07 Social Developments 1917-85 Flashcards
Employment levels and conditions in work - Work 1917-18
-Ensuring stable employment was extremely difficult between October 1917 and mid-1918 as the revolutions of 1917 had caused economic chaos
-Unemployment had increased to over 100,000 by the end of 1918 die to factories shutting down
-After Russia was pulled out of WW1, war production ceased leading to higher unemployment. 75% of chemical and metal workers in Petrograd were unemployed by March 1918
-During this period of state capitalism, Lenin stressed the duty of Labour discipline and collaboration between workers and their former bosses. Still, Lenin’s early economic plans failed to stop the disintegration of the economy and rising unemployment
Employment levels and conditions in work - Work 1918-21
-In 1918 War Communism was introduced and the widespread unemployment of early 1918 was ended by the introduction of compulsory labour, able bodied men between 16 and 50 lost the right to refuse employment
-People in work were issued a work card which entitled them to rations
-Compulsory labour proved unsustainable during the Civil War and by mid-1920 factories began to close due to fuel shortages
-The total population of factory workers in the USSR fell by 25% during the Civil War
-Factory closures meant that War Communism failed to create a system of full employment
Employment levels and conditions in work - Work in the 1920s
-Unemployment rose from 5.5% in 1921 to 18% in 1924
-Due to:
-Red Army soldiers being demobilised at the end of the Civil War and not being able to find work and the government demanding that factories become more profitable meaning workers laid off
-Attempts to increase productivity in 1926 kept urban unemployment high in the mid-1920’s and the government prioritised former Red Army soldiers
-Under NEP, while unemployment was a major problem, workers were still paid around 10% more and ate more fish and meat
Employment levels and conditions in work - Employment in the 1930s (Stalin)
Rapid industrialisation under 5YPs led to full employment for men and women and the relatively well-paid jobs in the cities attracted peasants fleeing collectivisation. However, full employment did not lead to a rising standard of living
-Quick construction and miners meeting production targets were prioritised over the safety of workers and therefore workers conditions deteriorated as a result of the Five-Year Plans
-In 1940 workers lost the right to change jobs, previously workers had been able to move from job to job in search of better pay as during the Five-Year Plans, the demand for labour was very high as factory managers needed as many workers as possible to meet production targets
Employment levels and conditions in work - Employment 1945-53 (Stalin)
-Full employment continued after the war
-The industrial workforce increased from 8 million to 12 million between 1945 and 1950 largely due to returning soldiers
Employment levels and conditions in work - Stagnation 1953-85 (Khrushchev, Brezhnev)
-The ‘social contract’ under Brezhnev created a stable society but it also created stagnation
-Full employment created serious ineffeciencies and in the 1970s it was estimated that there was a hidden unemployment of 20% from employees being paid but not doing a useful job
-At the same time in the late 1970s there were serious labour shortages with at least 1 million unfilled jobs in Soviet industry
Social security benefits - Benefits 1918-21
-In theory, War Communism was based on a relationship between the government and worker where the workers had a duty to provide labour and the government had a duty to provide food and basic amenities
-At the height of the rationing, 36 products were rationed and 22 million people received ration cards
-Communal dining halls were set up in factories to feed workers and the government claimed that 90% of people living in Moscow in 1920 were regularly fed in communal dining halls
-War Communism never provided more than 50% of the food and fuel needed to live on, meaning people turned to the black market in the short-term and fled to farms in the long-term
Social security benefits - Benefits in the 1920s
-During the 1920s NEP an extensive system-Social insurance covered 9 million people as it covered disability benefit, maternity benefit, unemployment benefit, and medical benefit
-The 1922 Labour Law gave unions the right to negotiate agreements on pay and workers conditions with employers
-In 1926, under NEP, workers were clearly better off than before the war in 1913, by contrast peasants did not benefit due to being excluded from social insurance due to the government’s focus on the proletariat
Social security benefits - Benefits in the 1930s (Stalin)
-The link between work and social benefits that had been eroded under NEP was re-established under Stalin
Over time, the Five-Year Plans did lead to improved benefits:
-By 1933 most Soviet citizens had access to electricity
-The Moscow Metro opened in the 1930s, providing transport to the capital
-Shift in how these benefits were administered as in the 1930s in was increasingly made available through factories or collective farms which re-emphasised the link between work and social welfare
-Peasants benefited much less than workers, they were not entitled to rations, and food was much scarcer on farms than in cities due to government seizures – During the late 1930s, farm workers would have to travel to towns to buy food as their was so little on farms
Social security benefits - Benefits in the 1930s (Stalin) - Party first
-In theory all citizens had rights to these benefits but in practice scarcity meant some benefited more than others:
-Soviet healthcare operated a ‘Party first’ policy where Party members were guaranteed vaccines rather than workers who had to queue
-While all workers were entitled to rations, Party members could organise banquets which were paid by the government
-This led to radical inequality between workers and Party members
-E.g. In a city in Ukraine, All Party officials were vaccinated against malaria and yet, among the working population, there were 10,000 cases of malaria in 1932
Social security benefits - Benefits 1945-53 (Stalin)
-Food shortages had a significant impact on the benefits workers received
-In 1947, Eating in communal canteens cost workers 250-300 roubles a month, about half a worker’s monthly wages
-Workers under 18 were entitled to 3 subsidised meals a day in factory or farm canteens but this and a young workers poor wages would not be enough to pay for the meals, meaning there was a decline in communal eating following WW2
