Social developments, 1917-85 Flashcards
What did Lenin legalise?
- abortion
- homosexual and trangender activity (still socially persecuted but not legally)
What did the internal passport system introduced in the 1930s restrict?
the free movement of labour
What caused thousands of LGBT people to be sent to the gulags?
Stalin recriminalised homosexual activity, which remained illegal until 1993
Stalin’s view on family and marriage?
- restricted divorce
- banned abortion
- discouraged sexual freedom, propaganda promoted abstinence from sex outside marriage
Khrushchev’s 3 main legal reforms?
- encouraged ‘comrade courts’ a.k.a local courts
- law on parasitism punished those out of work for 5 years
- re-introduced the death penalty for serious economic crimes
What was rationed by Prodraspred during War communism?
food and fuel
How much did the Urban popoulation fall by during the civil war and why?
25%
Workers didn’t get enough rations so went to search for food in the countryside
What percentage of the urban workforce were unemployed by 1924 due to the introduction of the NEP?
18%
- soldiers had been demobilised, free creches were shut down meaning women found it harder to work, and workers were sacked to make industry more efficient
What were 9 million urban workers entitled to under the benefit system in the 1920s, administered by trade unions?
social insurance - disability benefits, maternity benefits, unemployment benefits and medical benefits
Who reintroduced compulsory work?
Stalin
From what year were vaccines for common diseases made available?
1947
Who weren’t entitled to rations under Stalin?
Peasants - rations were reserved for urban workers but still often were made with rotten food etc.
What caused issues in both factories and farms for workers?
Poor sanitation occasionally led to outbreaks of dysentery and vomiting
Successful housing experiment under Stalin?
Narkomfin Apartment House in Moscow, however it was expensive and therefore rare
Where did factory workers live in the new factory towns such as Magnitogorsk?
Barracks
Example of a housing problem for urban labourers under Stalin?
dormitories at the Moscow Coal Fields were short nearly 10,000 beds for the workers
Increase in healthcare spending under Khrushchev?
Doubled spending on healthcare between 1950-1959
How much did Khrushchev increase the pensions budget by 1950-1965?
Quadrupled the pensions budget
What social welfare did Khrushchev introduce?
- free lunches for schools, offices, factories
- free public transport
- free pensions and healthcare for farmers
Effect of Khrushchev’s increased spending on welfare?
death rate fell from 9.7 to 7.3 (1950-65)
infant mortality fell from 81 to 27 per 1000
How did housing improve under Khrushchev?
Khrushchyovka allowed families to have their own space with running water and central heating, compared to the Kommunalka under Stalin where families often had to live in 1 room
Sign of the success of Khrushchyovka?
continued to be standard design through till the 80s despite initially being intended to be a temporary measure
How many Khrushchyovka blocks were built?
nearly 13,000
How many people acquired housing through a Khrushchyovka?
nearly 55 million
How long did it take to build a K-7 block?
average 12 days
How were Khrushyovka built?
with prefabricated concrete panels and standardised windows and doors
What was guaranteed to citizens under Brezhnev’s ‘social contract’?
- job security
- low price of essentials
- 2nd economy without gov. interference
- social benefits
- social mobility opportunities
What did Brezhnev include social welfare provision to include?
subsidized rent, electric and water facilities (close to free) , subsidised holidays and an increase in spending on pensions and healthcare each year
What did life expectancy for men drop by in the 1970s?
from 68 to 64
the likely cause was alcoholism - since healthcare provision was increasing
Did Brezhnev’s ‘social contract’ increase stability?
YES
What was Zhenotdel?
the women’s department of the Communist Party, developed soon after the revolution, which promoted women fulfilling their ‘natural, nurturing role’
What percentage of urban men were estimated to use prostitutes in the 1920’s?
39%
Why were women increasingly out of work during the NEP?
- creches were closed
- women were sacked instead of men to make room for men
How many women joined the labour force by 1940?
nearly 10 million (300% increase)
Average wage gap for women during the five year plans?
they made around 60-65% of a man’s wages
Issue for working women?
Physical and verbal abuse in factories
Unable to get promotions
- generally restricted to low-skilled work such as textile production
What percentage of industrial jobs did women get in the 1960s?
45%
Which fields did women dominate by 1985?
