FAM FINAL Flashcards
P1- It could be argued that government attitudes towards the family as a social unit did change from 1917-85 because each leader had different policies, either introducing new reforms or reversing the policies of the leader before. Lenin
Lenin’s government sought to destroy the capitalist independent family in favour of a collective system. Under Lenin, the Bolshevik Family Code of 1918 made divorce easier and by mid-1920s, Russia’s divorce rate was the highest in Europe. Additionally, abortion was legalised and it became commonplace in the cities: in Moscow abortions outnumbered live births by 3:1.
Limits of Lenin P1
However, this unleashed social problems, for example, the birth-rate remained low and the breakup of families led to an increase in orphans who roamed the streets of towns, which put pressure on the government to revert to more conservative police
P1- how did STALIN change policy
Convinced the earlier Bolshevik social policy had failed and to restore the social balance, a series of conservative laws to restore the importance of the traditional family were enforced in Stalin’s Great Retreat of 1936. Divorce was made more expensive, increasing from 4 roubles to 50, abortion was outlawed and a tax on single people was introduced to encourage marriage.
P1- analysis after Lenin and Stalin
the Code of 1936 marked an ideological shift away from Marxist revolutionary visions of the nuclear family, therefore governmental attitudes towards the family as a social unit evolved from revolutionary to conservative; the government of the Soviet Union first attempted to weaken the family and then to strengthen it
P1- Furthermore, views changed further after Stalin’s death in 1953.
The government moved in a more revisionist direction. While Khrushchev continue to promote the family as a social unit, abortion was legalised in 1955 for medical reasons, reflecting a shift in government attitudes towards a recognition of social problems and the encouragement of social stability. This is also exemplified by Khrushchev lessening the strain placed on the family by increasing provision of social benefits, such as housing, maternity arrangements, health care and childcare, showing how the family was much better supported than during the Stalin years.
P1- Evaluation
Therefore, it could be argued that government attitudes towards the family changed because each leader had different aims and were operating in different social climates. In the radically revolutionary initial stage of the Revolution, social policy reflected this. Stalin wanted a stable society for industrial growth and this could only be achieved by quashing the social issues that had arisen from the more revolutionary policies. Khrushchev was operating in an environment free of terror, so he had to ensure the population was content to quell resistance, which is what informed his family policy.
P2- However, it could be argued that governmental attitudes did not change to a significant degree because after Lenin’s revolutionary ideas, governmental attitudes towards the importance of the stability of the family remained constant, and Brezhnev’s family policy in particular was largely a continuation of that of Khrushchev. Similarities
The government continued to promote the family and the new Family Code in 1968 reinforced traditional values. Similar to Khrushchev’s attempt to increase social benefits such as housing and healthcare to lessen the strain on the family, Brezhnev progressed the provision of housing and the 1970s saw a trend towards single-family occupancy. Divorce was still accessible, over a third of all marriages ended in divorce, and abortion was legal under both leaders to reduce strain on family.
P2- eval
Therefore, attitudes towards the family did not change because after Stalin’s ‘Great Retreat’ of 1936 with the recognition that the support mechanisms provided by the family acted as a major force for social stability, the Soviet government opted for measures that supported the traditional family rather than replacing it with a revolutionary alternative.
P3- Women’s role in the family remained constant- what shows that liberating policies only to fit with political demands
reforms like creches driven partly by a need to get more women into work during the civil war and part of the process of reducing the hold of the Russian Orthodox Church on family life and morality. After civil war and WW2, jobs given back to returning soldiers. 1932, only 16% jobs women in party, and 7 members of CC before WW2
P3- Khrush
Surveys continued to show that women spent more time doing household chores than men and therefore had less access to leisure and education than men.
P3- Brezhnev
Under Brez, Officially, the government proclaimed that sexual equality had been achieved. The lack of women in the most senior jobs in industry, agriculture and government was explained by the women’s natural desire to focus on family. Brezhnev thought of women as unskilled workers whose main goal was to have kids. Government did nothing to address sexual inequality in domestic labour.
Women under Brezhnev for P3
Under Brezhnev, Soviet propaganda took a direction of a traditional view of women,
Propaganda emphasised that a true Soviet woman should be an exemplary worker and caring wife and mother.
The tone of propaganda became even more conservative in the 70’s. Brezhnev’s prenatal campaign emphasised natural difference between the genders.
Stressed the women’s abilities to nurture and “natural” need for a strong man.
By the late 1970’s, the prenatalist message was coupled with criticism of women who neglected their children by going to work.
Brezhnev’s campaigns, working women were responsible for juvenile, delinquency, rising crime and family breakups.
P3- women under Khrush
During virgin lands, women required to act as milkmaids, gardeners and start families. Only 26% proportion of women in the Party. Generally Khrushchev wanted women to continue to perform their traditional roles as wives and mothers.
Wanted to make these roles easier. Letters to women’s magazines showed that crèches opened late and closed early so that women were still unable to work full days.
