Living and working conditions under the Communists Flashcards
What was urban housing like under Lenin
-Decree on peace causes dwellings in towns and cities to be wrested from private owners and ha see over to the proletariat
-This was overseen by the soviets
-This caused short term improvements in housing
What was urban housing like under Stalin
-Overcrowding became the norm with 25% living in 1 shared room, 25% in communal dormitories and 5% lived in a bathroom kitchen or hallway
-Even high rise tements shared bathrooms and kitchens
-Five year plans delayed most social projects so the Russian economy could expand
-Stalin failed to address the homelessness caused by WW2
How did WW2 affect urban housing
Caused swathes of Russia to become depopulated and 25 million Russians became homeless
What was urban housing like under Khrushchev
-Khrushchev launched a housing programme which between 1955-1964 housing stock doubled and communal living was abandoned
-Emergence of housing cooperatives befitted better off professionals who could pay deposits on new cooperative housing
-Authorities senses living conditions improved as people stayed in their homes rather than attend political meetings
What was rural housing like under the communists
-Stalin constructed special housing blocks on periphery of collective farms
-Khrushchev constructed self contained agro-towns
-Rural housing built cheaply and quickly so of poor standard with accommodation overcrowded with many public health problems
-Displaced kulaks suffered worse conditions
What was the food crisis of 1918
-Peasanrs continued hoarding and agricultural land had been lost in Brest Litovsk
-Bolsheviks responded by introducing grain requisitioning with foodstuffs priotised to towns and cities
-Kulaks blamed fork food shortages and were persecuted
-1920 Cheka and Red Army seized all food supplies coinciding with another famine
What was the famine of 1921
-Furthered by the Bolshevik policy of grain requisitioning as soldiers took seed grain
-Droughts and severe winters also has a dramatic affect
-Civil war chase a shutdown of the railway system
-Lenin was slow to respond and did not accept aid from the American Relief Administration
-Caused a death toll of 5 million
What was the famine of 32-34
-Comination of bad weather and collectivisation caused the worst famine of the period
-Death penalty imposed for stealing grain
-Peasants who ate own seed corn shot along with those guarding it
-Discussion of grain crisis banned
-Restrictions on those moving
-Peasants were disgruntled so slaughtered cattle
-Grain focused on the cities and towns
-Death toll aproximatelt 7 million
How did rural work change under the communists
-How much produced and methods determined by central government
-Collectivisation resulted in working cooperatively to targets rarely achieved
-Tractors heralded as a major breakthrough but had mixed sucess
-Peasant work far more regulated and those not in party line punished severely
What was the New Work Discipline
-Factory owners introduced strict rules and regulations that were to be followed
-fines used as a punishment for petty wrongdoings
-Workers threatened with being purged
-Sometimes officials claimed certain workers were wrecking machinery
-women and children treated more harshly than men
How did hours of work change under the communists
-1917 8 hour working day as bolsheviks brought in laws to illustrate they were the worker’s party
-1932 10-12 hour workday to meet demands of the Five Year Plans
-1939 7 hour workday as workers were rewarded for their efforts in the Five Year Plans
-1940 8 hour workday due to the war with holidays disallowed
-1958 7 hour workday as apart of destalinisation
-Unlike the Tsars these were strictly controlled by the state
What were wages like under the communists
-Bonus schemes providing extra pay to exceeding targets introduced
-Under the Five Year Plans wages fell by 50%
-Only rose to 1920 levels in 1954
-Wage differentials increased under Stalin
