RUSSIA Social Developments PART 1 Flashcards
What did the Soviet Constitution of 1977 state?
All Soviet citizens had the right to work; rest and leisure; health protection; care in old age and sickness; housing; education; cultural benefits
What resulted in a drift of factory workers to the countryside under Lenin?
Collapse of industrial production in 1918-21
When was labour conscription introduced to ensure that the Red Army was adequately supplied to win the civil war?
1918
Why did many workers not register with work exchanges?
Fear of being forced into a job they didn’t want
When were labour exchanges introduced to supervise the hiring of workers?
1918
Why did the end of the civil war bring additional pressures to the labour market?
Demobilisation of Red Army returned millions of soldiers to cities; food shortages in countryside led to a wave of peasants drifting into the cities
When did unemployment reach over a million workers post-civil war?
1926
How were skilled workers affected by the economic growth of the NEP?
Increasing job security; real wages started to rise
What was one feature of the job market during the years of the NEP?
Continued use of arteli in recruitment
Arteli
Groups of workers who offered their services and were paid as a group
What owed much to the arteli system?
Use of ‘shock brigades’
Why did wage differentials grow under the NEP?
Skilled workers demanded more money than their unskilled counterparts
When did the Soviet government announce that it was the first country to achieve full urban employment in peacetime?
1930
What did the number of hired workers increase by from 1928-1937?
11.6 million to 27 million
What put additional pressure on the labour force?
Lack of modern technology
When were there labour shortages?
By 1932
When was the unemployment benefit cancelled in light of full employment?
October 1930
How much did the average Soviet worker produce in 1927?
1/2 of what an average British worker produced
When did workers’ productivity increase?
During the FYPs
When did the government issue a passport system?
1932
In 1937, how many urban workers changed their job each quarter of the year?
30%
When were wage differences between skilled and unskilled workers increased to discourage skilled workers from moving jobs?
1931
When was the use of piecework rates expanded?
1934
Who did the expansion of piecework rates please?
Skilled workers- it increased the opportunity for them to earn higher wages
What did the government use alongside material incentives to motivate the workforce?
Honours; medals
Alexei Stakhanov
Coalminer from the Donbass region who could mine 15 times the average amount of coal
What were some of the rewards given to model workers?
New flats; bigger rations
What was a consequence of the restrictions on workers changing jobs?
Increase in absenteeism
When were harsh punishments introduced for absent workers in key industries?
1931
When was absenteeism made a criminal offence that could result in imprisonment?
1939
What did labour camp inmates rise by between 1945-53?
Almost 1.5 million to nearly 2.5 million
When did the Bolsheviks begin a programme of confiscating the large houses of the rich, partitioning them and renting them to families of workers?
1917
What put a considerable strain on housing?
Enormous growth of towns and industrial centres under the FYPs
How did Moscow’s population increase between 1929-36?
2.2 million to 4.1 million
Which towns saw a doubling of their population in the 1930s?
Towns of the Donbass coal and steel region
In 1936, how much of rented units of housing consisted of more than one room?
Only 6%
In 1936, in how many cases did rented units of housing consist of only part of one room?
24%
Where were improvements in housing even slower to materialise?
Rural areas
Why was the lack of available housing exacerbated?
Damage caused by WW2
How was Stalingrad’s housing affected by WW2?
It lost 90%
Under what did housing remain a low priority?
4 and 5 FYPs
When did cheap food become available within workforce canteens?
1930s
Who often provided social benefits?
Trade unions
How much paid holiday were workers given?
2 weeks
When was a compulsory vaccination programme implemented to deal with a serious cholera epidemic?
1921
What was a serious issue between 1918-20, resulting in over six million deaths?
Lice-spread typhus
What had weakened health-care provision?
Many doctors had fled Russia soon after the Revolution
How did the number of doctors change between 1928-40?
Increased from 70,000 to 155,000
How did the number of hospital beds change between 1928-39?
Increased from 247,000 to 791,000
What was much of the progress in medicine due to?
Women training to enter the medical profession in large numbers
What often resulted in short-term unemployment in rural areas?
Seasonal work (such as farming)
When was it common for Soviets to experience a short period of unemployment?
