Culture and society

Question 1

Deference of the church under Lenin

Answer 1

Allowed freedom of worship but destroyed ‘earthly’ power, 1927 patriarch of the orthodox church agreed to stay out of politics in return for legal recognition.

Question 2

Stalins persecution of orthodox church

Answer 2

Schools closed, teaching forbidden, many churches destroyed, between 1929 and 1940 no holy day workers had different days off, relaxation in 1935 but 1936 constitution criminalised religious propaganda, priests victims of purges, by 1941 nearly 40 000 churches closed, only 1 in 40 still working as a church.

Question 3

Persecution of muslims

Answer 3

Land seized and courts abolished, split within Islamic church as one movement took pro-soviet line, pilgrimage forbidden 1935, veil forbidden, some traditionalists murdered those who obeyed soviet line, by 1941 nearly 25 000 mosques closed.

Question 4

Religious belief

Answer 4

Survived despite all, possibly encouraged by attacks during purges, 1937 census over half a million described themselves as religious believers, so real number much higher.

Question 5

Decline of family into 1930s

Answer 5

Highest divorce rate in Europe, fall in population growth, several million orphans in state-run institutions, juvenile crime rates soaring.

Question 6

‘Great Retreat’

Answer 6

Re-establish importance of family, you know all this, new family code introduced 1936 made abortion illegal, fees for divorce, contraception banned, large families got tax exemptions, children treated like adults from 12 by the law, adultery criminalised and published.

Question 7

Divorce rate

Answer 7

Remained high, 37% in Moscow in 1934.

Question 8

Abortion rate

Answer 8

Over 150 000 to every 57 000 live births.

Question 9

Social position of women

Answer 9

More likely if single to become unemployed without compensation and numbers of prostitutes rose.

Question 10

Centralised education

Answer 10

Provided by Narkompros, parents expected to contribute towards cost.

Question 11

Spread of literacy

Answer 11

Only about 65% literate before revolution, by 1941 94% in cities and 86% in the countryside.

Question 12

Komsomol

Answer 12

For age 10 to 28, became directly affiliated with the party in 1939, led attack on ‘bourgeois’ values helping to spread proletarian culture and participating in ‘shock brigades’.

Question 13

Working men

Answer 13

Skilled workers did best after wage differentials introduced in 1931.

Question 14

Communal dwellings

Answer 14

Kommunalkas in the countryside.

Question 15

Food security in 1930s

Answer 15

1933 worst year overall, food consumption below 1900 level, meat consumption less than a third of 1928.

Question 16

Science of the ideal citizen

Answer 16

Most famous Trofim Lysenko said characteristics could be gained and passed on to next generation promoting an ordered society, but undermined by Stalin himself who argued as state became more successful more vigilance needed.

Question 17

Artists who supported regime

Answer 17

Maxim Gorky Tsarist author supported socialist realism, some artists formed ‘artistic brigades’ to persuade others.

Question 18

Attack on the avant-garde

Answer 18

Mid-1930s, e.g. 1936 critique of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth as having ‘leftist distortions’ theatre director who defended him was executed and his wife stabbed.

Question 19

Cinema

Answer 19

Most popular with people, hollywood movies seen more than soviet.