| Begging is an existence by the means of borrowing money and other valuables. It is often combined with vagrancy.
In Europe begging was considered as a form of parasitism and the tendency to evade from socially useful work and a criminal liability is envisaged for begging. In some modern countries, like Russia, begging is a main occupation of homeless people and beggars. Specialized criminal groupings also exist in a given sphere, which compel the beggars and minors to beg and thus dividing the earnings with them after each working day.
The criminal code of the Russian Federation envisages liability for involving the minor in begging.
Homeless single people have existed at all times. In ancient times, there weren't as many in comparison with the present scenario, because the problem of constructing your own dwelling did not cost so much in contrary to the present day. Now, “personal” land is not available both in cities as well as in settlements, on which it could be possible to construct without breaching someone's rights of property. The shortage of financial means either to purchase or rent a shelter is one of the main reasons for “homelessness”.
In the USSR the constitution officially guaranteed the provision and allocation of free habitation for citizens of the country, but it had less a relationship to reality and especially to people without documents and without residential permits.
Till the 1970s, tramps, as a rule, were called homeless in the USSR. After each Stalin-Khruschev's amnesty, cities were filled with crowds of tramps, who had no legal facilities either to get into a job or to obtain a residence permit. During Khruschev's epoch, the “Fight against sponging” was initiated; under the flag of this fight, tramps were caught during campaigns and sent to reside in the countryside and inhabitants of the countryside were not provided a residence permit or a passport.
In the 1970s, the word beggar appeared in the arrest protocols of police officers as a result of a specific upgrade of the Soviet political system. For example, in 1975, detained persons without documents were registered as H/L M/F in the Linear Police station of the Finnish station in the city of Leningrad. The place of residence is considered “unascertained” in such cases if the specified person did not register himself at the place of his residence and also in some cases, when the person lived at an odd address.
The social occurrence of beggars was heterogeneous; for example, the drunkard doctor of history sciences (V.T. Buchin, Leningrad), driven away from his home by a former wife, turned homeless by spending the nights in door entrances and cellars.
From case to case, the campaign for the fight against tramps continued in capital cities: for example, in 1980, before the start of the Olympic Games in Moscow and Leningrad, beggars living there were caught and taken out to provincial cities of regional subordinations and city-type settlements, far away from the capital cities at a distance of 100 or more kilometers.
In the USSR, special attention was given to homeless children: detained homeless children were not released but sent to special “orphanages” with high fences with barbed wire.
Economically, beggars supported themselves by collecting and selling bottles, small street trading and more rarely by begging.
During the restructuring period, the pressure of police on beggars weakened and all of those who earlier did not risk coming back rushed to cities. As a result, Russian citizens are assured that the beggars are a consequence of the restructuring. Besides, even the constitution was changed with the arrival of the new market relationship. The major law of the Russian Federation already assumes the purchase or construction of dwellings by well-to-do citizens with the provision of their inviolability – as a result of which, many people lost their homes and appeared on the streets.
People, having a living place, which did not come under the official definition of a “personal home”, fall under a separate category. Such people are not necessarily jobless (“beggars”, “clochards”) but live in substandard houses. They can be: cellars, sheds, attics or at the work place, where living is not allowed under the law. Such “apartments” are often occupied by “bohemia” (according to legend, hippy artists lived in such conditions). Vehicles are parked at such places, where living is not foreseen. Such “homeless” are often met in the USA, where many people live in so-called motor homes, and illegally occupied houses. Tenants-squatters are around in the USA (people, illegally living on properties of others but somehow, they are not driven away by the owners for whatever reasons). Often it occurs in “economically depressed” areas, where the owners have already given up the lost houses. Such a thing often happens in various ghettos. In all these cases, homelessness is not “literal” but has a legal status. They do not possess a house, which can be officially termed as a “personal home”.
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