- 70% of medical doctors
- 75% university employees
- 65% of those in arts and cultures
the pay in these fields was ‘feminised’ however
What type of work opened up to women in the 1960s?
clerical and administrative work especially in healthcare and education
What was the ‘triple shift’ for women in agriculture?
household chores, farm labour and often supplementary income through handicrafts
How many women were recruited for the Virgin Lands Scheme in August 1958 and how many actually found well-paid professional jobs?
64,000 recruited
less than 450 of these succeeded
What percentage of the lowest-paid farmers were women by 1970?
72%
By 1980 how do the statistics of teachers in rural schools compare with that of farm managers?
women were 80% of teachers but only 2% of farm managers
What experiments of Lenin’s government regarding the family as a social unit were abandoned by the 1920s?
experiments with communal living and free love
What reforms were suggested by Zhenotdel and instituted by Lenin? (5)
- abortion on demand
- contraception
- accessible divorce
- legalisation of prostitution
- legalisation of male homosexuality
What did Trotsky label as the ‘great retreat’?
Stalin’s family policy which was much more conservative
Stalin’s changes to family policy, with the goal of creating stable families which would benefit economic development? (6)
- abortion criminalised (unless danger to life)
- banned contraception
- criminalised male homosexuality and lesbians subject to hypnotherapy
- extra or pre-marital sex stigmatised in propaganda
- divorce more expensive and harder to get
- father’s had to pay 1/3 income to child support after divorce
Khrushchev’s policies aimed to help liberate women?
- legalised abortion 1955
- increased paid maternity leave by around 50 days to 112 days 1956
- expanded creche, child-care facilities and communal laundries
- introduced convenience food and mass-produced clothing to end the ‘double shift’
- aimed to make fridges more widely available to prevent daily shopping trips
Despite Khrushchev’s policies to help women, what issues continued?
- contraception hard to get
- creches opened late and closed early so full work days still impossible for mothers
- domestic appliances were either less helpful than anticipated or not widely available
When was a new law liberalising divorce introduced under Brezhnev?
1965
What fraction of soviet marriages ended in divorce by 1979?
1/3
Propaganda campaigns against working mothers under Brezhnev?
- suggested they were responsible for juvenile delinquency, rising crime, drug use, alcoholism and broken families
Who introduced literacy classes to the Red Army and what did it do?
Trotsky
- increased literacy in the army from 50 to 100% by 1925
Who introduced reading rooms which offered 6 week reading classes (under lenin)
Lunacharsky
What percentage of the Soviet population could read in 1917?
32%
What did literacy rates grow to in 1928?
55%
What groups worked with the government to establish libraries and literacy classes?
Trade unions - e.g the transport workers union reached 99% literacy by 1927
What percentage of citizens were literate by 1939?
94%
How did Stalin go about literacy campaigns?
under the 1st five year plan ‘cultural soldiers’ were sent to fight illiteracy in the countryside. They were successful but 40% were assaulted as they were associated too strongly with the government
When was the Young Pioneers group established? what was the age range?
1922 for ages 10-15
What youth group was introduced in 1918 for those aged 16-28?
Komsomol
What were Komsomol and young pioneers members expected to do in the 1930s?
report criminal activity of parents
Khrushchev’s attitude to Komsomol?
hoped they would hold factory managers and part officials to account
Brezhnev’s attitude to Komsomol?
suspicious towards them, viewing the leadership as ambitious therefore threatening. He wanted the group to be disciplines and emphasise values of hard work and respecting the government
When were primary school fees abolished?
1927
What percentage of Soviet children attended primary school by 1928?
60%
What percentage of 15-17 yr olds completed their secondary education by 1953?
around 20%
What percentage of children ages 8-12 received 4 years of primary education?
nearly 100%
Increase in university education between 1927 and 1953?
100,000 - 1.5 million
Who were favoured under the secondary and uni education systems?
communist officials children - the communist party and trade unions offered scholarships and grants but kids of nomenklatura were favoured
Khrushchev’s reforms to education? (7)
- merging small country schools
- doubling number of schools in towns and cities
- reduced class sizes
- investment in teacher training and recruitment
- moved curriculum towards vocational training
- ended the right for headteachers to expel students
- replaced exams with continuous assessment
Education after Khrushchev?
- senior communists felt that reforms undermined the academic excellence of the soviet system
- traditional curriculum reinstated
- vocational training of 16-19yr olds on farms and factories ended
