RUSSIA Social Developments PART 2 Flashcards
When did a new marriage law give equal status to registered and unregistered marriages?
1927
By when was Russia’s divorce rate the highest in Europe?
Mid-1920s
When was the Family Code revised to make divorce even easier, leading to so-called ‘postcard divorces’?
1926
By 1926, how many marriages in Moscow ended in divorce?
50%
How did abortions outnumber live births in Moscow?
3:1
When did the government become so concerned about the detrimental effects of family breakdowns, that measures were introduced to raise the status of marriage?
Mid-1930s
When was Stalin’s ‘Great Retreat’?
1936
Great Retreat
Stalin issued a series of more conservative laws
How was divorce made more expensive as a result of the Great Retreat?
Increased from 4 roubles to 50
What was declared illegal as part of the Great Retreat?
Male homosexuality
What was outlawed as part of the Great Retreat?
Abortion
How was the status of pregnant women increased during the Great Retreat?
Pregnant women were guaranteed job security and the right to be given lighter work; maternity leave was extended to 16 weeks
Which marriages lost their legal status as part of the Great Retreat?
Free marriages
As part of the Great Retreat, what reappeared in shops after being branded as ‘bourgeois’?
Gold wedding rings
How did the number of nursery places change between 1928-30?
Doubled and continued to grow during the 2FYP
When did further strengthening of the family take place?
July 1944
During the Great Retreat, what was was the concept of family suggested to be?
Necessary unit of socialist society
How was the family unit strengthened in July 1944?
‘Mother-heroine’ awards; tax on single people; divorce made more complicated
What was much of the social stability of the Khrushchev years underpinned by?
Government’s promotion of the family as a social unit
How much of the workforce did women make up by 1960?
49%
Which family members sometimes took up domestic duties as a result of wives being in full-time employment?
Babushki
When was abortion legalised again?
1955
When did the government reinforce traditional values with the a new Family Code?
1968
In the 1970s, what put extra pressure on economically productive family members?
Declining rate of population growth- by 1982, growth had fallen to just 0.8%
Where were the birth rates higher?
Central Asian republics
How many children did the average family have in 1970?
2.4- a drop from 2.9 in 1959
What did the Party leadership discuss the for inclusion in the 1981 Party Programme?
Use of ‘birth incentives’
What continued to put strain on family relationships in the 1970s?
Shortage of adequate housing
How much alcohol was the average Soviet consuming by 1982?
18 litres of spirits per year
What did the Family Code of 1968 require?
Couples to give 1 month’s notice before a wedding
What was the problem of technical schools aimed at the children of the middle class pre-communism?
Small in number; confined to the larger cities
What provided many primary schools before communism?
Russian Orthodox Church
In Tsarist Russia, how many children in rural areas failed to complete primary education?
88%
Who was control of education given to in 1917?
Commissariat of Education (Narkompros)
When did church schools get taken over by the state and education at primary and secondary become based on a comprehensive model?
1918
When was the campaign for the ‘liquidation of illiteracy’?
1919
When was the Quota system for higher education abolished?
1935
How many schools were destroyed by WW2?
82,000
When did the Cultural Revolution lead to chaos in many schools?
1931-32
When were Khrushchev’s education reforms put in place, with emphasis placed on technical and vocational education?
1958
When were Khrushchev’s educational reforms dropped?
1964
What was the educational campaign launched in 1917 by the Bolsheviks?
Ambitious programme to provide free, universal and compulsory education for all children aged 7-17; simultaneous expansion in higher education
Why did the aim of universal compulsory education not materialise during Lunachevsky’s lifetime?
Lack of resources caused by the civil war of 1918-21; shortages left students with pieces of coal to write with
When was the goal of providing universal compulsory education largely achieved?
During the 1930s; particularly in urban areas
How did the number of students change between 1929-31?
Increased from 14 million in 1929 to over 20 million in 1931
When was the basic pattern of Soviet schooling established?
1934
When did the cost of school transport have to be funded by parents until?
1965
When had low fees been introduced for the last years of secondary education?
1940
When were school fees withdrawn?
1956
When did the government feel more confident to move ahead with further education expansion?
1951
What did the 5FYP set a target of for education?
