoes of your listeners, thinking up any counter-arguments they may have, and addressing them!

Use the right words, and you'll find that persuading folks to think differently about your chosen topic is not as difficult as you may have thought it would be.

You might like these

The top five persuasive topics for Valentines day including commercialization, paternalism, inclusiveness, and religion

Persuasive Topics for Valentines

The top five persuasive topics for Valentines day including commercialization, paternalism, inclusiveness, and religion

Here are 54 fun persuasive speech topics for your consideration, around which you can create a light-hearted and entertaining speech.

Fun Persuasive Speech Topics

Here are 54 fun persuasive speech topics for your consideration, around which you can create a light-hearted and entertaining speech.

Find lots of persuasive speech topics and discover how to influence your listeners' beliefs, change their opinions and ultimately prompt them to take action!

Persuasive Speech Topics - Find Great Ideas for Your Presentation

Find lots of persuasive speech topics and discover how to influence your listeners' beliefs, change their opinions and ultimately prompt them to take action!

Free email delivery

MASTER INFORMATIVE SPEAKING WITH OUR FREE CHECKLIST!

We are offering you a  FREE   SpeakFlight Informative Speaking Preparation Checklist. This valuable resource is packed with step-by-step guidance to help you create compelling, memorable, and effective informative speeches.

Share this page

Related persuasive speech topics, tips, and techniques.

More tips...

  • A Guide to Persuasive Speech Writing
  • More Tips for Writing Good Persuasive Speeches
  • Tips for Creating Your Outline (With Example)
  • Another Example Outline
  • 3 Tips for Writing a Speech That Gets Results

Brainstorming techniques...

  • Coming up With Ideas
  • More Ways to Find the Perfect Topic

Topics to try...

  • Ideal for Teens

Example persuasive speeches for inspiration...

  • Gender Selection
  • Energy Medicine
  • The Role of Marriage in Society
  • Fun Speech about Luck
  • Second-Hand Smoke Using a Cell Phone Whilst Driving
  • Become an Activist
  • Best Speech Topics
  • Persuasive Speech Topics
  • Sample Persuasive Speech - Uniforms

informative speaking checklist product

Easily search your speech type

Just check out the sitemap for best-speech-topics.com , which lists all the pages on the site, or use the search box below:

Return to the Top of the Page

Get to Know Us

  • Privacy Policy

Attention Grabbers

  • Positive Quotes for Kids
  • Quotes for Graduation Speeches
  • Poems & Quotes on Death
  • Quotes on Retirement

Most Popular Pages

  • Free Samples
  • Good Speech Topics
  • Hypnotize Your Audience
  • Welcome Speech

Select a Speech Topic

  • Argumentative
  • Commemorative
  • Inspirational
  • Interesting
  • Other Topics

Let Us Help You

  • How To Write a Speech
  • Demonstration Outline
  • Informative Outline
  • Introductions
  • Using a Microphone
  • Speech Help
  • Speeches Made Easy

Home — Essay Samples — Education — School Uniform — School Uniform Persuasive Speech

test_template

School Uniform Persuasive Speech

  • Categories: School Uniform Special Education

About this sample

close

Words: 616 |

Published: Mar 20, 2024

Words: 616 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Promoting equity, fostering discipline, addressing common concerns.

Image of Dr. Charlotte Jacobson

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

  • 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
  • Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

author

Dr Jacklynne

Verified writer

  • Expert in: Education

writer

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 653 words

1 pages / 616 words

1 pages / 557 words

3 pages / 1458 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on School Uniform

School dress codes have been a contentious issue in educational institutions for many years. These policies dictate what students can and cannot wear to school, often with the intention of promoting a safe and distraction-free [...]

The first recorded application of school uniforms can be traced back to England in 1922, where provisions were made for students to wear a robe-like outfit. It was, however, until the 16th century that the modern school uniforms [...]

The debate over whether students should wear uniforms in schools has been a long-standing one. In this essay, we will explore the reasons why students should not wear uniforms, focusing on how uniforms can limit students' [...]

One of the ongoing debates in the education system is whether students should be required to wear school uniforms. While some argue that uniforms promote equality and discipline, I believe that enforcing a dress code on students [...]

Introduction to the debate on whether students should wear uniforms Mention of the reasons for and against school uniforms Discussion of the role of uniforms in enhancing school security Potential risks of [...]

Have you ever felt restricted by a dress code that dictates what you can and cannot wear? Many schools and workplaces enforce strict dress codes in the name of professionalism or modesty, but is this really necessary? In this [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

  • Instructions Followed To The Letter
  • Deadlines Met At Every Stage
  • Unique And Plagiarism Free

persuasive speech about school uniforms

  • Writing services
  • Proofreading
  • Math/Science
  • Copywriting
  • Dissertation services
  • Admission services
  • Our Writers

Persuasive Essay About School Uniforms

School uniforms persuasive essay

Table of contents:

  • Introduction
  • Body paragraphs

Should students wear school uniforms? This is a topic with a lot of controversy around it. Some people think it should be compulsory to wear a uniform, and others think they should not be required. Your persuasive essay should take a strong stand on the issue, but don’t fail to consider the arguments against your point of view as well as the benefits of your own beliefs.

Your introduction should consist, most importantly, of your thesis or focus statement, in which you answer the question, “Why should we wear (or not wear) school uniforms?” When considering the pros and cons, make up your mind first which stance you’d like to argue for, and then reflect on how best to make your point.

Introduction examples

Pro: School uniforms ensure that all students have the same access to well-fitting, modest clothing during classes, and also erase the differences between richer and poorer students, putting them all on a more equal footing.

Con: School uniforms are restrictive of personal expression, uncomfortable, and needlessly force children into gender roles due to making girls wear skirts and boys wear trousers, and so they should not be required.

The body of your essay should then expand upon the thesis, outlining and backing up each of your points. If you have statistics to back up your arguments, here’s where to use them. You can also use anecdotes, common sense appeals, or appeals to emotion.

Body paragraphs examples

Pro: School uniforms should be compulsory. They reduce time spent shopping, as well as money spent buying clothes, and eliminate bullying based on dress and appearance. In addition, they keep students safer by making sure they are obviously dressed as students.

Con: There are many reasons against wearing school uniforms. No one, first of all, likes to be forced into a particular mould. The subject of whether school uniforms actually prevent bullying is still up for debate. As well, one of the disadvantages is that school uniforms usually have to all be bought from the same place, which can lead to collusion between school governors and clothing shops.

As you draw to a conclusion, look back at your thesis. Give your essay a title that relates to the thesis. Make sure you’ve covered all the points you want to cover. Then go over those points again in your conclusion, and finally end with a request to your audience to take some kind of action, or at least consider the debate from a different point of view.

Conclusion examples

Pro: To have more peaceful, safer schools, as well as cheaper shopping bills, uniforms are the way to go. It’s the better option for students, and it’s better for parents as well, so recommend to your school board that uniforms should be instituted right away.

Con: The jury’s still out on whether school uniforms do make a difference. In the meantime, why curb kids’ personal expression? Let them dress the way they want, within reason. It doesn’t cause them any harm.

  • Essay samples
  • Infographics
  • Essay writing
  • Crafting a Powerful Essay on Political Polarization
  • Oral Health Overview Essay: Preventing Tooth Decay in Australia
  • How to Write a Good Expository Essay About Macbeth
  • How to Write An Expository Essay About Love
  • How to Write a Great Expository Essay About Life

Price per page

Total price:

Limitless Amendments

Bibliography

Plagiarism Report

Get all these features for A$93.12 FREE

If you don't know exactly what type of paper you need or can't find the necessary one on the website - don't worry! Contact us and we'll help you out!

  • Terms of Use
  • Money Back Guarantee
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Write My Essay
  • Custom Essay
  • Essay Writer
  • Do My Essay
  • Type My Essay
  • Pay For Essay
  • Cheap Essay
  • Write My Paper
  • Write My Assignment
  • Assignment Writer
  • Buy Assignment
  • Assignment Help
  • Do My Assignment
  • Nursing Essay Writing Service
  • Management Essay
  • Business Essay
  • Law Essay Writing Service
  • Education Essay Service
  • Marketing Essay
  • Accounting Essay
  • Sociology Essay

Before continuing to use our service please make sure you got acquainted with our Cookie Policy and accepted it by clicking OK

Do uniforms make schools better?

by: Marian Wilde | Updated: March 1, 2024

Print article

Do uniforms make schools better?

Schools, parents, and students frequently clash over the issue of regulating what students may and may not wear to school. These controversies often pegged to the culture war of the moment touch on everything from gender and sexuality to politics, race, and religion. In 2021, a group of about 50 students in Georgia protested their middle school’s dress code for being discriminatory against BIPOC girls by wearing t-shirts every Friday emblazoned with the words “sexist,” “racist,” and “classist.” In 2022, a fight between students, staff, and police officers broke out at a Pennsylvania high school when hats and hoodies were banned as part of a revision by the school board to the school’s dress code. And in 2023, two Michigan middle schoolers, via their mother, sued their school district after they were banned from wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts.

