Social developments Flashcards
How was the Baikal-Amur Mainline a positive for women under Brezhnev?
Provided recruitment for single women
What were 3 negatives for women in the workplace under Brezhnev?
- Low paid and unskilled work
- Double burden
- Only 4% of the Central Committee
What percentage of low skilled workers were women under Brezhnev?
72%
What were the 3 main points of the 1968 Family Code?
- banned divorce of pregnant or 1 year post natal women
- provided private accommodation for new mothers
- greater benefits for having more children
What were 3 positives for women in the workplace under Khrushchev?
- Valentina Tereshkova
- increased role in local soviets and the Politburo
- Furtseva first woman in the Politburo
What were 3 negatives for women in the workplace under Khrushchev?
- Low skilled, traditionally female roles
- Experienced sexual violence in the Virgin Lands
- No further military role
What was legalised again in 1956 in the USSR?
Abortion
What were 3 of Lenin’s successful policies toward housing?
- house of the rich redistributed to the poor
- rent free housing introduced
- socialist policies
What are 3 ways housing policies under Lenin were limited?
- NEP privatised 60-80%
- redistribution outlawed
- rent free ended in 1921
What was a positive policy of Stalin toward housing?
Reintroduced redistribution
What were 3 negatives of Stalin’s housing policies?
- forced Kommunalka
- living space reduced to 4 square metres
- corridor dwellers
What were 3 successes of housing policies under Khrush and Brezh?
- urban housing doubled
- benefits for larger families
- low cost housing standardised
What was a key negative of housing under Khrush and Brezh?
Moved away from ideals of Communism
Why was there a housing crisis in the USSR?
Many houses were destroyed in WW2 and urbanisation increased pressure
What was the Marxist ideal for housing?
People should be allocated housing based on their needs
What is Kommunalka?
Communal housing, often shared by 2 to 7 families with shared facilities
What were 3 positives of social security under Khrush and Brezh?
- pensions increased and retirement age reduced
- more schools and services for peasants
- free healthcare
What were 2 flaws with healthcare under K and B?
- poor quality in Asian Russia
- low life expectancy due to alcoholism
What were 3 positives for employment under K and B?
- almost full employment
- increased wages and decreased pay gap
- minimum wage introduced
What were negatives of employment under K and B?
Low job satisfaction and growing corruption
What were 3 negatives of employment under Lenin and Stalin?
- NEP triples unemployment
- 1930s trade unions lose right to strike
- 1932 worker lose right to leave their jobs
How was equality increased under Lenin and Stalin?
Better gender equality and deprivatisation
How was equality negatively impacted under Lenin and Stalin?
Party and Stakhanovite privileges seen in housing, rationing cards and education
Why was social security important in the USSR?
Stabilise politically and economically and provide a productive workforce
How was healthcare improved under Lenin and Stalin? (3)
- doctors doubled in the 1930s
- medicine made cheap and vaccines available
- infant mortality declined by 50%
What were 3 negatives for healthcare under Lenin and Stalin?
- Between 1917-21 the population of Leningrad halved due to food shortages
- cycles of famine
- goods such as shoes and soap not easily available
What act in 1918 abolished private property?
Declaration of the Rights of the Toiling People
What did the USSR become in 1930?
The first country to end unemployment
What did the USSR become in 1922?
The most comprehensive welfare system in the world
What did Stalin believe about family?
A stable family is the centre of a stable economy
Was was made illegal in the USSR in 1936?
Abortion
What did propaganda from the 1936 Family Code attack?
Unfaithful men
How did the 1936 Family Code change marriage? (3)
- reintroduced wedding rings
- revalued wedding certificates
- divorce made more difficult and expensive
How did attitudes to sex change due to the 1936 Family Code?
More traditional attitudes adopted and campaigns promoted abstinence
What was criminalised/reduced in the 1936 Family Code? (5)
- incest
- bigamy
- adultery
- homosexuality
- contraception
What were 3 positives of women in the workplace under Stalin?