Implementing a ten-year compulsory education for urban schools by 1955 and rural schools by 1960
What were the results of the over-optimistic plans for education as part of the 5FYP?
After 1958, schools delivered an 8 year programme of compulsory education (ages 7-15)
How did Khrushchev implement a programme of affirmative action to improve education for those in rural areas?
Reserved college places for those who had two years work experience on collectives
What was the Rabfak?
Schools set up after the Bolshevik Revolution to teach basic literacy and numeracy to drop outs
Which leader was a former rabfak student himself?
Khrushchev
After 1917, what did Narkompros declare about universities?
They should be open to all
What did the government appoint to each university to ensure equality of access to higher education?
A Communist rector
Which two branches did Soviet education consist of?
Universities that delivered academic and theoretical courses and specialist institutes; colleges of higher education
When did the government introduce a quota system for universities, whereby 70% of places had to be allocated to those of working class origin?
1929
What figure of drop-outs did the quota system for working-class students cause?
70%
How many people were studying in higher education on a part-time basis in 1964?
1/2 million
How many Soviet citizens were involved in some form of education by the 1980s?
1/3
In the last few years of the Tsarist reign, what was the illiteracy rate?
65%
What was the ‘liquidation of illiteracy’?
Initial aim was to make all Soviet citizens 8-50 literate
How many people completed basic literacy courses at the ‘liquidation points’ set up in towns in rural areas?
5 million between 1920-26
Where were rabfaki usually located?
Factories
What did all soldiers recruited into the Red Army have to do as part of their service?
Attend literacy classes
What was established to promote literacy?
A literacy league complete with its own magazine
How many of the illiterate population in 1917 were women?
14/17 million
Who provided literacy courses for women?
Zhenotdel
What were literacy rates by 1939?
94% for the urban population; 86% for the countryside
What had literacy figures improved to by 1959?
99% for the urban population; 98% for the countryside
As part of the Great Retreat, what was a symbolic move which emphasised tradition in education?
Compulsory pigtails for schoolgirls were required
What was the curriculum based on from Stalin’s ‘Great Retreat’ of 1936 onward?
Traditional subjects
How many foreign languages were usually offered in schools post-1936?
One- English being the most popular
What was the element of curriculum that was most obviously indoctrination?
Study of Marxist-Leninist Theory
When was the only time that boys and girls were split up in Russian education?
During WW2
By when was the system of Soviet education well established?
1950s
How did the number of Komsomol members grow between 1929-40?
From 2.3 million in 1929 to 10.2 million in 1940
By the 1980s, what were activists of Komsomol expected to do?
Support community schemes
How many Komsomol members were there by 1982?
Over 40 million
How many Soviet scientists were awarded Nobel prizes for science?
8
Why did social policy become more important after the death of Stalin?
Reduction in the use of terror
Why was the Communist regime slow to achieve social and material benefits for the population?
Chaos of the early years of Bolshevik rule
What did Stalin’s push to industrialise do for the labour market?
Produced full employment and labour shortages
Who arranged jobs and distributed pay within arteli?
Older members
What were the ‘shock brigades’?
Made up of enthusiastic young communists who worked on construction projects from 1929
What did the government think about arteli?
Backward feature of the organisation of the economy
Why could the skilled workers demand higher wages under the NEP?
Relative shortage of skilled workers; much in demand as the economy recovered from civil war
Why did full employment lead to divisions in the workplace?
Old industrial workers were swamped by new peasant recruits
How did full employment under Stalin affect the trade unions?
No longer allowed to negotiate with managers to improve conditions
What did managers use to meet production targets?
Uninterrupted hours
Why did the government introduce a passport system?
Workers constantly changed their occupation in search of better employment
What was introduced alongside the internal passport system to keep workers where they were needed?
Food rations were distributed through the workplace
What was introduced to reward workers alongside increased wage differences between them and unskilled workers?
Better rations and bonuses
Why were higher wages only a small incentive?
There was so little in the shops to buy
Who often formed the ‘shock brigades’?
Komsomol enthusiasts
When did many new Russian cities emerge?
During the industrial development of the 1930s
What does the cramped housing and lack of privacy in Soviet Russia help to explain the popularity of?
Communist youth groups
What was the maximum most families spent on accommodation?
