Social developments - 1917-85 Flashcards
What challenges did the Soviet government face regarding full employment and housing in the early years?
The early years of Bolshevik rule were marked by chaos, including the aftermath of the civil war, which made it slow for the regime to provide social and material benefits for the population.
Stalin’s drive for industrialisation in the 1930s led to full employment, but it also resulted in labour shortages as the country struggled to meet industrial targets.
Housing improvements lagged behind, and the regime’s focus on industrialisation meant that housing was given a low priority, exacerbating the living conditions for workers.
How did the Soviet government address the labour market under Lenin and during the civil war?
The collapse of industrial production during the civil war (1918-21) caused factory workers to flee to the countryside in search of food, leading to a shortage of workers in factories that remained operational.
To counter this, the Soviet government issued a decree forcing unemployed people to take any work offered to them. Labour conscription was introduced in 1918 under War Communism to ensure the Red Army was adequately supplied during the civil war.
Labour exchanges were set up to help hire workers, but many avoided them due to fear of being forced into unwanted jobs.
After the civil war ended, unemployment surged, reaching over one million by 1926. However, skilled workers gained job security under the NEP, and real wages began to rise.
Artels, groups of workers offering their services collectively, were commonly used during the NEP to organize labour, but the government viewed them as a backward practice. By 1929, they inspired the shock brigades, groups of enthusiastic young communists used for construction work.
How did the Soviet industrialisation and Five-Year Plans impact the workforce?
Although the Soviet government did not initially launch the Five-Year Plans to create full employment, full employment was achieved as a result of the push to industrialise.
By 1930, the Soviet Union became the first country to achieve full urban employment during peacetime. The number of hired workers rose dramatically from 11.6 million in 1928 to 27 million in 1937 due to the rapid expansion of heavy industry.
Labour shortages emerged due to the mass migration of peasants from the countryside, primarily because of collectivisation and the hardship it caused in rural areas.
The workforce’s experience was shaped by difficult working conditions, low productivity, and the lack of modern technology. For example, Soviet workers in 1927 produced half the output of an average British worker.
What were the working conditions for Soviet workers during industrialisation?
Working conditions were harsh, with long, repetitive shifts, little job satisfaction, and low wages. Productivity improved, but it remained below Western standards.
To maintain production targets, Soviet managers used uninterrupted work, meaning factories operated 24/7 with day and night shifts.
In response to worker dissatisfaction and job turnover, the government implemented a passport system in 1932, requiring workers to have a passport to change jobs. Food rations were also distributed through workplaces to control workers’ movements.
Despite these measures, 30% of urban workers changed jobs each quarter by 1937, indicating high mobility and dissatisfaction.
In 1931, the government increased wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers to incentivise skilled workers to remain in their positions. Piecework rates, introduced in 1934, allowed workers to earn more by increasing their output.
How did the Soviet government motivate workers and promote productivity?
Material incentives, such as higher wages for skilled workers, were implemented, but the shortage of consumer goods limited the effectiveness of these incentives.
The government also used honours and medals to motivate workers, celebrating outstanding individuals like Alexei Stakhanov, a miner who achieved exceptional productivity and became a model for other workers.
Komsomol members, youthful communists, were deployed to form shock brigades—groups designed to instil socialist values and increase production. These brigades promoted high output by celebrating model workers with rewards such as new flats and better rations.
Punishments for absenteeism increased; by 1939, absenteeism became a criminal offence, although enforcement was inconsistent due to the shortage of labour.
Forced labour was also used to meet the demand for workers, with prisoners from labour camps contributing to the industrial workforce.
How did the housing situation evolve in the Soviet Union during the 1920s and 1930s?
In 1917, the Bolsheviks began a programme of seizing the properties of the rich and redistributing them to workers, but housing provision remained inadequate.
Housing allocation was supposed to be based on need, but in practice, it was often distributed according to political rank within the Communist Party.
The rapid industrialisation and population growth in cities put a strain on housing. For example, Moscow’s population grew from 2.2 million in 1929 to 4.1 million in 1936, while Leningrad’s population expanded from 1.6 million in 1926 to 3.4 million by 1939.
New industrial cities saw their populations explode, with towns like Magnitogorsk growing from just 25 people in 1929 to 250,000 in 1932. These new cities lacked adequate housing infrastructure, leading workers to live in overcrowded conditions or even in factories.
Housing conditions remained poor, with communal kitchens and a lack of privacy. In 1936, 25% of rented housing was in dormitories, and many lived in just part of a room or even in kitchens and corridors.
What was the state of housing after World War II?
Housing conditions worsened during and after the war, with significant damage to cities like Stalingrad and Leningrad. Stalingrad lost 90% of its housing, while Leningrad lost one-third during the siege.
The focus of post-war reconstruction remained on heavy industry, so housing continued to be a low priority in the Fourth and Fifth Five-Year Plans, which prioritized industrial recovery.
Despite the hardships, Moscow workers benefited from the luxurious underground transport system built during the period, although housing conditions remained bleak.
How did the Second World War affect the Soviet workforce and housing conditions?
The war created a severe labour shortage, as men were conscripted into the army. Women were employed in greater numbers to fill these vacancies in factories.
Prisoners of war were also forced to work in labour camps, contributing to the workforce, and the Gulag population increased dramatically after the war.
Housing was further devastated by the war, with extensive destruction in cities like Stalingrad and Leningrad. After the war, housing remained inadequate, and rebuilding was slow, with industrial development taking precedence.
