3: Society Under Stalin Flashcards
How many were still religious?
1937 57%
How many churches were closed?
1941
40,000
When did Russian become compulsory in schools?
1938
Literacy rates in 1941
94% in towns
86% in countryside
What was forbidden in 1935? (Religion)
Pilgrimages to Mecca and wearing veils (Muslims)
What were the Jews given in 1926?
‘National homeland’ in the Far East
Became an autonomous Republic with 25% Jewish population by 1941
Deportations of non Russians
Began in 1929 with Finns
Followed by Poles, Ukrainians, and other European Russians
Stalin’s approach to new Jewish citizens from aquiring Poland
Many rabbis sent to gulags
How was propaganda seen in peasants’ homes?
‘Red corner’ dedicated to Stalin
What was Petrograd changed to?
Leningrad
All writers had to belong to…
The union of soviet writers in 1932
When did Stalin begin promoting his Cult of Personality?
1929
Wages in 1937
Lower than in 1928
How were family values encouraged?
Adultery criminalised 1936
Contraception+ abortion banned
Divorce more expensive
1936 financial incentives for large families (tax exemptions)
How was folk culture used?
Much was invented to be used as a tool by the authorities
What did Lenin oppose that Stalin encouraged?
A cult of personality
When was High Stalinism?
1945-1953
When did Stalin suffer a stroke?
1946
Describe the 1936 Constitution
‘The most democratic nation in the world’
Propaganda for the rest of the world
Claimed to have freedom of speech, autonomy for ethnic groups, and elections every 4 years with universal adult suffrage
How did terror and repression continue?
1949 purge of Leningrad party
Anti-semitism
1951 purge in Georgia (likely anti-semitic)
1952 Doctors’ Plot (anti-semitic)
Who was Zhdanov?
“Propagandist in chief”
Zhdanovschina
Cultural purge launched after war
Targetted threat posed by Westernisation of Soviet culture
Which author was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers for writing a book about an anti-Soviet monkey?
Mikhail Zoshchenko
“The Adventures of the Monkey”
Which composer was targetted in the Zhdanovschina?
Shostakovich
The role of ____ diminished under High Stalinism
The party
Diminishing role of the party during High Stalinism
No Party Congress between 1939 - 1952
What did Stalin attempt to cover up (anti semitism)?
The Holocaust
There was a growing ____ in the party
Elitism
Youth movements
Komsomol
Young Pioneers
When was the devaluation of the rouble?
1947
How did workers fare after the war?
Working week remained at war time levels of 12 hours a day
No improvements in working or living conditions