Are school uniforms the best solution to this contentious debate? If every student is wearing the same outfit, will a host of campus problems be solved? Researchers are divided over how much of an impact — if any — dress policies have on student learning. There are multiple studies with conflicting conclusions, plus books such as 2018’s The Debate About School Uniforms , but the argument wears on, with a list of pros and cons on each side.

Why do some public schools have uniforms?

In the 1980s, public schools were often compared unfavorably to Catholic schools. Noting the perceived benefit that uniforms conferred upon Catholic schools, some public schools decided to adopt a school uniform policy.

President Clinton provided momentum to the school uniform movement when he said in his 1996 State of the Union speech, “If it means teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms.”

The pros and cons of school uniforms

According to proponents, school uniforms:.

  • Help prevent gangs from forming on campus

  • Encourage discipline

  • Help students resist peer pressure to buy trendy clothes

  • Help identify intruders in the school

  • Diminish economic and social barriers between students

  • Increase a sense of belonging and school pride

  • Improve attendance

Opponents contend that school uniforms:

  • Violate a student’s right to freedom of expression

  • Are simply a Band-Aid on the issue of school violence

  • Make students a target for bullies from other schools

  • Are a financial burden for poor families

  • Are an unfair additional expense for parents who pay taxes for a free public education

  • Are difficult to enforce in public schools

Uniforms vs. dress codes

Schools and districts vary widely in how closely they adhere to the concept of uniformity.

What’s a dress code?

Generally, dress codes are more relaxed than uniform policies. Sometimes, however, dress codes are quite strict with requirements that are potentially viewed as biased based on race or gender. In 2020, two Black male students in Texas, cousins with West Indian heritage, were suspended for wearing dreadlocks in supposed violation of the district’s hair and grooming policy, part of the dress code. The elder one, a senior, was told he couldn’t attend prom or graduation until his dreads were trimmed. In 2022, girls on the track team at an Albany, NY high school were sent home for wearing sports bras at practice.

Uniforms are certainly easier for administrators to enforce than dress codes, largely because the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) can be depended upon to protect a student’s “right to express themselves.” The ACLU believes dress codes are often used to, “shame girls, force students to conform to gender stereotypes… punish students who wear political and countercultural messages. Such policies can be used as cover for racial discrimination… Dress codes can also infringe on a student’s religious rights…” To successfully enforce a dress code, insists the ACLU, the school must prove the student’s attire, “is disruptive to school activities.”

The ACLU’s dress code stance is regularly supported by federal courts , like the 2023 lower court ruling in North Carolina that ended a charter school decree that girls couldn’t wear pants to school. ACLU lawyers claimed this violated Title IX because the dress code “discriminated against female students by limiting their ability to fully participate in school activities, such as using the playground.” The U.S. Supreme Court later declined to take up a case challenging the lower court’s ruling.

Check with your school to see what the dress code is, as they can be fairly specific. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, the dress code prohibits :

  • Symbols, mottoes, words or acronyms that convey crude, vulgar, profane, violent, death-oriented, gang-related, sexually explicit, or sexually suggestive messages.
  • Symbols, mottoes, words or acronyms advertising tobacco, alcohol, or illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia.
  • Symbols, mottoes, words or acronyms identifying a student as a member of a secret or overtly antisocial group or gang or that identifies a student as a member of an organization that professes violence or hatred toward one’s fellow man.
  • Visible and permanent tattoos/brands incompatible with the standards set forth herein shall be covered to prohibit their display.
  • Excessively large or baggy clothes

What’s a uniform?

School uniforms worldwide can widely range from nondescript to bizarre. (Extreme examples from China, Australia, and the UK on this YouTube video ) Most public school outfits in the USA are quite casual, with a “ common type ” for boys often a polo shirt in a solid color, with pants in khaki, black, or navy blue. A girl’s uniform is often a skirt and a white buttoned-up shirt. Dress shoes are frequently required for both genders.

In the United States, low-income families spend an average of $249 on a child’s school uniform annually, far less than the typical Australian student’s $578. But still, the cost is sometimes viewed as unfair because public education is intended to be free, paid by tax dollars, not “a stress for families on lower incomes.” The ACLU believes that public schools should provide free school uniforms , because the expense is unconstitutional, and it increases wealth inequity.

What research says about school uniforms

In 2006, Virginia Draa, professor at Youngstown State University, reviewed the impact of school uniforms at 64 public high schools that had larger percentages of economically disadvantaged and minority students than other urban schools. Her conclusion surprised her: “I really went into this thinking uniforms don’t make a difference, but I came away seeing that they do… I was absolutely floored.” Her analysis determined that the schools with uniforms improved their students attendance, and graduation rates rose an average almost 11 percent.

In 2022, Ohio State University and University of Pennsylvania researchers reached a contrary opinion in their report titled “ School Uniforms and Students Behavior: Is There a Link? ” Their view was that, in general, evidence that school uniforms improve social skills in the students was “inconclusive.” The solitary praise they provided to uniform-wearing was noting there was “some indication that low-income students in schools that required uniforms demonstrated better school attendance than low-income students in schools that did not.”

What to believe? Jury is still out.

What do students think about uniforms?

A student discussion: pros and cons of uniforms

Editor’s note: This video is part of our high school milestones series about communication skills. The students in this video discuss the pros and cons of school uniforms.

A University of Nevada, Reno, survey of 1,848 middle school students, published in 2022, revealed that 90 percent did not like wearing a uniform to school . Only 30 percent believed the uniforms “might reduce discipline issues, a mere 17 percent thought the uniform helped them focus at school, 34 percent believed their school was safer due to the uniforms and 37 percent said, “I worry less about my appearance” due to the uniform requirement.”

An earlier study, also in Nevada, displayed similar unpopularity with newly instituted uniforms among middle school students. However, when the researchers looked into school discipline and local police records and compared them to the prior year’s data, discipline referrals were down 10 percent, there were 63 percent fewer police log reports, and incidences of graffiti, fights, and gang-related activity were all down.

It’s a big issue

A new trend is the mounting pressure to establish dress codes for teachers. Apparently, the same casual mindset toward revealing outfits is cropping up in the ranks of our teachers.

The debate over uniforms in public schools encompasses many larger issues than simply what children should wear to school. It touches on issues of school improvement, freedom of expression, and hot-button culture wars. It’s no wonder the debate rages on.

Homes Nearby

Homes for rent and sale near schools

Why your neighborhood school closes for good

Why your neighborhood school closes for good – and what to do when it does

5 things for Black families to consider when choosing a school

5 things for Black families to consider when choosing a school

High-school-quality-article-listicle

6 surprising things insiders look for when assessing a high school

Surprising things about high school

GreatSchools Logo

Yes! Sign me up for updates relevant to my child's grade.

Please enter a valid email address

Thank you for signing up!

Server Issue: Please try again later. Sorry for the inconvenience

Letovo School

Programmes offered, students are currently registered for the following subjects:.

  • MATH ANALYSIS
  • SPANISH AB.
  • VISUAL ARTS
  • ENGLISH A LAL
  • COMPUTER SC.
  • ENGLISH A LIT
  • THEORY KNOWL.
  • RUSSIAN A LIT
  • PERS PROJECT

More about IB Schools

construct-Block.jpg

School details incorrect?

The information on this page is pulled automatically from the IB information system (IBIS). If any details are incorrect, a school's coordinator can update them using My School .

  • Update your details

Online Diploma Programme pilot

In March 2022 the IB launched our online Diploma Programme pilot. This delivers a fully online Diploma Programme together with a small number of selected partners.

  • Read about this pilot and our partners

online-dpBlock.jpg

  • You are here:  

persuasive speech about school uniforms

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia

Letovo, the dream came true.

Letovo School is a special school for gifted and motivated children aged 12 to 17. An idea to create the school came from entrepreneur and philanthropist Vadim Moshkovich: ‘My dream was to offer talented children from all over the country access to high-quality education, regardless of their parents’ financial means. This school makes it possible for them to continue their studies at the 10 best universities in the country or at one of the top 50 universities in the world.’

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia / Photography © NARODIZKIY

New high school campus for 1000 students in southwest Moscow, including boarding facilities for 500 students, teachers residence 100 apartments, and huge outdoor sport facilities.