8% of income
When did the conditions of Soviet housing improve marginally?
1930s
What were canteens instructed to keep to ensure a supply of meat for the workforce during the difficult years of the 1930s?
Rabbits
What proves that sanitation was taken seriously in Soviet Russia?
Sanitary inspectors were given the status of doctors
How high did labour turnover remain under Khrushchev?
30% a year
What did the internal passports provide the rural population with?
Hope of mobility and betterment
Why had Khrushchev offered many of his workers promotions which forced them to move?
To keep officials fresh and encourage innovation
What did do you have to show to advance professionally under Brezhnev’s leadership?
Loyalty to the system
What became one of the most useful vehicles for gaining social status in Soviet society?
Education
Why did education play a key role in perpetuating a Soviet elite?
Schools in large urban areas attracted better teachers, especially in residential areas occupied by the elite
What was housing like under Khrushchev?
Drab; uniform; poorly finished
What was the problem with Soviet healthcare pre-1950?
Quality of provision
What proved the Soviet government’s fear of social instability?
Its nervous reaction to developments in its satellite states
What were the 1980 Polish protests about?
Food prices
Why did the Free Trade Union Association come to nothing?
Gained little open support
Why did the rise in the divorce rate do little to help women support children?
Few received financial support from the children’s fathers
Why was the long-term impact of the civil war or women limited?
Lost their jobs when men returned post-war; traditional attitudes persisted; famine of 1921-22
When had the government chosen to take a softer, more gradual approach to changing the Muslim population’s attitude to women?
By the 1930s
What reflected the lower status attached to agriculture over industry?
Low wages of agricultural work; life in countryside meant fewer services
How did WW2 affect the lives of rural women?
Women provided the bulk of the agricultural workforce
What skilled jobs did women begin to make up a large proportion of the workforce in?
Expanding areas of healthcare and education- low wages and top levels still dominated by men
When did a more privileged group of urban woman emerge?
1930s
What made career progression difficult for women?
Double burden
When was the Politburo known as the Presidium?
1952-66
When did Ekaterina Furtseva’s career decline?
After Khrushchev was dismissed in 1964
When did Yuri Gagarin become the first man in space?
1961
What did the high abortion rate in the cities reflect?
Short supply of contraceptives
How long were the prison sentences for fathers who did not pay towards the upkeep of the kids?
2 years
How many children did you have to have to be considered a ‘mother-heroine’?
10 or more
What helped to reduce the cost for the government of supporting the old and sick?
Soviet society had great respect for the elderly
How had the Khrushchev years lessened the strain placed on the family?
Increased provision of social benefits
What was different about Brezhev’s social policy from Khrushchev’s?
Government’s growing awareness of social problems that weakened the family and subsequent attempts to address them
What were the restrictions placed on divorce in the Brezhnev years?
Illegal to divorce a pregnant woman or within a year of the birth of a child
What is often seen as one of the great successes of Soviet social policy?
Education
Who headed the Commissariat of Education in 1917?
Anatoly Lunachevsky
How long had the average child attended school for in 1926?
2.77 years
How did education change during the 1930s?
Extended to children of ‘alien social elements’
Why did the standard of teaching rise in rural areas in the 1930s?
Schools benefited from the large numbers of teachers deported to isolated areas during the Great Terror
How did state spending on schools change under the NEP?
Declined
What were the key obstacles to the expansion of education?
Lack of resources; low wages of teachers; underfunded school transport; tuition fees
What concerned Khrushchev about education?
Different levels experienced by rural children compared with those in towns
What did many people from ethnic minorities view education as a vehicle for?
Russification
How many people were attending courses that allowed them to return to education after dropping out by 1964?
Over 2 million
What was the enormous expansion of higher education helped by?
Provision of free education; system of grants to support students’ living costs
When had literacy rates improved markedly?
1939
Why did the government believe that education was so important?
Instill socialist values; vehicle to attack traditional beliefs and practices; Russification; technical skills and expertise for modern economy
When did government revert back to a policy of co-educational schools?
1954
How did early radicalism affect education?
Children would study themes rather than traditional subjects; tests abolished; corporal punishment forbidden
What are examples of themes that children would study in school in the early radicalism of education?
Farming; nature
Which youth group did most Russian children join?
Pioneers
