Life in Stalin's Russia Flashcards
What did Stalin believe the aim of literature and arts should be?
To contribute to the great collective effort of reshaping the thinking and behaviour of the Soviet people
What was the Soviet Union of Writers?
Formed in 1934:
- had authority over all published writers. Had the right to ban or censor any work
What guidelines did writers have to conform to?
- was the work acceptable to the party in theme and presentation
- understandable by workers
- was optimistic and uplifting
Who was Maxim Gorky?
A writer who praised the FYP
Who was Alexander Solzhenitsyn?
A writer who spent many years in the gulag for falling foul of Stalin’s censorship
Who was Dmitri Shostakovich?
A composer who spent most of his creative life trying to keep one step ahead of the censors by exploiting their musical ignorance
How was there a cult of personality under Stalin?
From the 1930s on, Stalin;s picture appeared everywhere:
- every newspaper, book and film carried a reference to Stalin’s greatness
- every achievement of the USSR was credited to Stalin
How was Stalin celebrated similarly to the Tsars?
The biggest celebration of the year was Stalin’s birthday
What was Komsomol?
Youth movement open to those aged 14-28
- pledged its self totally to Stalin and the party
How supportive of Stalin were Komsomol members?
- among the most enthusiastic supporters of the FYPs
= proved this by helping to build Magnitogorsk
What happened to education in 1917?
It was largely eradicated with the Bolsheviks claiming children should instead learn useful trades
Why did Stalin focus on education?
Believed for modernisation to occur the state needed a literate population
How long was compulsory education?
10 years
What was the core curriculum in schools?
reading, writing, maths, science, history, geography, Russian and Marxist theory
Between 1926 to 1940 how much did literacy rates for the population over the age of 9 rise?
From 51% to 88%
Why were fees introduced for the last 3 years of schooling?
Claimed that all societies needed a trained section of the community to work as doctors, managers, scientists etc
How did an elite grow in the USSR?
The intelligentsia that formed the nomenklatura appreciated that education was the key to success
- got private schooling and tuition
How did the educational and promotional practice benefit Stalin?
Created a class of privileged administrators who had every motive to support him since he created them
What was the Lysenko affair?
Lysenko was a geneticist who claimed he had discovered ways of developing ‘super-crops’
= Stalin gave him his full support as believed in a ‘socialist science’ which was superior to the West - one of the factors for the many famines in the USSR
What was the People’s Commissariat of Health set up in 1918?
Aim was to provide free health care for all people
How did health improve during the NEP?
Infant mortality drooped and the spread of contagious diseases was checked
Why did death and disease increase under Stalin?
Collectivisation caused famine - no effort was made to provide help to citizens as Stalin refused to acknowledge there was a famine
Who benefitted the most from the health care system?
Party members and the nomenklatura
What seriously lowered the quality of life and the spread of mild infections?
Overcrowding in shared apartments