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia / Photography © NARODIZKIY

  • Street + number: Zimenkovskaya street, Sosenskoye settlement, Moscow, Russia
  • City: Moscow
  • Country: Russia
  • Total campus area: 20 ha
  • Gross Floor area school: 20.000m²
  • Gross Floor area boarding : 10.000m²
  • Gross Floor area teachers residence: 9.000m²
  • Start design: October 2014
  • Start construction: September 2015
  • Completion date: August 2018
  • Opening: September 1018
  • Project architects Dorte Kristensen, Pascale Leistra, Karho Yeung
  • Design team Thijs Klinkhamer, Abel de Raadt, Alessia Topolnyk
  • Architecture: Atelier PRO architects
  • Russian co-architect: Atrium architectural studio, Moscow
  • Interior Design: Atelier PRO, Thijs Klinkhamer in cooperation Nadia Fedotova Moscow
  • Landscape Designer: Buro Sant en Co landscape architecture, the Hague
  • Name: Letovo
  • Website: en.letovo.ru

Landscape-inspired design, shape and brickworks Located in Novaya Moskva, southwest of Moscow, the campus sits atop a beautiful plot of land that slopes down to a forest-lined river. Distinctive level variations were applied in and around the school to integrate the architecture into the landscape.

The shape of the large complex brings it down to a human scale for the children: the building appears to dance across the landscape due to its dynamic design. Due to the perspective effect one only ever sees part of the building's full size when walking around, which gives the impression of a refined scale. The building’s contours and flowing curves create surprising indoor and outdoor spaces as well.

To accentuate this curved shapes and to have the building blend into the landscape brick seemed a rather obvious choice. The natural ingredients of brick such as clay, sand water, air and fire gives the school building a natural setting as if the building has been there endlessly. Brick with its solid and sturdy exposure. We choose a sandy light colored brick so in all wheather circumstances it will have a warm glance.  

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia / Photography © NARODIZKIY

Letovo School Moscow, level 0 garden level

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia

Letovo School Moscow, level 1 entrance level

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia

Letovo School Moscow, level 2

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia

Letovo School Moscow. Section A

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia

Letovo School Moscow. Section B

  • Central hub, 1000 persons
  • Auditorium, 200 persons
  • Debating room, 50 persons
  • 40 classrooms
  • 3 recreational zones
  • 5 library spaces
  • 9 sciencelabs
  • Exposition / green house
  • Canteen, 500 persons
  • Big sports hall
  • Small sports hall
  • Swimming pool
  • Martial arts
  • 2 spaces fitness

5 studentent houses for 500 students

3 teacher apartment blocks

  • Soccer field
  • Stade for athletics
  • Tennis courts
  • Baseball fields
  • Green house

The heart of the school: the central hub

The central hub is the place where day-to-day life at the school unfolds. This flexible, transformable space will be used throughout the day as an informal meeting place. The dance studio on the ground floor can be transformed through a few simple adjustments into a theatre with a stage, a cosy living room or an auditorium that can accommodate 1,000 people for special events such as graduation ceremonies and large celebrations, as seen at the grand opening. This central hub connects the building’s three wings: the art wing, the south wing with science- and general-use rooms and the sports wing.

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia / Photography © NARODIZKIY

Learning environment with a diversity in working spaces

Letovo envisioned an innovative and modern take on existing education in Russia. In the spatial design, this perspective translates into space for theoretical education as well as special areas for group work and independent study in the tapered building wings. In the library wing there are silence spaces workshop spaces and a debating room. These are all supportive to the student’s personal development.  

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia / Photography © Dmitry Voinov

Sports programme

In addition to the extended sports outdoor facilities, the indoor supply of sports facilities is substantial. These cover fitness rooms, martial arts rooms, a swimming pool, a small and a large sports hall. Around the sports hall there’s an indoor running track which can be used throughout the year. It is available to school staff and external users as well.

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia / Photography © NARODIZKIY

The interior, also designed by atelier PRO, is tailored to the aims of the ambitious programme. The design of the interior also focuses extensively on the various spaces where students can go to chill and meet up with friends. The extreme cold in this area makes the school’s indoor atmosphere important for relaxation.

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia / Photography © NARODIZKIY

Ambitous learning environment

The Russian client has established a private, non-profit school which aims to be the most prestigious school in the country and to offer the best educational programme through a Russion and an IB (International Baccalaureate) curriculum. Students’ personal development is paramount, with the school adopting a holistic approach. It is a true learning environment that provides scope for a range of disciplines, areas of interest and recreational opportunities to foster children’s development. This aim is supported by the campus facilities and functions.

Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia / Photography © Dmitry Voinov

In December of 2016 the architectural project of school was awarded by Architectural Council of Moscow as the best project in the sphere of education and health care.

Photography: NARODIZKIY www.narodizkiy.com Dmitry Voinov dmitryvoinov.com

persuasive speech about school uniforms

  • bricks and other materials

Brick Architecture - Facebook

Sign Up Now!

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest updates to your index.

persuasive speech about school uniforms

  • Hispanoamérica
  • Work at ArchDaily
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Windows, Facade

  • Curated by Fernanda Castro
  • Architects: atelier PRO
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  39000 m²
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2018
  • Photographs Photographs: NARODIZKIY , Dmitry Voinov , atelier PRO
  • Interior Design : Atelier PRO , Thijs Klinkhamer
  • Landscape Designer : Buro Sant en Co
  • Client:  Letovo
  • Project Architects:  Dorte Kristensen, Pascale Leistra, Karho Yeung
  • Design Team:  Thijs Klinkhamer, Abel de Raadt, Alessia Topolnyk
  • Russian Co Architect:  Atrium, Moscow
  • City:  Moscow
  • Country:  Russia
  • Did you collaborate on this project?

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Windows, Facade

Text description provided by the architects. The official grand opening of a special school, Letovo School , took place in Moscow last September. The assignment entailed a 20 hectare schoolcampus with educational facilities, student housing and school staff housing. The school campus offers extended outdoor sports facilities with a soccer stade, a running track, tennis courts and basketball courts. In addition there is a greenhouse, a treeyard and ample space for wandering and relaxation in the green.

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Image 2 of 36

While the architecture and interior of the school were designed by atelier PRO, the landscape design was developed by Buro Sant en Co landscape architecture. Russian firm Atrium Architectural Studio was responsible for the technical execution. In 2014 Atelier PRO had won the international design competition, the construction began mid-2016 and the campus was taken into use by mid-2018.

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Windows, Column

Letovo, a dream come true Letovo School is a special school for gifted and motivated children aged 12 to 17. The idea to create the school came from entrepreneur and philanthropist Vadim Moshkovich: ‘My dream was to offer talented children from all over the country access to high-quality education, regardless of their parents’ financial means. This school makes it possible for them to continue their studies at the 10 best universities in the country or at one of the top 50 universities in the world.’

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Windows, Facade

Landscape-inspired design and shape Located in Novaya Moskva,southwest of Moscow ,the campus sits atop a beautiful plot of land that slopes down to a forest-lined river. Distinctive level variations were applied in and around the school to integrate the architecture into the landscape.

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Windows, Facade

The shape of the large complex brings it down to a human scale for the children: the building appears to dance across the landscape due to its dynamic design. Due to the perspective effect one only ever sees part of the building's full size when walking around, which gives the impression of a refined scale. The building’s contours and flowing curves create surprising indoor and outdoor spaces as well.

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Chair

The heart of the school: the central hub The central hub is the place where day-to-day life at the school unfolds. This flexible, transformable space will be used throughout the day as an informal meeting place. The dance studio on the ground floor can be transformed through a few simple adjustments into a theatre with a stage, a cosy living room or an auditorium that can accommodate 1,000 people for special events such as graduation ceremonies and large celebrations, as seen at the grand opening. This central hub connects the building’s three wings: the art wing, the south wing with science- and general-use rooms and the sports wing

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Windows, Facade

Learning environment with a diversity in working spaces Letovo envisioned an innovative and modern take on existing education in Russia. In the spatial design, this perspective translates into space for theoretical education as well as special areas for group work and independent study in the tapered building wings. In the library wing there are silence spaces workshop spaces and a debating room. These are all supportive to the student’s personal development. 

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Image 13 of 36

Sports programme In addition to the extended sports outdoor facilities, the indoor supply of sports facilities is substantial. These cover fitness rooms, martial arts rooms, a swimming pool, a small and a large sports hall. Around the sports hall there’s an indoor running track which can be used throughout the year. It is available to school staff and external users as well.

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Image 14 of 36

The interior, also designed by atelier PRO, is tailored to the aims of the ambitious programme. The design of the interior also focuses extensively on the various spaces where students can go to chill and meet up with friends. The extreme cold in this area makes the school’s indoor atmosphere important for relaxation.

persuasive speech about school uniforms

Ambitous learning environment The Russian client has established a private, non-profit school which aims to be the most prestigious school in the country and to offer the best educational programme through a Russion and an IB (International Baccalaureate) curriculum. Students’ personal development is paramount, with the school adopting a holistic approach. It is a true learning environment that provides scope for a range of disciplines, areas of interest and recreational opportunities to foster children’s development. This aim is supported by the campus facilities and functions.