As graduates
Real wages
Wages compared with prices
How did real wages change between 1967-77?
Rose by 50%
What helped economic stability during the Khrushchev years?
Limited gap between the best paid and the worst paid- wage differentials were relatively low, less than 1/2 of that of the USA in 1970
What was moonlighting?
Unofficial working, usually in a worker’s spare time
When was a minimum wage introduced?
1956
When was the working week reduced and the number of days’ paid holiday increased?
1957
When was the first time that an economic plan set a higher growth rate for consumer goods than heavy industry?
9FYP 1971-75
Under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, what did the government see the ability to deliver an improvement in the quality of life as doing?
Legitimising rule of the Communist Party
What was a key feature in tying the vast majority of the population to the state?
State was their employer
What had the Central Committee of the Communist Party developed the nomenklatura system into?
Vast apparatus of patronage
Where were jobs and residence most sought after?
Moscow
How was getting a passport and permit made much easier?
If you were educated and had become a Party activist
How did membership in the Communist Party grow between 1953-80?
6.9 million to 17 million
How many men over the age of 30 were Party members by the end of the 1970s?
20%
What is an example of nepotism in the USSR?
Brezhnev’s son, Yuri, became a deputy minister of foreign trade
When did the number of female students continuing to higher education match that of males?
By the 1980s
Octobrists
Youth group for those aged 5 to 9- organised informal gatherings, where nursery rhymes were learnt and simple games could be played
Pioneers
Youth group for those aged 10 to 14- most children joined and it included an initiation and a uniform; provided activities that extended the range of opportunities offered
Komsomol
Youth group for those aged up to 28- the ‘Young Communist League’; altogether a more serious group and was essential for progress into the Communist Party itself
How did state welfare spending increase between between 1950-80?
Fivefold
Which areas of state welfare received more attention between 1950-80?
Pensions; maternity benefits; housing
When was the pension scheme for the old, sick and disabled expanded and the retirement age reduced?
1956
How did pensions compare to wages in the Brezhnev period?
Pensions rose at a higher rate than wages, but remained insufficient
What was the social group that did not receive any pension until the Brezhnev area?
Peasants
Which occupation was made mostly from the elderly?
Street sweeping
How did the annual amount of housing space provided by the state change under Khrushchev’s extensive housing programme?
Increased from 178 million square metres in 1951 to 394 million square metres in 1961
What were housing blocks nicknamed under Khrushchev?
Khrushchoby (Khrushchev’s slums)
When was there considerable growth in the provision of health care?
1950-80
What provided all-purpose healthcare before people were referred to specialists?
Polyclinics
What was a Russian tradition when it came to health care?
Use of sanatoria, a sort of rest home with medical facilities
How many sanatoria and rest homes were linked to medical care in 1978?
Over 2000 sanatoria and over 1000 rest homes
What entitled workers to take time at a rest home/sanatoria?
High blood pressure; heart problems; stomach complaints
Where were the best medical services available?
Moscow, with Leningrad and other major cities not far behind
Which republics of the USSR were particular badly served when it came to medical care?
Central Asian republics
When were the incomes of farmers increased?
1966
How did the wages of rural workers compare to their urban counterparts by the mid-1970s?
Only 10% less
By when were the majority of the Soviet population experiencing benefits from the great Soviet experiment?
By the 1970s
Why was Soviet intervention to deal with popular unrest in Poland avoided in 1980?
Polish government declared martial law to prop up the communist regime
Where was there serious unrest in 1959 in the USSR?
Temirtau, a new industrial centre in Kazakhstan
When was there a wave of protests over food prices?
1962- government increased the price of meat and dairy products
Where did the meat and dairy protests develop into serious unrest?
Novocherkassk
Where were there more strikes over food shortages?
Sverdlovsk in 1969; Gorki in 1980
Where did unrest over poor housing provision occur in 1969?
Kiev
Free Trade Union Association
1977- sought to represent the real grievances of Soviet workers rather than relying on the government-controlled trade unions
How did the government take action against the Free Trade Union Association quickly?
Organisation’s leader, Vladimir Klebanov, was dismissed from his job and evicted from his flat
When did a bomb in the Moscow Metro kill several passengers?
1977
When was there an assassination attempt on Brezhnev?
