chapter 13 Flashcards
1
Q
working conditions in towns
A
- strict rules about discipline and punctuality and demands for productivity
- fines for lateness, absent for more than a day led to getting fired
- failures blamed on saboteurs
- secret police encouraged workers to inform on each other
- value of wages fell by half between 1928 and 1937
- crime increased
- biggest projects carried out by prisoners in gulags
2
Q
better living conditions in towns
A
- family benefits - free health service, paid holidays, insurance against accidents to, secured employment for women after they left school
- leisure - sports and exercise encouraged
- no economic depression unlike the west
3
Q
worse conditions in towns
A
- difficult to cope with rapid population growth
- roads/water supply/power and transport couldn’t cope
- some places had no bathhouses and no sewage systems, no street lights
- urban population grew from 29 to 40 million from 1929-33
- continued to increases during the 30s
- not enough houses, no space on buses and trams
- most families lived in overcrowded houses with other families
- only 6% of moscow houses had more than one room
4
Q
better conditions in the countryside
A
- greater mechanisation made their work easier
- offered free houses to join collectives
- scientists brought in to collectives to improve their working conditions
- some collectives had schools and hospitals
- literacy rates increased during 1930s
5
Q
worse conditions in the countryside
A
- resented collectivisation as it went against the principles of the bolshevik revolution
- opposition met with fierce treatment, so stalin introduced forced collectivisation and confiscated their land
- they couldn’t move to the cities as they needed passports
- MTS had members of the secret police
- churches destroyed
- frequent food shortages
6
Q
treatment of party members
A
- increased quality of life as they moved higher up the ladder
- better housing, healthcare, and a villa known as a dacha
7
Q
treatment of peasants
A
- kulaks removed during the purges
- worse conditions than town workers
- produce was cheap so that it could feed people in towns
- moved to towns for a better standard of living
8
Q
treatment of town workers
A
- 1.5 million workers gained management posts during the first 5 year plan
- benefited from the expansion of higher education
- rapid industrialisation led to removal of unemployment
- increase in population led to poor conditions
9
Q
education for women
A
- 1929 - 20% of places in higher education reserved for women
- 1940 - 40% of engineering students were women
10
Q
family life for women
A
- mid 1920s ussr had the highest divorce rate in europe
- 1927 - 2/3 of marriages ended in divorce
- mid 1930s - more difficult to get a divorce or abortion
- high divorce fate had led to broken homes and homeless children
- state encouraged family to stay together through propaganda
11
Q
employment for women
A
- encouraged to work in all sectors
- expected to work full time and raise a family
- state nurseries and crèches introduced
- female workers in towns rose from 3 million to 13 million from 1928-40
- workers children received free education and healthcare schemes
12
Q
political position of women
A
- remained second class citizens
- 12.8% of women were party members in 1928
- zhenotdel founded by kollontai and armand in 1919 - women in factories could be elected as delegates and report back where the revolution was not followed
- published womens pages, held conferences during the 1920
- abolished in 1930 as part of party reorganisation - stalin thought womens issues had been solved
13
Q
persecution of ethnic groups
A
- stalin distrusted national groups
- wanted to turn them into soviet citizens
- discouraged from speaking their own languages and practising their own customs
- russian became compulsory in schools
- key jobs went to russians
- many who opposed this were purged
14
Q
deportation and purges
A
- moscow government strengthened
- power of republics reduced to stop nationalism
- groups that opposed stalins policies were deported
- 1.25 millions people deported, many died during forced transportation
- volga germans, kalmyks, crimean tartars, people of northern caucasus
15
Q
ukraine
A
- starved deliberately during famine of 1932-33
- stalin thought they were seeking separation
- purged leading ukrainian intellectuals
- 5k arrested - later murdered or deported to siberia
- accused of plotting an armed rebellion