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Image 24 of 36

Project gallery

Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO - Windows, Facade

Project location

Address: zimenkovskaya street, sosenskoye settlement, moscow, russia.

Click to open map

Materials and Tags

  • Sustainability

世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!

想浏览archdaily中国吗, you've started following your first account, did you know.

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.

Check the latest Desks

Check the latest Desk Accessories

Cecilia Bobrovskaya Twenty Years in Underground Russia: Memoirs of a Rank-and-File Bolshevik

VIII. Moscow

FROM Baku I went to recuperate a little at the estate in Zhiroslavka near Kostroma which I have already mentioned, whose mistress, Elizaveta Kolodeznikova, considered it her mission in life to provide a haven for all tired and homeless Party workers. About midsummer 1905, after I had had a short rest, I left for Moscow. According to the decision of the Moscow Committee I was to start work as district organizer. I was to take up my new duties after the city conference, at which I hoped to gain a better knowledge of Moscow Party work. The conference was to be held on a Sunday in the woods near Obiralovka on the Nizhnenovgorod line.

When our group of comrades alighted at the suburban terminus of Obiralovka, the station was crowded with gendarmes, detectives, spies, and other police department officials. The "splendour" of the scene petrified us for a moment. Then we began to pretend that we were all strangers to each other. But the police only laughed at us. One of the delegates to our conference had betrayed us, so that the police knew everything to a detail. Notwithstanding all the information they had, however, they arrested only fifteen comrades. The others, who had come by an earlier train, managed to escape the trap laid for us at the station. I was arrested with several workers employed at the Guzhon Works in Moscow. I particularly recollect one dark-haired young worker with squinting eyes, who kept us merry all the way from Obiralovka to Moscow whither the police were taking us. At every stop the holiday crowd tried to get into our car. The police zealously attempted to drive the crowd away, while the dark-haired Guzhon worker cried to the newcomers:

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is strictly forbidden to come into this carriage. The ambassadors from Portsmouth are here!" (This happened at the time of the peace negotiations with Japan.)

At the police headquarters we were closely crossexamined. But I could not say anything for myself. I had just recently arrived in Moscow and had had no time to obtain a passport. I lived without being registered, at the home of my husband's mother, Sophia Bobrovskaya, and avoided the janitor. This apartment was very convenient for secret work because the house had two exits, one of which was particularly useful because it led into a yard in which there was a postoffice. If anything happened one could always pretend to be going to the postoffice. These features were taken into consideration when Sophia and her younger daughter, Nina, rented the apartment. It often happened that mother and daughter, not having had time to consult each other, both offered the apartment for meeting purposes on the same day. Once, for example, a secret meeting of soldiers--representatives of the army--was held in one room, which Sophia had lent for the purpose, while in another room the girl cashiers of the Chichkin dairies met to discuss the forthcoming strike of the employees of that firm. Nina had consented to let them have the room without consulting her mother. The house was always used as a temporary hiding place for illegal literature and weapons. Furthermore, workers frequently made appointments at the house without telling the Bobrovskys beforehand because they knew that the latter would acquiesce.

Hence, when I was arrested I could not possibly give the Bobrovsky address. The only thing I could do was to refuse point blank to give any information about myself. I was immediately charged under Article 102 of the Criminal Code and sent to the Watch Tower in the Butirsky prison. Before me was the prospect of a quiet life (as a rest from my roving one) for a lengthy period, and I planned to take advantage of this to improve my theoretical knowledge. My deficiencies in this respect hindered me in my Party work. But this dream was not realized, owing to the breathless events that occurred on the other side of the prison bars. These events freed me from the Watch Tower--a freedom gained under strikingly happy circumstances. Each day the rumours which reached us in the Watch Tower as to the growing revolutionary spirit among the broad proletarian masses were more and more confirmed, particularly after we heard the singing of revolutionary songs in the main yard (the Watch Tower looked out into the hospital yard). They were sung by the arrested Philipov bakers. The crowds of workers in the neighbouring yard which we could see from our tower, and the snatches of speeches that were carried to us also helped confirm the fact. Besides these joyously disturbing signs, during the first days of October a group of Poles were imprisoned in the Watch Tower (because there was no room in the deportation prison) in the next flight above my cell. I learned from these comrades that they had been exiled from Warsaw to the Vyatka province and had been on their way there, but, owing to the strikes on the railroads, they had had to stop for an indefinite time in Moscow. Any day now, they predicted, Russia would be in the threes of a general strike; then we would not be in prison very much longer.

The Poles were in very high spirits and from the moment they arrived, our isolated yard in the Watch Tower changed as if by magic. For example, a few days before October 17 a very curious thing happened. It had snowed the previous night, and one of the Poles who was a sculptor made an excellent snow figure of Nicholas II. When the figure began to melt, another of the Poles approached my window and said audibly:

"Look, comrade, the autocracy is melting, let's give a cheer!"

The guard in the yard informed the governor of this. The assistant governor came, spoke briefly to the Poles and to me, then, apparently feeling the insecurity of the autocracy, limited himself to a mild lecture about our "disgraceful conduct" and returned to the office scratching his head. But not all the warders were so pessimistically inclined. The governor of the Butirsky prison still held aloft the banner of autocracy. My husband had been exiled to Siberia and I expected that he would stop at the Butirsky prison on his way there from the Caucasus. I asked the governor to permit me to see my husband if he came. The governor replied haughtily: "Prisoners are forbidden to talk to each other." A week later, after this haughty refusal, I met my husband in Moscow--both of us were free. He had been released on the road by the rebellious Rostov workers.

The last few days before October 17, the cream of the Moscow proletariat gathered about our Butirsky prison. There was not a workshop nor a trade that was not represented there. Prison life became unusually intense. The senior prison officials went about looking cross and gloomy. The middle ranks looked frightened and apologetic while the lower officials, warders and the rest went about gloatingly. They would forget to lock our cells (the corridors, of course, were locked), and we became so bold, that we not only carried on conversation with the Poles, but two of them even came to my cell for a few minutes. The prison officials visited us several times a day. Representatives of the public prosecutor often came to ask if we had "any complaints to make". At night our guardians had no rest. Lights flickered in the yard and in the corridors all night. It was apparent that they were profoundly disturbed. This filled us with fierce joy and, we were curious to know how it would all end. I was not very clear as to what was happening outside and things were still very vague to me even when a vast revolutionary Moscow crowd moved toward the Butirsky prison and demanded our release. The day before rumours had reached us that a royal manifesto would be issued granting us freedom. But we were indignant at the very suggestion of such a mark of the tsar's favour and would hear nothing of it.

On the morning of October 18 everything in the prison seemed as usual. Keys rattled in the corridor. The "hot water" was brought at the usual hour, but I could not think of drinking it--there was no time for such trifles. I made my morning survey from the window sill--endangering my ribs, because the sill was very high above the ground and there was nothing to grasp but the bars--and looked out into the yard; but I scarcely recognized it. It had changed into a military camp. Machine-guns, cannon and other death dealing instruments filled the yard. Gallant officers, ready for battle, shouted orders. They all looked as though they expected the enemy at any minute. It was not difficult to conjecture what enemy. Anyway, I was not kept guessing long, for very soon I saw a huge crowd moving down Dolgorukovskaya and Lesnaya streets towards our prison. But what agitated me most was the sea of red banners. A red banner meant a great deal to an underground professional. At that moment the sight of so many red banners seemed strange to me.

The exulting revolutionary crowd approached so near that I could actually see expressions on individual faces. In front of the crowd, threading his way toward my window, was my friend Makar. He was saying something to me that I could not quite understand. He was saying that he was afraid I might be kept in prison till the evening because no telegrams had yet been received from the Minister Witte, or something to that effect. His tone implied that it was the hardest thing in the world for me to have to stay in prison until the evening--I, who had been planning a bare week ago to stay in prison for more than a year!

The most inexplicable and surprising thing about Makar and all the others was their utter disregard for any consequences their conduct might entail--a disregard that was not the least shaken by my mentioning the cannon and machine-guns which awaited them on the other side of the prison. They simply laughed in reply, exclaiming, "They won't dare!"

When the crowd demanded the release of all political prisoners, the first to be freed were the Philipov strikers. These had been thrown into the prison in whole groups. A barrel was placed at the gates of the prison to serve as a platform for speakers. One of the released bakers mounted this barrel and delivered the following "speech": "Comrades, I am a Philipov baker! That is all I have to say!" This avowal was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm. After the baker, a few railroad workers spoke. No one tried to understand what they were saying. The speeches were not important in themselves--it was the circumstances in which they were delivered that were important.

