Abstract
<jats:p>The article examines the formation of the system of state registration of the birth of children in Petrograd (Len-ingrad) in the early years of Soviet power, which was formed in the context of the demographic crisis, distrust of a significant part of the population to the new registry offices and the extremely low completeness of registra-tion of newborns. The authors analyze the practice of introducing new rituals, in particular, “red baptisms”, as an alternative to church baptism. The conclusion is made about the gradual routine of birth registration by the mid-1920s. and about the significance of this process for the history of state policy in the field of child protection in the early period of Soviet history. The most important task of the research is to study the formation and function-ing of the procedure for state birth registration in the registry offices in the first post-revolutionary years in the former capital of the Russian Empire.</jats:p>