- lots of women in industry
- lots of female tractor drivers
- infamous role in the military
What percentage of industry workers were women in 1940?
40%
How many female tractor drivers were there under Stalin?
50,000
How many women were in combat roles by 1945?
800,000
What were infamous Russian female fighter pilots called?
‘Night witches’
What were 3 negatives for women in the workplace under Stalin?
- earned 60% of male wage
- horrendous conditions
- first to be demobilised from the military
What were 3 negatives for women in politics under Stalin?
- Zhenotdel closed in 1939
- female politicians expected to go home
- ‘wife activists’ organised stereotypically female sectors of government
What was Kollontai’s role?
Minister for Social Welfare
What were 3 reforms of the 1918 Family Code?
- divorce legalised
- women no longer the property of men
- maternity leave granted
What was legalised in 1920 in the USSR?
Abortion
What was Zhenotdel?
Women’s Communist Organisation
What was the purpose of Zhenotdel?
Increase female political power
What were 3 limitations of the 1918 Family Code?
- divorces led to abandonment of women
- no women in the Politburo
- traditional attitudes remained
What were 3 successes for women in the workplace under Lenin?
- Zhenotdel recruited women
- 70,000 women fought in the Red Army
- occupied some political roles
What were 3 negatives for women in the workplace under Lenin?
- NEP limited jobs and increased prostitution
- largely unskilled labour
- first to be demobilised
What was Komsomol?
Political youth organisation aiming to eliminate capitalist culture aged up to 28
What was the incentive for joining Komsomol?
Access to state-sponsored holidays and higher education
What was the educational purpose of Komsomol?
Taught values of Communism and improves literacy rates
How did Lenin reform universities?
Nationalised them
What was Stalin’s quota for working class students in higher education?
70%
How much did student numbers increase under Khrushchev?
1.5 - 5 million
What did Brezhnev fund in education?
18 new unis in non-Russian republics
How many doctors were there in the USSR by 1975?
32,000
What fraction of the Soviet population was in education by 1980?
1/3
What was abolished in 1956?
School fees
How did Khrushchev reform education? (3)
- established vocational education
- university students had to spend 2 years in practical employment
- reversal of Stalinist policies
What were 3 problems with Khrushchev’s education reforms?
- unpopular vocational education
- only 65% of schools complied with reforms
- nepotism got children into elitist schools
What were 3 positive reforms to education under Brezhnev?
- ended vocational changes
- 70% of teachers attended university
- free textbooks and hot meals
What were 2 negative aspects to education under Brezhnev?
- only 60% of students finished secondary education
- curriculum stagnated
How did Stalin reform education to support a skilled workforce? (2)
- maths and science promoted over humanities
- Stakhanovite movement extended to teachers
How did Stalin reform education which diverted from Communist ideology? (4)
- strict discipline
- corrupt scholarships
- gender separation
- history taught achievements of great leaders
How did Stalin reform education which supported Communist ideology? (2)
- free primary education
- increased literacy
What was the role of Krupskaya?
Deputy Minister for Education
What was the role of Lunarchevsky?
Minister of Culture
What were the aims of education under Lenin?
Make it free and accessible and consolidate power
How did Krupskaya and Lunarchevsky reform education? (3)
- free, compulsory and comprehensive
- free breakfast and medical checks
- uni open for all
What was banned in schools under Lenin? (4)
- religion
- exams
- homework
- corporal punishment
What was a key limitation of education under Lenin?
Lack of funding and resources - 1 pencil for every 60 students
Purpose of collective housing - Figes
‘private space and property would disappear, family life would be replaced by Communist fraternity’
Importance of education - Figes
‘for the Bolsheviks, education was the key to the creation of a socialist society’
Komsomol - Figes
‘the organisation functioned as a reserve army of enthusiasts’
Communal apartments - Figes
‘a microcosm of the Communist society’
Spying in Kommunalka - Figes
‘eavesdropping, spying and informing were all rampant in the Kommunalka of the 1930s’
Family expectations - Figes
‘the good Stalinist was supposed to be monogamous, devoted to his family’
