She changed the name of the Ministry from Social Welfare to Social Security, to make it more in keeping with the Soviet idea of benefits as a right rather than a gift. The revenue for the department was raised largely by a monopoly on playing cards. They were sold at thirty rubles a dozen. Kolontai, on the theory that cards were not a necessity of life and therefore should be heavily taxed, raised the price to three hundred and sixty roubles a dozen. The purchasers complained, but ordered as many as three hundred to five hundred decks. When Kolontai took charge, the officials went on a strike and took the key from the treasury. For two weeks the whereabouts of the key remained a mystery. Then Kolontai sent for a band of Red Guard and sailors, and her order, backed by their bayonets, was obeyed. She reorganized the department from below, but installed democratic management, giving every employee a vote. There were four thousand minor employees drawing very miserable salaries, while a few figureheads received as much as twenty-five thousand rubles a year. She readjusted the scale so that six hundred rubles a month became the highest salary paid any one. There are two and a half million maimed soldiers in Russia, and in January there were four million others who were sick or wounded. These, and nearly a half a million dependent children, came under the care of the department. Russia’s infant mortality rate is the highest of any so-called civilized country. Kolontai, in an effort to correct this, opened a Palace of Motherhood, with a maternity exhibition and training classes to prepare a mother for the coming of her child. She planned this as a model for similar houses to be established all over Russia. It was arranged that mothers could come there for eight weeks prior to the birth of the child, and remain for eight weeks afterward, while substitute mothers went into the homes to take care of the other children. Several measures were passed by the Council of People’s Commissaries to protect maternity, and these were under the jurisdiction of Kolantai’s department. The work-day for nursing mothers was reduced to four hours, and a compulsory rest period before and after the birth of the child was established. “Little republics” were established in all the homes for older children and for the aged, and self-government was introduced. The social program included an adequate scale of compensation for the disabled victims of the war, many of whom were forced to beg on the streets. This entailed a tremendous expenditure, and I asked Madame Kolontai how it would be possible to raise so much money. “We found money for war,” she answered. “We shall find money for this.”