1969
What was the divorce rate in 1979?
340/1000 marriages
How many alcoholics were there estimated to be in 1987?
20 million
When did the commuters in Moscow complain about being robbed by young thugs on evening trains?
1970s
What did the Bolsheviks do as soon as they had seized power to improve the lives of women?
Established a women’s branch of the Central Committee in 1917, Zhenotdel, to promote the status of women within socialist notions of equality
What were the series of decrees introduced as soon as the Bolsheviks were in power to give women greater status and freedom in marriage?
Divorce was made easier; abortion was legalised; laws that made a woman obey her husband, live with him and take his name were abolished; women no longer needed their husband’s permission to take a job/study in further education
When did Lenin address a women’s congress and suggest the derogatory term ‘baba’ should be banned?
1918
When was the principle of equal pay for men and women passed into law and maternity leave arrangements granted?
December 1917
What declared that were men and women were equal?
Soviet constitution of 1918
How many divorces were still initiated by men?
70%- often abandoning women who had become pregnant
How many women fought in the Red Army during the civil war?
Over 70,000- but few held high rank
When was the famine that followed the civil war?
1921-22
Alexandra Kollontai
Leading Bolshevik figure in early years of the regime and first woman to be a member of a government in Europe; feminist and believer in free love; member of the Central Committee
When was Kollontai made head of Zhenotdel?
1920
When did Kollontai’s influence wane?
After 1921
Which areas were particularly resistant to change?
Muslim areas of Central Asia
When was the campaign against the veiling of women?
1927
What sometimes happened to Muslim women who refused to wear traditional dress?
Killed by members of their own family in ‘honour’ killings
Where was a Zhenotdel meeting attacked by Muslim men with dogs and boiling water?
Baku
When did the Party close down Zhenotdel, claiming that women’s issues had been solved?
1930
When did the status of rural women improve slowly?
Khrushchev and Brezhnev years- social provision, such as health care and maternity benefits, was extended to the countryside
When was the internal passport system extended to collective workers?
1974
How did the number of female industrial workers rise during the 1930s?
From 3 million in 1928 to over 13 million in 1940
In which industry did women dominate the workforce?
Light industry, especially textiles
Which male-dominated industries did women enter?
Construction industry- lumbering and engineering
Who was the tractor driver used as a role model for Soviet women?
Praskovia Angelina
Which city’s underground was built partly by brigades of female workers?
Moscow
How many higher education places did the government reserve for women in 1929?
20%- modest increase on the 14% already occupied by women
How many engineering students were female by 1940?
Over 40%
When was an initial wave of women volunteers for the Red Army turned away?
1941
What caused the government to reluctantly change its mind about women being involved in active combat during WW2?
Heavy losses
How many women served in the armed forces during WW2?
800,000
Where did most women serve in the armed forces during WW2?
Medical units but also as pilots, machine-gunners and tanks crews
How many women received the Soviet Union’s highest military award, ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’?
89
When was the attitude that women were expected to work and could do so in a wide range of occupations widespread?
By the 1950s
When had women been given the vote for the first time?
Provisional Government of 1917
How many women made up Party leadership in 1932?
16%
When did female delegates at Party congresses exceed 10%?
1939
When did Kollontai serve as a people’s commissar?
Commissar for Public Welfare from 1917-18
How many women were members of the Central Committee before WW2?
Only 7
Who were the two most prominent women in politics pre-WW2?
Nadezhda Krupskaya; Alexandra Kollontai
Who was the first woman to become a full candidate member of the top body within the Party and a favourite of Khrushchev?
Ekaterina Furtseva
What was the Politburo renamed?
Presidium
When did Ekaterina Furtseva become a member of the presidium?
1957
After Furtseva, when did the Soviet Union have to wait until before another woman made it into the Party’s top body?
September 1988- Alexandra Biryukova
Who was one of the most famous ballerinas at the Bolshoi Ballet company?
Natalia Bessmertnova
Which actress became famous for her role in the Soviet film War and Peace (1967)?
Ludmila Savelyeva
Who became the first woman in space in 1963?
Valentina Tereshkova
What did the Bolsheviks’s Family Code of 1918 make easier?
Divorce