I must admit that at that triumphant moment I was afraid of being released. I was afraid that I should have to make a speech from that barrel in my thin high-pitched voice. But the god of revolution preserved me--a voiceless underground worker--from this ordeal. I was released in the evening, when the crowd had dispersed, without being forced to deliver an agitational speech--a thing I never could, nor can do. I was permitted to leave the prison quietly. Although we had been freed by the revolutionary masses, we still had to pass through all the prison formalities at the prison office. That office had an unusual appearance. It was filled with tables at which officials sat who, apparently, had been hastily appointed. They rapidly checked us off the prisoners' list. The released comrades introduced themselves to each other, congratulated one another, laughed, and tied red ribbons on their arms. At the office I had a short but very characteristic talk with the prison officials. It seemed somewhat strange to go out of prison with a valise. The first thing I wanted to do in leaving the prison was to rush to a meeting, to be out in the street; a valise would only be a hindrance. So I asked permission to leave it in the office. The warder looked at me in surprise at my request and said: "Do you still have faith in us? To which I answered, "Of course, for most probably I will have to return to you very soon".

To tell the truth, I was not at all certain that this freedom would last very long. When I found myself at the University that evening, I became still more confused by the atmosphere. Going through the University corridors. I met many comrades, but none of them could explain to me what waS actually taking place. At last I saw Martin Lyadov (Mandelstamm), a member of the Moscow Committee. I showered questions upon him about the Moscow Committee and what I was to do with myself, but he merely answered:

"Tomorrow we are burying Bauman. You must come to the funeral; go to a meeting now and make a speech. All the comrades who were released today are doing that."

The news of our Comrade Bauman's death communicated to me in such a calm tone, was a great blow to me. I recalled his cheerful disposition in Geneva and was deeply distressed at the thought hat this brave, energetic revolutionary was no longer among the living. I met Zemlyachka, another member of the Moscow Committee, and began to question her. She also replied, "Tomorrow is Bauman's funeral," and then pushed me into a meeting saying, "You go and speak after that comrade. You're just out of prison, you know," whereupon she hurried off.

"That's a fine way for the Moscow Committee to get me to understand the situation," I thought, to myself. "To speak at a big meeting without the faintest gift of oratory and with my head still in a muddle." I pondered a while and decided not to become an "object of the celebrations," but instead to mingle with the crowd.

Next day, however, during Bauman's funeral, which was far more stirring and demonstrative than I had expected, I realized that Lyadov and Zemlyachka had been right. The organization of this funeral was a big Party task with which the Moscow Committee of our Party had coped admirably. I also understood that ones own individual sorrow at the loss of even such a dear comrade as Nikolai Bauman had to give precedence to the historical significance of the funeral.

I was unable to begin my work in the Moscow district for some time after the funeral. I was dreadfully unstrung by all that had happened and became ill and suffered from insomnia. In the moments of forgetfulness I still seemed to be walking from the Technical School to the Vagankovsky Cemetery with that solid mass of workers united by a single revolutionary aim. I could still see the coffin under its velvet pall sway on the shoulders of the men who carried it and the words of the funeral march still rang in my ears:

"Dying like soldiers, fighting for labour so did you fall ..."

My illness prevented me from working for three weeks--a very long time for that period.

On November 8, 1905, Lenin wrote in the paper Novaya Zhizn:

"The state that Russia is in at present is often expressed with the word 'anarchy'. This wrong and false term in reality expresses the fact that there is no established order in the country. The war of the new, free Russia against the old serf-autocratic Russia is being waged along the whole line; the autocracy is no longer capable of conquering the revolution, but the revolution is not yet capable of conquering tsarism. The old order is shattered, but it is not yet destroyed, and the new, free order is existing unrecognized, half hiding, often persecuted on all sides by the henchmen of the autocratic system."

Towards the end of November the scales definitely swung in favour of the revolution; deep in one's heart one felt that the great struggle between the working class and the tsarist autocracy would at any moment break out in open armed conflict on the Moscow streets.

In all save the most backward districts the atmosphere reached white heat. Proletarian Moscow was impregnated with the spirit of revolt.

Our Bolshevik organizations carried on feverish preparatory work, mustering the working masses, agitating the troops, and getting the workers' armed units which had been organizing since October into military shape.

The leading figure on the Moscow Committee at that time was Comrade Shantser, or "Marat," as we called him, but all the information I have is the meagre data found in the documents of the Moscow Secret Police obtained by Comrade Minitsky for a biographical dictionary of Moscow Committee members who had fallen in the revolution. From this data we learn that Comrade Shantser was born in 1867, that his father was a German and his mother a Frenchwoman, who had become Russian citizens and had settled in Odessa. He began doing cultural work among the workers while he was still a gymnasium student and, after finishing school, was arrested in 1887 for participating in the organization of a workers' library in Nikolayev. In 1895 he was arrested again, this time for conducting propaganda in workers' circles in Odessa and for making collections for political prisoners. Later, when he was a junior barrister, in Moscow, he maintained constant touch with workers who used to come to his home and among whom he distributed illegal literature. In September 1901 he was arrested at the home of Comrade Nikiforov, another old comrade now dead, for taking part in the preparations for a demonstration in Moscow; and he was exiled to Fast Siberia for three years where he was kept under the strict surveillance of the police. From there he returned to Moscow in November 1902 and worked with even greater energy in the Party, playing a leading role in the Moscow organization whose leader he was in the November-December days of 1905.

During the uprising he was arrested for the fourth and last time at his home where a meeting of the Federative Committee--a body organized to co-ordinate the activities of all the revolutionary organizations and on which Comrade Shantser represented the Bolsheviks--was to have been held. Since all evidence about this case was lost during the days of the rebellion, he got off with administrative exile to the Turukhansk region.

Here he suffered a nervous breakdown but, ill as he was, he nevertheless managed to escape abroad where the nervous disease developed into an incurable mental disorder. Due to his hopeless condition Shantsers wife, Natalia, managed to get permission to return to Russia with her sick husband in 1910. But the tsarist officials loved to spite their disarmed foes. When he returned to his native land, this hopelessly sick and emaciated comrade was not allowed to be placed in a private hospital, but was sent to the central police lunatic asylum. Comrade Shantser, whose memory should be preserved by the Moscow workers, died on January 29, 1911.

I personally worked as the organizer of the Lefortovo district where I met many comrades, some of whom, like myself, had been sent by the Moscow Committee, while others were local workers--representatives from the mills and factories.

The Moscow Committee regarded the Lefortovo district as one of the backward ones. And in truth, as the December days drew nearer, one could witness in Lefortovo more than in any other district the heartbreaking sight of individual workers, and even whole groups of them, with bundles on their backs--turning their faces towards the village--and their backs upon the revolution.

To make the Lefortovo workers fall into step with the more militant districts (Presnya, Zamoskvorechye) we had to carry on intensive agitational work. We organized meetings from morn till night at the Vedensky People's Palace to which the workers came in crowds. Before we could clear the hall of one group, another group would pour in, while crowds of workers would be waiting their turn on the Vedensky Square.

We organizers found it very difficult to provide agitators for all these meetings. In 1905 the Party in general, and the Moscow organization in particular, had an extremely limited number of agitators at their disposal. Not every underground Party worker who was accustomed to speaking at small workers' meetings held in the woods or on a boat, or in some out of way barn, could get up before a mass meeting of several thousand and speak from a high platform in a brilliantly lit hall.

We had to resort to all sorts of ruses to get an extra agitator from the centre. Thus, for example, early in the morning I would go to Fidler's house, the headquarters of the Central Board of Agitators of the Moscow Committee led by Comrade Stanislav. There I would catch one of the agitators and earnestly plead that today was the decisive day, that the Lefortovo district was not stable, that if we managed to carry off one or two successful meetings the Lefortovites would be roused, etc.

Having played upon the feelings of my agitator in this fashion, I would obtain his promise to come to Lefortovo, knowing all the while that he could only go where the centre sent him, and not where each district organizer wanted him to go. But such is the mentality of a district worker that it always seems to him that his district is more important than any other. These difficulties were eased somewhat in the days that followed, when, besides the official agitators, speakers appeared from among the masses themselves. At our meetings in the Vedensky People's Palace, workers would get up from the audience to address the meeting. I remember a worker from the Rontaller factory who once came over to me and said timidly that he would like to speak. He wound up his long and fairly able speech with the following words: "We button makers are a big power. If we choose we can leave all Moscow without a button."

A middle-aged working woman agitator in the audience spoke about the low wages paid to women, and to illustrate the point she said: "When I, a woman, am hungry and go to buy a cucumber, do I pay half a kopek, or do they charge me a kopek the same as they charge a man?" Her speech created a tremendous impression upon the audience. It was a rare thing for a woman worker, and an old one at that, to get up on a platform and speak before a big audience.

