ABSTRACT
Late in the evening on May 2, 1936, Galina Shtange, a fifty-year-old Moscow homemaker, jotted down in her diary some impressions from an evening stroll with her husband:
All the streets have been decorated [in honor of Labor Day], some more than others, but the center of the city is simply indescribable. In the central squares the artists tapped deep into their imagination to illustrate the theme of this year's celebration: “A Happy Childhood.” Stalin loves children dearly and does absolutely everything he can to make their lives happy. By the way, they've recently opened a children's theater in the building of the former Second Moscow Art Theater. The company of this theater was sent out into the provinces, since it was of inferior quality, and the facility was promptly made over to accommodate the children's theater. The organizer of the theater is Sats. Our young artists Irina [Shtange's daughter] and her husband helped paint the murals. 1
