A2 FP1 : Industrialisation, living conditions of managers, workers, and women. Flashcards
Workers
What was life like for the workers during the Five Year Plans?
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.
Workers
What is proletarianisation?
Turning the mass of the population into urban workers ; ridding society of selfish capitalist attitudes and developing a cooperative mentality.
Workers
What working measures were introduced alongside collectivisation?
- 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
Workers
What was introduced in 1938?
Labour books that recorded a worker’s employment, skills and any disciplinary issues.
Workers
When were wage differentials introduced?
1931 - rewarded those who stayed in their jobs and did well.
Workers
What was introduced alongside wage differentials that encouraged advancement?
An extensive training programme was set up and opportunities for advancement by learning new skills meant some workers did well.
Workers
What effect did the purges have on the lives of workers?
It created more jobs at ‘the top’ considering the number of intellectuals and ‘white collar officials’ who were targeted.
Workers
What happened due to the increasing population in the cities?
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.
Workers
What was phased out on 1935, was this successful?
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.
Workers
What increased during the second five-year plan?
Real wages ; however, they were still lower in 1937 than they had been in 1928 (and 1928 was little better than in 1913).
What became harsher as the prospect of war loomed?
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.
Workers
What was the average survival time for prison camp inmates at Belomor Canal?
Just two years.
700 deaths per day
Women
What percent of the workforce did female workers represent in 1929?
c29 percent
Women
What were working conditions for women like during the five-year plans?
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.
Women
What was closed in January 1930?
Zhenotdel, the department of the Russian Communist party devoted to womans’ affairs + there was no drive to increase female labour.
Women
What percent of the workforce did women represent in 1935?
42%
Women
What did managers do in a desperate attempt to fulfil their quotas?
Employ the wives, daughters and widows of their workers, as this made it less likely they would leave for another job.
Women
What happened due to the abolition of Zhenotdel?
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.
Women
What did the party do from 1936 concerning women in the workplace?
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.
Women
On average, how much less did women make than men?
40 percent
Women
By 1940 what percent of the workforce did women represent?
A little over 43 percent.
Managers
What was the main concerns for managers during the Five-Year Plans?
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.
Managers
What became commonplace due to the threat of execution for failing to fulfil quotas? What is the problem of this as a historian?
Falsifying statistics. It is difficult to know just how successful the Five-year plans were due to the inflated numbers provided by managers.
Managers
What were factories made to do from 1936 - what were the knock on effects from this?
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.