Our Party headquarters were located in the Vedensky People's Palace and we members of the District Committee were in the office day and night: from early morning till late at night we received delegations from factories and mills who came to us with all kinds of problems.

I vividly recall a group of workers from the Dufurmantel factory, five of them, led by a middle-aged, red-bearded worker. They were sent by the illiterate workers who had organized themselves and demanded that we immediately teach them to read and to write. "It's a crime not to be able to read at such times," they declared to us. This "illiterate" delegation made a deep impression upon us. We explained to them that we could not possibly teach them to read and write in so short a time as they desired, but that we would organize a school for this purpose without delay. And indeed we organized such a school for the workers in our district, using the nearest public school for this purpose and mobilizing teachers--our own people--to help. Despite the disturbed time, regardless of the fact that towards the end of November we had reached the verge of an armed uprising, our Party organization continued, as it had done in times of peace, to organize schools, lectures, clubs, in short, all sorts of cultural work. This work was carried on "under fire," so to speak, and was often intermingled with purely military work.

For example, during the barricade fighting in the Zamoskvorechye District, furniture which was being delivered to the club was seized and used for building barricades. The club organizers began to protest against the misuse of club property, but later, realizing the urgent necessity, they not only helped to pile up the furniture on the barricade but even removed the gate of the house where the club was situated and piled that on also.

Our Lefortovo unit of armed workers, with Comrade Rublevkin at its head, was a small, poorly equipped, but extremely militant group, which together with the District Committee members was very keen on getting the backward Lefortovo district to catch up with the other districts. Later, during the uprising, when fighting was taking place in the centre in the Presnya District, and in Zamoskvoretsky District, and when we Lefortovites were still holding meetings, our armed workers went off to help the other districts.

Towards the end of November the first Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies, uniting 134 industries with about 100,000 workers, was organized. On December 14 this Soviet passed a resolution to the effect that: "Moscow workers must hold themselves ready at any moment for a general political strike and for an armed uprising."

In accordance with the decision of the Soviet on the morning of the fifth, meetings were held in all the factories and mills where the question of the strike and the uprising were discussed and put to a vote; and in the evening of the same day the Lefortovites went to the Bolshevik Moscow City Conference where the question was to be decided.

At this time even the Lefortovo district had become aroused and the referendum we took in all the factories on the question of the strike and uprising gave positive results. But we all realized that when the forces were counted up at the Conference, the Lefortovo district would be found to be the weakest. This knowledge filled our hearts with bitterness.

Those who were present at the conference on the night of December 5, 1905, will remember what a militant spirit reigned there, with what eagerness the factory delegates were listened to, and how they all in one voice declared that the workers were ready to revolt. The deep conviction of the inevitability of the uprising was not shaken even when the military organizer, Comrade Andrey, in his report on the conditions of the Moscow garrison announced that though the soldiers would not go against us, he was not certain that they would go with us. A few comrades urged restraint on the grounds that the workers were almost unarmed, but all their arguments were unavailing, for everybody was convinced that the uprising was inevitable.

On December 7, the first issue of the Izvestia of the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies was published containing a manifesto signed by all the revolutionary organizations in Moscow calling for "a general political strike on Thursday, December 7, at It o'clock noon" and for every effort to be made to "convert it into an armed uprising".

The Moscow Committee of our Party elected an Executive Committee which was entrusted with all authority; the rest of the committee members had to go back to work in their districts. From the very first days of the uprising reliable means of communication were established between the centre and the districts through the medium of comrades who were called couriers. At first the couriers were able to penetrate into the districts despite the difficulties, but later on they were unable to do so. Thus all communication between the centre and the districts was cut off and the latter were left to their own devices. At Presnya, fighting was going on under the leadership of Comrade Sedoy (Litvin), the Zamoskvoretsky District lived its own revolutionary life....

Our first Lefortovo courier was an old comrade, Alexander Blagonravov, who later worked in the Vladimir organization and died of typhus in 1919. I can clearly recall Blagonravov with his sad smile reporting about the affairs in other districts and delivering the instructions of the centre for the coming day. The proletariat must not forget its couriers who selflessly devoted their lives to maintaining communication between the various sections of the city during the memorable days of struggle.

But soon even Comrade Blagonravov was unable to reach us, and our district was completely isolated. We, however, continued to hold meetings and to organize demonstrations. Once we marched by the Spassky barracks from which some disarmed and imprisoned soldiers cheered us. Our armed workers' units had several clashes with the Black Hundreds who were numerous in Lefortovo, but the latter were not remarkable for their bravery even though they were armed as well as, if not better, than the police.

One morning, while the insurrection was still in progress, we were waiting for the workers to come to a meeting in the People's Palace. There were only about five or six of us District Committee members in the hall. Suddenly we saw a crowd of the Black Hundreds approaching and it looked as if we were going to be lynched. Fortunately, one of our comrades had a revolver. He fired one shot over the heads of the mob and this was enough to set the whole gang running.

We began to feel that we were really taking part in the insurrection only when barricades were put up in our district, but this was very belated, when the beginning of the end had set in the rest of the city.

That day, we commenced the usual round of meetings, but we all felt that there was nothing more to be said. I remember that I was particularly irritated by the "rational" appeals of the Menshevik Semyon who continued to shout, "comrades, build up the trade unions!" The answer to this trivial appeal came from someone in the audience. It was an appeal to us all to go out into the streets and build barricades. The whole audience responded to a man and the whole mass hurried out into the street. On the square it was joined by those who had been awaiting their turn to come into the hall, and all of us moved in close ranks to the Pokrovskaya Zastava where we overturned the tram cars that were standing as they had been left in the street when the general strike was declared. We erected a huge barricade--our own Lefortovo barricade. Our armed workers' units remained to guard it, although no one threatened to attack it that night, while the rest of the workers dispersed to their homes.

That evening, a comrade from the committee, who went by the name of Alexey, and I planned to make our way to the city without fail; it was a long time since our courier had visited us and we were completely cut off from the centre. We did not know what was happening there and had no means of keeping the centre informed of events in our district-we wanted to boast about our tardy barricade. Such a trip at night was risky, it being particularly dangerous to pass the posts of the so-called Committees of Residents set up by the Black Hundreds ostensibly for the purpose of protecting property, but in reality to catch, insult and beat up every passerby who had the least resemblance to a revolutionary.

We passed several streets in comparative safety, although we frequently got entangled in the telegraph wires which had been torn down and were scattered everywhere. Not far from Basmannaya we encountered a group of civilians who stopped us. They declared themselves members of the Residents' Committee, and demanded to know who we were and where we were going. I invented a story on the spur of the moment about my husband and myself trying to go from Cherkozovo into the city to Zhivoderka to visit our daughter-in-law who was seriously ill and needed immediate help. Because of the wires and the darkness we could not find our way to Krasnye Vorota. Alexey, "my husband," beside me also muttered something about a daughter-in-law and Zhivoderka. They believed us. It was our outward appearance that saved us. I was dressed like an old woman in a wide blouse and with a shawl over my head, while Alexey was also very poorly clad.

The Black Hundreds had so little suspicion of who we were that they even warned us not to fall into the hands of the workers' units who would be sure to shoot us at the first sight. We proceeded on our journey until we had almost reached Krasnye Vorota, where we saw a group of soldiers sitting around a bonfire and were obliged to turn aside and step into the Olkhov school where we were sure to find our own people.

The school resembled a dosshouse that night--on all the desks, tables, chairs and floors sprawled comrades who had been unable to get home and were obliged to remain at the school. We too decided that it would be wiser to stop at the school. I cannot refrain from mentioning a little incident in that night's adventure. One of the teachers, whom I had never seen before, called me into the kitchen, took a pot of broth from the stove, placed me on a stool, and, without even asking my name, declared: "You have eaten nothing all day; eat this broth!" And indeed, I had had absolutely no time for eating or drinking and was feeling very weak until the broth revived me.

Early next morning the bonfire at Krasnye Vorota burned out, the soldiers were withdrawn, probably for some strategic purposes, and we began cautiously to creep out one by one from our school dosshouse. I wanted to change my clothes and wash myself before going into the city. I went to my sister Rose who lived nearby on Kalanchovsky Street, but whose house I had been unable to reach the night before. She had rented a room among our own people, at the home of the worker Polumordvinov. When I reached her room I found her table, bed and bookshelves loaded with weapons. These had been taken from Torbek, the gunsmith, whose shop our unit had raided. A group of our men were lovingly handling these revolvers, parts of guns, sabres and cartridges and they were so merry that despite my weariness, I was cheered by the mere sight of them.

