Chapter nineteen - Culture and society

Question 1

How did religious schools come under attack?

Answer 1

Religious schools were closed and teaching of religious creeds forbidden. By 1941, nearly 40,000 churches had been destroyed.

Question 2

What happened to religious days?

Answer 2

Sunday was abolished as a religious day of rest. Workers worked for 6 days a week with one-sixth of all workers having a day off during the week.

Question 3

How many priests were victims of the purges?

Answer 3

Over 4000 priests were imprisoned

Question 4

How did religious practises decline?

Answer 4

By 1939 only 1 in 40 churches were still functioning and only seven bishops were still active in the whole of the Soviet Union.

Question 5

How many members did the Union of the Militant Godless have?

Answer 5

By 1933 it had 5.5 million members

Question 6

How were Muslims targeted?

Answer 6

Only 1300 mosques were still operating in 1941 as against 26,000 in 1917.

Question 7

What happened to the age of legal responsibility?

Answer 7

1935 passed a new law lowering the age to 12. This allowed children to be treated like adults in the law and receive adult punishments, including the death penalty.

Question 8

How was divorce made more difficult to get?

Answer 8

1936 - it got more expensive with each subsequent divorce to put people off divorcing. Also both parties were required to attend in court and agree

Question 9

When was abortion banned?

Answer 9

1936 and newspapers printed horror stories about abortion to put women off. Lots of illegal abortions did occur. The birth rate did rise from 25 to 31 per year in every 1000

Question 10

How was abortion covered by the media?

Answer 10

Court cases of husbands who forced wives to have an abortion, or of illegal abortionists were given full media coverage

Question 11

Did the literacy rate increase?

Answer 11

Literacy drive - from 65% in 1917 to 94% (towns) and 85% (countryside) by 1941 of ages 9 - 14

Question 12

What was the Great retreat?

Answer 12

The Great Retreat was a policy introduced by Stalin which promoted traditional family values

Question 13

What was the effect of the great retreat on abortion?

Answer 13

The number of abortions dropped sharply from 1.9 million in 1935 to 570,000 in 1937
There were still 150,000 abortions to every 57,000 live births

Question 14

What was the effect of the great retreat on women in the workplace?

Answer 14

Women’s place in the workplace - factories and collective farms - increased. In 1928 there were 3m women in paid work and by 1940 there were 13m

Question 15

What was the effect of the great retreat on marriage?

Answer 15

Encouraging traditional marriage meant that 91% of men and 82% of women were married. Divorce was high though - 37% of marriages in Moscow in 1934

Question 16

What was the effect of the 1936 constitution on religion?

Answer 16

Publication of religious propaganda was criminalised

Question 17

What happened to country village churches?

Answer 17

By the end of the 1930s, 80% had been closed

Question 18

What happened to the number of priests?

Answer 18

Number of acting Orthodox priests fell from 60,000 in the 1920s to only 5665 by 1941.
By 1939, only 12 / 168 bishops active in 1930 well still at liberty

Question 19

How many people were still religious?

Answer 19

According to the 1937 census, over half a million Soviet citizens described themselves as religious

Question 20

How many marriages were there for every divorce?

Answer 20

3.5 marriages for every 1 divorce

Question 21

What was the new school structure?

Answer 21

Nursery schools at 3 years, infant schools until 7 years and secondary schools until 15 years

Question 22

What happened in selective secondary schools?

Answer 22

Core subjects were reading, writing and science with 30% of time devoted to Russian language and literature, 20% to maths, 15% to science and 10% to Soviet style history.

Question 23

What happened to the school quota system?

Answer 23

The quota system, whereby a high proportion of working class children were given places at secondary school was abandoned in 1935 and selection reappeared for all. This meant that the able received a strong academic education.

Question 24

What happened to teachers?

Answer 24

Teachers were given a higher status and were increasingly likely to be party members. They were closely watched and could be arrested if they failed to leave high standards under the Stakhanovite system

Question 25

What was the Komsomol?

Answer 25

From 1926, the all-Leninist Union of Young Communist League catered to those from age 10 to 28. This became more significant under Stalin.

Question 26

What did the youth organisations teach?

Answer 26

Communist values: smoking, drinking and religion were discouraged, while volunteer social work, sports, political and drama clubs were organised to inspire socialist values. Special palaces were built to serve as community centres for 10 15 year old young pioneers and free summer and winter holiday camps were organised

Question 27

When did the Komsomol become directly affiliated with the party?

Answer 27

1939 - members took an oath to live, study and fight for the fatherland and helped carry out party campaigns. Many joined activist groups and flocked to projects like Magnitogorsk

Question 28

What was the youth newspaper called?

Answer 28

Komsomolskaia Pravda

Question 29

Were there youths who did not want to become involved in youth groups?

Answer 29

Some were interested in Western culture, such as cinema, fashion and jazz, despite the regime’s condemnation of such pre-occupations as hooliganism. Some joined secret oppositional youth groups but direct confrontation with the Soviet system was rare

Question 30

When were wage differentials introduced?

Answer 30

1931

Question 31

When did the rationing system stop?

Answer 31

1935

Question 32

When was the Great famine?

Answer 32

1932 - 3 - caused millions of deaths

Question 33

What was the worst year for living standards?

Answer 33

1933 - overall food consumption was lower than in 1900 and meat consumption was only a third of the 1928 figure

Question 34

When did living conditions improve?

Answer 34

From 1935, with 1937 being the best year for living standards. It became legal for small trades to open privately, shoe repair, hairdressers and plumbing activities.

Question 35

When did living standards get worse again?

Answer 35

Problems increased after 1937 due to the poor harvest of 1936 and the continued increase in the urban population

Question 36

What was the socialist man?

Answer 36

A person who was committed and publicly engaged with the community. He willingly gave his service to the State in the factory, on fields or in battle and had a profound sense of social responsibility

Question 37

How did the socialist man or woman exist?

Answer 37

They willingly accepted what the State said - independent thought was regarded as a curse.

Question 38

How did science support the socialist man?

Answer 38

Trofim Lysenko - a famous scientist - believed that if humans acquired the right characteristics they could be passed onto the next generation. This would mean that bourgeoisie characteristics would disappear and it would take less effort from the State to indoctrinate new generations.

Question 39

What writers supported the cultural change?

Answer 39

Maxim Gorky declared that under Stalin, Russian writers lost ‘nothing but the right to be bad writers’

Question 40

What writers didn’t support the cultural change?

Answer 40

Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova both remained silent

Question 41

What was the attack on the avant-garde?

Answer 41

The Pravda published a damning critique of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth under the headline ‘chaos instead of music’ in 1936. The composer was accused of leftist distortions but avoided arrest. A theatre director who spoke out in his defence was tortured by the NKVD was shot and his wife was stabbed to death.

Question 42

What was the most popular cultural activity?

Answer 42

Visiting the cinema - Hollywood movies were enjoyed far more than Soviet propaganda films.

Question 43

What was the most frequently borrowed book from the Magnitogorsk library?

Answer 43

How the steel was tempered

Question 44

How many workers supported the Stalinist regime?

Answer 44

According to Dr John Barber, only 1/5 wholeheartedly supported the Stalinist regime and its politics