-The planned economy did not focus on consumer goods so there was little production of soap and warm clothing
Social security benefits - Benefits 1945-53 (Stalin) - Healthcare
Despite the war, healthcare improved significantly:
-Infant mortality decreased by 50% between 1940 and 1950
-The number of doctors increased by 2/3 between 1947 and 1952
The expansion of healthcare did not lead to an improvement in the health of the Soviet people as food shortages and the poverty caused by the war meant sickness rates did not fall:
-Hygiene was poor, it was not until 1947 that there was a publicity campaign encouraging workers to wash their hands after the toilet
-In fact, the average Soviet worker took between 10 and 13 days off ill a year in 1946, a figure which remained constant until the mid-1950s
Social security benefits - Health and Welfare 1953-85 (Khrushchev)
-Khrushchev believed that a socialist society should look after the welfare of all and therefore increased the Soviet health budget by almost double in his first year, From 21 billion rouble in 1950 to 44 billion in 1959 – Causing a fall in both death rates and infant mortality rates
-The pension budget increased by 4x from 1953 to 1964
Social security benefits - The ‘social contract’ 1953-85 (Brezhnev)
-Khrushchev’s goal of achieving Communism by 1980 was abandoned and Brezhnev’s goal was simply the promotion of a stable society
-Brezhnev’s ‘social contract’ was essentially a deal that the government promised a rising standard of living and greater social benefits in return for social obedience. This was, therefore, his formula for promoting social stability
-Under Brezhnev standards of living increased significantly due to subsidised rent, practically free water and electricity, government provided healthcare and pension
-Under Brezhnev, spending on health and pensions grew by 5% per year
-During the late 1960s and 1970s, Soviet citizens enjoyed unprecedented standards of living under Brezhnev, and the social contract was held up as their was very little opposition to government
Social security benefits - Stagnation 1953-85 (Khrushchev, Brezhnev)
-Despite increased health spending, Soviet health declined and infant mortality rates increased rose by 5% and life expectancy dropped by 5 years for men, largely due to alcoholism
Quality of housing - Redistribution of property 1918-28
-By the end of the Civil War workers were fleeing the cities, to find food as factories closed down, so the government authorised the destruction of houses for timber
-In 1923-24 large town houses were ‘socialised’ and split among many families
-Experiments with rent-free housing came to an end in 1921 when rent was reintroduced
-Attempts to create buildings that reflected the value of the revolution, such as the Zuev Club (finished 1929) built in the Constructivist style, and although these buildings were revolutionary and well designed, few were built so they had little impact.
Quality of housing - Kommunalka (Stalin)
-Under Stalin housing in cities became a problem as the urban population tripled between 1929 and 1940 as peasants escaped collective farms for the cities
-In existing cities Soviet authorities divided buildings up into small kommunalka (communal apartments)
-Pressure for housing meant that over time kommunalka were redivided and by 1940 the average kommunalka was 4 square metres
-The government also did not invest in sewerage such as the 650,00 people in Moscow who did not have a single outhouse
Quality of housing - Factory Towns (Stalin)
-New buildings were constructed under Stalin to support new factory towns like Magnitogorsk, however construction of factories was prioritised over housing
-Magnitogorsk was initially designed as a model town but when the original housing was too expensive, housing plans were abandoned – Most workers lived in barrack-style dormitories and 20% lived in mud huts
-In one factory town there were no electrical lights despite being right next to the Dnieper hydroelectric power station
Quality of housing - Housing 1941-53 (Stalin)
-For Stalin, industry was always the priority over housing and in many way Stalin’s policies helped create the housing crisis and did little to solve the issue
-WW2 made the housing situation far worse as the destruction caused by the war meant 1/3rd of urban housing was damaged or destroyed between 1941 and 1945, but Stalin still prioritised factory building
-Conditions in dormitories were poor – In the Moscow coalfield workers dormitories were short 10,000 and 1 wash basin per 70 people
Some more emphasis on housing after WW2 as massive housing project was launched between 1945 and 1950 in Ukraine and 4500 farming villages were built, with 900,000 houses built in them
Quality of housing - Housing 1953-85 (Khrushchev)
-Between 1950 and 1965 the amount of urban housing more than doubled
-He argued that mass housing was needed in the short term and that when Communism had been achieved in the 1980s, sophisticated housing could replace these
-These new low-cost housing blocks were called Khrushchyovka, despite being designed to be temporary, they became the standard model for all new home. Construction of these continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s
-The new Khrushchyovka’s allowed families to have an entire apartment to themselves and the apartments were 10x bigger than the kommunalka of the Stalin period, with larger models in big cities and fitted with elevators
Status of women in employment - Working in the towns (Lenin)
-During the war the Zhenotdel (Women’s department of the Communist Party) recruited women from town to fill jobs in nursing and food distribution which was believed to be a natural division of labour, indeed after the Civil War women were sacked from industrial jobs for men to take their place
-Under the NEP opportunities for women in factories was limited and led to widespread unemployment meaning many took to prostitution as it was a legal form of earning
-During the 1920s, 40% of men used prostitutes, showing it was a large market for women
Status of women in employment - Working in the towns (Stalin)
-Due to the demands of the 5-Year Plans women joined the industrial labour force in large numbers
-In 1928 (last year of NEP) there were only 3 million women in Soviet industry, that figure jumped to 13 million by 1940
-However, there were significant differences in pay as women were paid only 60% of men’s wages and some men refused to work with women
-Women working during the 5-Year Plans laid the foundation for women in WW2. In some towns during WW2 women made up 75% of the workforce
