A2 FP1 : Industrialisation, living conditions of managers, workers, and women.

Question 1

Workers

What was life like for the workers during the Five Year Plans?

Answer 1

Despite communist talk of proletarianisation and the creation of the socialist man, the living and working conditions experienced by most industrial workers were far from a socialist paradise.

Question 2

Workers

What is proletarianisation?

Answer 2

Turning the mass of the population into urban workers ; ridding society of selfish capitalist attitudes and developing a cooperative mentality.

Question 3

Workers

What working measures were introduced alongside collectivisation?

Answer 3

• Seven Day Working Week
• Longer Working Hours
• Lateness or missing work could result in dismissal, eviction from housing and loss of benefits.
• Damaging machinery or leaving a job without permission were criminal offences
• Strikes were illegal

Question 4

Workers

What was introduced in 1938?

Answer 4

Labour books that recorded a worker’s employment, skills and any disciplinary issues.

Question 5

Workers

When were wage differentials introduced?

Answer 5

1931 - rewarded those who stayed in their jobs and did well.

Question 6

Workers

What was introduced alongside wage differentials that encouraged advancement?

Answer 6

An extensive training programme was set up and opportunities for advancement by learning new skills meant some workers did well.

Question 7

Workers

What effect did the purges have on the lives of workers?

Answer 7

It created more jobs at ‘the top’ considering the number of intellectuals and ‘white collar officials’ who were targeted.

Question 8

Workers

What happened due to the increasing population in the cities?

Answer 8

Workers lived in extremely cramped communal apartments where they had to deal with inadequate sannitation and erratic water supplies. Public transport was overcrowded, shops were often empty and queues and shortages were an accepted feature of life.

Question 9

Workers

What was phased out on 1935, was this successful?

Answer 9

Rationing, but market prices were still high and while those in positions of importance in the socialist system could obtain more goods cheaply, this was not the case for ordinary workers whose living conditions stagnated and mat have even fallen slightly in the last years before war.

Question 10

Workers

What increased during the second five-year plan?

Answer 10

Real wages ; however, they were still lower in 1937 than they had been in 1928 (and 1928 was little better than in 1913).

Question 11

What became harsher as the prospect of war loomed?

Answer 11

Labour discipline. Being 20 minutes late to work was a criminal offence, and a decree in 1940 ended the free labour market; skilled workers could be directed anywhere while others needed permission to change jobs. Social benefits were also cut.

Question 12

Workers

What was the average survival time for prison camp inmates at Belomor Canal?

Answer 12

Just two years.
700 deaths per day

Question 13

Women

What percent of the workforce did female workers represent in 1929?

Answer 13

c29 percent

Question 14

Women

What were working conditions for women like during the five-year plans?

Answer 14

Despite communist doctrines of equality, in 1929 female workers were largely concentrated in the lowest paid jobs requiring the least skills - particularly in textiles and other light industries.

Question 15

Women

What was closed in January 1930?

Answer 15

Zhenotdel, the department of the Russian Communist party devoted to womans’ affairs + there was no drive to increase female labour.

Question 16

Women

What percent of the workforce did women represent in 1935?

Answer 16

42%

Question 17

Women

What did managers do in a desperate attempt to fulfil their quotas?

Answer 17

Employ the wives, daughters and widows of their workers, as this made it less likely they would leave for another job.

Question 18

Women

What happened due to the abolition of Zhenotdel?

Answer 18

Women were harassed, both physically and sexually, by their male co-workers, Zhenotdel’s abolition meant that there was no institution to fight inequality in the workplace.

Question 19

Women

What did the party do from 1936 concerning women in the workplace?

Answer 19

They made more of an effort to enrol women in technical training programmes, and even made women’s entry into managerial positions easier ; more women found their way into well-paid positions and the provision of nurseries, creches, canteens and child-clinics enabled women to cope with work and family easier.

Question 20

Women

On average, how much less did women make than men?

Answer 20

40 percent

Question 21

Women

By 1940 what percent of the workforce did women represent?

Answer 21

A little over 43 percent.

Question 22

Managers

What was the main concerns for managers during the Five-Year Plans?

Answer 22

Fulfilling their quotas - they could recieve a bonus of as much as 40% if they fulfilled them, simulatenously, however, if they failed to do so they could be put on trial, imprisoned or even executed.

Question 23

Managers

What became commonplace due to the threat of execution for failing to fulfil quotas? What is the problem of this as a historian?

Answer 23

Falsifying statistics. It is difficult to know just how successful the Five-year plans were due to the inflated numbers provided by managers.

Question 24

Managers

What were factories made to do from 1936 - what were the knock on effects from this?

Answer 24

From 1936 factories had to pay for their own fuel, as a result managers had to account very carefully - in these conditions it is little wonder that bribery and corruption became embedded within the system.

Question 25

Managers

What were the problems associated with the Stakhanovoite movement for managers?

Answer 25

Too much effort from the Stakhanovoites could result in factory targets being revised upwards, creating new problems for output for the following year.
Furthermore, workers sometimes accused managers of wrecking their Stakhanovite attempts by failing to supply good tools or resources.

Question 26

Managers

What did managers face during the 1930s?

Answer 26

In the 1930s managers faced a slump in trade as a result of the worldwide depression, managers also faced labour shortages as conditions on collective farms improved, reducing immigration into the cities.

Question 27

Managers

What effect did military demands have on working conditions for managers?

Answer 27

Shortage of labour as workers were conscripted into the armies, military demans also exacerbated shortages of raw materials (particularly oil, coal and wood) at a time when consumer demand was growing.