On the other hand, when at last I got to the Moscow committee, the mood prevailing was anything but cheerful. I learned that our affairs were in a very precarious condition, that St. Petersburg, exhausted by the November strike, was not in a position to support us. I also learned that the promises of the railroad union leaders had proved to be empty phrases, that the Nikolayev railway was in the hands of the government, that hostile troops from Tver and the Semyonovsky regiment from St. Petersburg had either already arrived or were on their way, I cannot recall which.

I hated to return to my district with such news--a district which had only just risen to the level of insurrection and whose active workers had been exulting over their "own" barricade the evening before. I decided to spend the night at my sister's as I needed a good night's rest; but I was not destined to get any sleep. When I returned to her apartment, the weapons were no longer there, the workers having cleared them away during the day. But the police had now got wind of the fact that the weapons seized at Torbek's had been taken to this apartment. So we were subjected to a raid which was carried off with great pomp--a squad of armed policemen with a police officer at their head broke into the room. The police were obviously afraid, thinking that we were armed to the teeth. They were extremely nervous and threatened to shoot us on the spot if we did not surrender our weapons. They bullied my sister and me because we were women, but they were unmistakably afraid of the worker, Glotov, who rented the corner of the room near the stove, especially when they stumbled over a pile of coal in his dark corner. With extreme caution the officer flashed his searchlight on Glotov's "dwelling place." To the officer's tremulous "What's there?" Comrade Glotov rolled out sonorously: "This is the study of his proletarian highness!"

Finding no weapons, the police left the place without arresting any of us, even though we were all in some way connected with the insurrection.

When on the morrow I reached our district headquarters--the People's Palace--I found Alexey had been there since the previous night. He had already communicated the bad news to the other comrades; but they were surprisingly little depressed by it. Indeed, it was difficult, after yesterday's enthusiasm, to take that sharp psychological jump and become immediately conscious of the fact that our struggle was weakening, that a temporary defeat was inevitable. But we, the backward Lefortovites, were not long comforted by our illusions. The defeat of the uprising approached, and when our last stronghold fell, when our heroic Presnya--the pride of the Moscow uprising of 1905--was wrecked and burned by the Semyonovsky regiment, the Soviet of Workers' Deputies had to declare an end to the strike and uprising, and temporarily haul down the scarlet banner which, after twelve more years of stubborn struggle, was again unfurled to blaze victoriously over Red Moscow in 1917.

When the revolt had been crushed, an orgy of the Black Hundred reaction broke loose, the Moscow prisons and police headquarters were overcrowded with arrested revolutionaries. Hideous rumours were abroad that the police headquarters had been turned into torture chambers by the brutalized victors and that our comrades were being subjected to unheard of torments; and along the Moscow suburban railroads the brutal gangs of the tsarist hangman, Riman, ran riot. The spirits of the workers in the district were extremely low, and it was under these unfavourable circumstances that the Moscow comrades who had survived the defeat were obliged to renew their Party work. Once more began the painful process of returning underground. At the first meeting of the Moscow Committee held in the early days of January 1906, it was decided to send the more "notorious" comrades to other cities, while the less prominent ones were to be transferred from one district to another. Thus it happened that I was sent from the Lefortovo District to the Zamoskvoretsky District where I had many comrades even before the uprising, both among the professionals and the factory workers.

During my first days in the Zamoskvoretsky District I set myself a very concrete though modest organizational task, namely, to re-establish at least in the larger factories our former illegal factory committees. But this proved to be an incredibly difficult task. I still remember the endless visits to individual workers' homes, the arrangement of a few small meetings with the representatives of the various factories, meetings which hardly ever took place, either because our meeting place was being watched, or because the landlady who had promised us the use of her room had funked it and refused to let us in when we arrived, or because only one or two of half a dozen who were expected, arrived. It is difficult to imagine anything more trying than the knowledge that the work was constantly slipping out of our hands, that the eyes of our comrades which had burned with such revolutionary courage, with such faith in the imminent victory of their cause not so very long ago, were now utterly weary and hopeless.

However, not all our efforts were in vain. The Moscow Bolshevik organization continued to work intensively, adapting itself to the new methods of struggle even though it often had to deal with extremely dejected and morbid moods among the district comrades. I recall several of the more poignant moments which I personally had to undergo, as characteristic of these moods.

I went to visit the family of a worker in the Danilov factory, with whom I had been formerly acquainted, hoping to renew connections with the Danilov factory through them. Both husband and wife greeted me joyously and promised to assist me, but as the attempts to resuscitate the organization grew more and more futile, the worker (I cannot remember his name) became gloomier and less frank with me. Once I arrived at dinner time when their little ten-year old daughter was bustling about prettily and setting the table for her parents who were due any minute. She placed four wooden spoons on the table--one for "auntie". When my hosts returned from the factory, both the mother and the daughter insisted that I stay for dinner.

We sat around the table eating cabbage soup out of a common bowl, fishing up bits of meat from the bottom of the dish with our spoons and conversing peacefully at first about the necessity of starting Party work in the district. But towards the end of the meal, the worker became agitated, suddenly banged on the table with his clenched fist and, raising his voice, exclaimed:

"Why in the world do you come here to disturb us? I am tired, do you understand--tired, and I can't do any more!"

The little girl became frightened and started to cry. Her mother begged me not to take offence, while I in the most unexpected and ignominious fashion burst into tears and left the place.

Some time later a similar incident occurred in the tiny room, or rather the cubicle, of a young worker who was employed in the Jako factory. He had displayed a splendid fighting spirit before the uprising, had participated in many battles during the barricade days and, did not appear to be particularly depressed after the defeat. I called on him towards the end of February, or in the early days of March, I don't quite remember which. It was about ten o'clock in the evening, I believe. The apartment was used as a sort of lodging house, the lodgers living in tiny cubicles. The stairs were indescribably filthy and from the rooms emerged a veritable Sodom of drunken voices, smoke and stench. But the cubicle to which I went was very neatly kept, almost pretentiously--the bed was covered with a pink cotton blanket, the walls were decorated with pictures and embroidered towels, and there was a canary in a cage suspended from the ceiling. Near the bed hung a guitar tied with a pink bow. I surprised my acquaintance while he sat on a bench holding a pocket mirror to his face; on the table before him stood a jar of cream for sunburn and freckles with which he was diligently smearing his face. He did not cease his occupation as I entered, but motioning me to a seat, continued to rub his cheeks with greater vigour than ever, casually remarking, "My respects, Olga Petrovna, what news have you? I bet you're here about what I have already long forgotten because I've lost all my faith in it". When I suggested that he stop playing the fool, wipe his face, and talk sensibly, the fellow answered: "You shouldn't talk that way about the cream because it's wonderful for getting rid of freckles. It is called 'metamorphosis' and costs a ruble and a half. I strongly recommend it to you, Olga Petrovna, for you, too, have a lot of freckles. Now's the time to think about yourself a little. You're still harping on old days that will never return; and if they do, we won't be there to see them." I wonder whether this comrade lived to see the great October Revolution and, if he did, whether he recalled the words he uttered in 1906?

The metamorphosis of this Jako worker, who so recently had been a brave comrade in our ranks, had a most depressing effect on me. I left his room at about eleven o'clock with such a crushed feeling that it mattered little to me where I went. There were moments when I felt that there was no place for me to go and I wandered aimlessly about the streets in the Zamoskvoretsky District.

These difficulties were not merely characteristic of Moscow. The disillusionment not only spread among the working masses, but was communicated to many of our individual active comrades, both workers and intellectuals.

As for the Mensheviks, who during the heroic October-December days of 1905 were forced to go against their Menshevism and temporarily join us, the defeat immediately restored them to their natural shape and gave them many opportunities to expiate their short-lived iniquity by bitter criticism of our revolutionary Bolshevik tactics.

At the beginning of 1906 the conditions in the Party organization were complicated. The split in the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party, which took definite shape at the Third Bolshevik Congress in May 1905 and the Conference of the Mensheviks, that was held concurrentiy with the latter, did not hinder but helped the formation of a united proletarian front during the heroic last months of 1905. To co-ordinate activities, the Mensheviks were forced to join the Federative Committees.

What was happening in the districts was beginning to take place in the centre. Preparations for a Unity Congress of the Party were being made, but these preparations coincided with the defeat of the uprising and with the weariness of the proletariat who had been pressing for a united front before the uprising. Thus, a twofold process could be observed at the beginning of 1906--preparations for a Unity Congress were continued by inertia, while at the same time new disagreements with the Mensheviks on the cardinal questions of party tactics were constantly cropping up and becoming more sharply defined (estimation of the uprising, attitude towards the State Duma, etc).

In March we Muscovites were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Lenin who was to acquaint us with the resolutions he had drafted for the forthcoming Unity Congress of the Party, which was to be held in April.

Besides the natural interest in Lenin's report, the prospect of meeting Lenin in Moscow, on Russian soil, was particularly alluring. Imagine my distress when, a few days before his arrival, while walking about in the sleet and mud, I caught a severe cold, and was not in a condition to go to the meeting of the Moscow active workers at which Lenin was to speak. I was lying in bed grieving over my disappointment when a comrade burst into the room and told me for reasons of secrecy the meeting had to be transferred to other premises and that Lenin had expressed a desire to see me during the enforced intermission.

My joy knew no bounds when in half an hour Ilyich himself appeared, filling the room with his jests and laughter and with that comradely simplicity so characteristic of him when talking with the most insignificant Party workers if he felt that the latter were connected with the actual life of the Party.

The joy I felt that Lenin was sitting in my room prevented me from studying his mood, the more so that as I was ill he spoke to me only about pleasant trifles. But I clearly recall that he was very cheerful "as if nothing had happened," although what had happened was nothing more nor less than the defeat of the 1905 uprising!

Table of Contents: Twenty Years in Underground Russia

IMAGES

  1. ⭐ Persuasive text about school uniform. Persuasive Essay : The Benefits

    persuasive speech about school uniforms

  2. Sample Text: Persuasive Speech about School Uniform

    persuasive speech about school uniforms

  3. Persuasive for school uniforms Speech or Presentation

    persuasive speech about school uniforms

  4. Persuasive Speech Outline.pdf

    persuasive speech about school uniforms

  5. Persuasive Essay On School Uniforms Pros Cons

    persuasive speech about school uniforms

  6. Persuasive Speech: School Uniform's (teacher's

    persuasive speech about school uniforms

VIDEO

  1. Persuasive Speech ENG285

  2. Persuasive Speech

  3. Persuasive Speech- School Uniforms

  4. Speech to Persuade: School Uniforms

  5. Persuasive Speech: School Uniforms by Riley Porter Public Speaking

  6. Persuasive Speech 6

COMMENTS

  1. Persuasive Speech on the Benefits of Requiring School Uniforms

    Wearing "work clothes" to school can change the students' frame of mind and inspire a more serious attitude that is focused on study. School uniforms can also lessen the negative effects of class status. In some schools you are only popular if you wear the latest fashions and trends. Students are sometimes left out or even teased if they are ...

  2. School Uniform Persuasive Speech

    Uniforms have been a contentious topic in the education sector for many years. While some argue that they stifle individuality and self-expression, others contend that they promote a sense of unity and discipline among students. In this persuasive speech, I will argue that school uniforms play a crucial role in fostering equity and discipline ...

  3. Should Students Wear Uniforms?

    From the May 2018 Issue. Learning Objective: to analyze and evaluate two opposing argument essays. Complexity Factors. Lexile: 1000L. Featured Skill: Argument Writing, Central Ideas and Supporting Details. , Other Key Skills: central ideas and details. Common Core Standards. TEKS Standards.

  4. School Uniforms Pros and Cons

    School uniforms deter crime and increase student safety. In Long Beach, California, after two years of a district-wide K-8 mandatory uniform policy, reports of assault and battery in the district's schools decreased by 34%, assault with a deadly weapon dropped by 50%, fighting incidents went down by 51%, sex offenses were cut by 74%, robbery ...

  5. School Uniforms Persuasive Essay Sample

    Introduction examples. Pro: School uniforms ensure that all students have the same access to well-fitting, modest clothing during classes, and also erase the differences between richer and poorer students, putting them all on a more equal footing. Con: School uniforms are restrictive of personal expression, uncomfortable, and needlessly force ...

  6. Persuasive Speech On School Uniforms

    Another big benefit to having a school uniform is the increase of student safety in multiple things. The first, is the reduction of bullying. This happens at schools with mandatory uniforms because it gives bullies less ammunition. Bullies have less ammunition because social status and wealth are not visible to other students because everyone ...

  7. Persuasive Speech Outline

    Thesis: All Children should wear school uniforms because School uniforms keep students focused on their education. Qualification: school uniforms help to keep the school safer, and less bullying will happen BODY: Uniforms are certainly easier for administrators to enforce than dress codes. Reason 1: What do students think about uniforms

  8. Sample Persuasive Speech: School Uniforms are Good

    Breanna Jennings demonstrates a persuasive speech."Did you know that 23 percent of all public and private schools have a uniform policy? I have attended scho...

  9. School uniform debate: Pros & cons with the latest findings

    The students in this video discuss the pros and cons of school uniforms. A University of Nevada, Reno, survey of 1,848 middle school students, published in 2022, revealed that 90 percent did not like wearing a uniform to school. Only 30 percent believed the uniforms "might reduce discipline issues, a mere 17 percent thought the uniform helped ...

  10. Persuasive Essay On School Uniforms

    Persuasive Speech On School Uniforms Have you ever had to wear a school uniform? Did you you love it, or hate it? I'm here today to explain my stance on school uniforms. I believe that having a school uniform would be a good thing for multiple reasons. The first being how it would completely and utterly eradicate the issue of dress code.

  11. Persuasive Speech On School Uniforms

    Persuasive Speech On School Uniforms. Decent Essays. 974 Words. 4 Pages. Open Document. President Bill Clinton promoted dress codes in his annual State of the Union address, the burgeoning uniform movement received a huge boost. (Update: School Uniforms) After the speech, demand for uniforms slowly increased. School uniforms should be required ...

  12. Persuasive Speech- School Uniforms

    Persuasive Speech on School Uniforms I. Introduction A. Statistic about uniform percentages B. More schools are requiring uniforms C. Personal experience with school uniforms D. School uniforms are being mandated in more schools as the years go by and it is putting many negative impacts on students and the families E. 1. ...

  13. PDF Persuasive Speech School Uniform Teachers

    Persuasive Speech: School Uniform's (teacher's perspective) Specific Goal: To persuade the audience that we should support mandatory uniforms in our public schools. Proposition: Violence at school is a major issue at present and school uniforms should be mandated in order to make the classroom a safer place for children. Attention: I.

  14. The big debate: should school uniforms be banned?

    School uniforms have a history stretching back to the sixteenth century. And for almost as long as the concept of school uniforms has existed, so has debate around them. Even in recent years, schools have been featured in news stories for introducing or abolishing school uniforms. Almost everyone has personal experience of either wearing a ...

  15. PDF Persuasive Essay Years 7

    Persuasive Essay Years 7 - 9: School Uniform Thirteen years of young people's lives are spent in school and many say these are the establishesbest years of their lives. ... including myself, believe are unnecessary. School uniform is believed to allow teachers and other members of staff to easily identify pupils within or without the school ...

  16. The Benefits of Schools Uniforms and Why Schools Have Them

    13 Advantages to Wearing School Uniforms. Put these 13 factors together and it's easy to see why school uniforms are important to creating a team of united students and staff. 1. Create cohesion. When students all wear the same clothing every day at school, it levels out the playing field.

  17. Sample Persuasive Speech: School Uniforms are Bad

    Tim demonstrates a persuasive speech about school uniforms."Every school must decide whether they want to require students to wear school uniforms. I have be...

  18. Persuasive Speech On School Uniforms

    Rules like 'girls wear skirts ' can be perceived as pervy or sexist, while girls not being allowed to wear skirts can upset a lot of the girls.". You truly can 't win with dress codes. It has even been proven to be disliked as ("Students oppose school uniforms") tells us "A 2012 peer-reviewed study by researchers at the University of ...

  19. Should Students Be Required To Wear a Uniform To School?

    Persuasive Speech on School Uniform PoliciesThis persuasive speech makes some excellent points in favor of students having to wear school uniforms.See if you...

  20. Letovo School

    If any details are incorrect, a school's coordinator can update them using My School. Update your details Online Diploma Programme pilot. In March 2022 the IB launched our online Diploma Programme pilot. This delivers a fully online Diploma Programme together with a small number of selected partners. Read about this pilot and our partners ...

  21. Letovo Schoolcampus, Moscow, Russia

    New high school campus for 1000 students in southwest Moscow, including boarding facilities for 500 students, teachers residence 100 apartments, and huge outdoor sport facilities. Address project. Street + number: Zimenkovskaya street, Sosenskoye settlement, Moscow, Russia. City: Moscow. Country: Russia. Size.

  22. Letovo Schoolcampus / atelier PRO

    Completed in 2018 in Moscow, Russia. Images by NARODIZKIY, Dmitry Voinov, atelier PRO. The official grand opening of a special school, Letovo School, took place in Moscow last September. The ...

  23. Twenty Years in Underground Russia

    Cecilia Bobrovskaya Twenty Years in Underground Russia: Memoirs of a Rank-and-File Bolshevik. VIII. Moscow. FROM Baku I went to recuperate a little at the estate in Zhiroslavka near Kostroma which I have already mentioned, whose mistress, Elizaveta Kolodeznikova, considered it her mission in life to provide a haven for all tired and homeless ...