What social benefits were provided to Soviet workers?
Cheap food: Available in workforce canteens by the 1930s, with rabbits kept for meat supply during the early 1930s.
Work clothes: Provided free of charge.
Trade unions’ role: Organized sports facilities, meetings, film shows, and holidays.
Paid holidays: Workers were given two weeks’ paid holiday, often spent at state resorts.
Sick pay: Managed through trade unions.
Union membership: Expulsion from a union was a serious matter for workers.
Health care: Designed to benefit all, containing epidemics like cholera and typhus, improving doctor numbers from 70,000 in 1928 to 155,000 in 1940.
What were the health care and sanitation provisions in the Soviet Union?
Health care: Free but often low in quality, with doctors and hospital numbers increasing.
Sanitation: Strictly enforced with inspectors having the status of doctors.
Vaccination program: To combat cholera (1921) and typhus (1918–1920), significant efforts were made to control epidemics.
Medical training: Increased due to a shortage of doctors after the 1917 revolution.
Patient choice: Limited, with all medicines paid for at subsidized rates.
What improvements in social services occurred by 1963?
By 1963, Soviet workers were typically employed, housed, and receiving basic services.
Living conditions: Remained primitive in rural areas, and the promised socialist utopia had yet to be fully realized.
What was Khrushchev’s vision for Soviet society in the 1960s?
Khrushchev’s 1961 statement projected a prosperous future with:
Surpassing the USA in per capita production.
Significant improvements in the standard of living, housing, and work conditions.
The promise of easy living, shorter working days, and an abundance of material goods.
However, these optimistic goals were not fully met.
What were Brezhnev’s contributions to Soviet social stability?
Full employment: Guaranteed by the Soviet Constitution.
Wages: Real wages increased by 50% between 1967 and 1977, improving purchasing power.
Job security: Difficult to dismiss workers, even those with poor performance.
Material benefits: Increased availability of consumer goods during Brezhnev’s rule.
Minimized inequality: Wage differentials were smaller than in capitalist countries, which helped prevent social unrest.
What was the nomenklatura system, and how did it contribute to social stability?
The nomenklatura system managed appointments in virtually every Soviet institution.
Party membership grew, from 6.9 million in 1953 to 17 million in 1980, with loyalty to the system encouraged.
Nepotism: Party influence resulted in family members securing key positions.
Education: Played a key role in advancing social status, with the best teachers in urban areas and greater opportunities for females in higher education.
Youth groups: Helped mold youth into loyal communists, with membership in the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) beneficial for career advancement.
What were the main social security benefits between 1950 and 1980?
Pensions and welfare: Expanded under Brezhnev, with pensions rising faster than wages.
Housing: Khrushchev’s housing program led to a significant increase in housing space, though many apartments were poorly constructed.
Health care: There was growth in the availability of health care, though quality remained an issue, especially in rural areas.
Rural conditions: Rural workers saw some improvements, with better wages and benefits for collective farmers.
How stable was Soviet society under “developed socialism”?
Despite increased living standards and a more prosperous society, social unrest was still a threat.
Social unrest: The government was fearful of instability, as seen in its military interventions in Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968), while avoiding intervention in Poland (1980) during food price protests.
Living conditions: Improved for most, but discontent remained, especially in rural areas.
What were the main protests and unrest in the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1985?
Temirtau unrest (1959):
Temirtau was a new industrial center in Kazakhstan.
Komsomol members were encouraged to build the new metal works, but living conditions were appalling, with a lack of clean water and food.
East German and Polish workers were paid more, causing discontent.
Workers burnt the workplace canteen and hanged the local police chief in protest.
KGB troops were called to restore order, resulting in several dozen deaths.
Novocherkassk food price protests (1962):
Protests erupted after the government raised meat and dairy prices.
Workers also protested a wage cut by the local factory manager.
Slogan: “Cut up Khrushchev for sausages.”
At least 70 people were killed in the unrest.
Members of the Politburo were sent to investigate, and extra food supplies were sent to quash further trouble.
Other food-related protests (1969 and 1980):
Strikes and riots occurred over food shortages in Sverdlovsk and Gorki.
Housing protests in Kiev (1969):
Unrest occurred over poor housing provision.
Protests often escalated due to clumsy police action before order was restored.
Free Trade Union Association (1977):
The Association aimed to represent workers’ real grievances.
The government quickly suppressed the movement by dismissing its leader, Vladimir Klebanov, and evicting him.
The Association gained little support and quickly dissolved.
Terrorist actions (1969–1977):
Rare, but incidents occurred, such as a bomb on the Moscow Metro in 1977.
An assassination attempt on Brezhnev in 1969 failed, with the assassin not having political motives.
How did social issues impact Soviet society?
Generational impact of the Second World War:
A significant number of young men were killed in WWII, leading to a generation growing up without father figures.
This contributed to a high divorce rate of 340 per 1,000 marriages in 1979.
Alcoholism:
Alcohol consumption increased by 600% between 1940 and 1980.
There were an estimated 20 million alcoholics in the USSR by 1987.
Hooliganism:
Young gangs of “salyag!” caused concern in the 1970s, especially in Moscow where commuters were robbed on evening trains.
Social ills affecting family cohesion:
Alcoholism, divorce, and hooliganism contributed to a breakdown in social cohesion.
To what extent did the role of women and the family change between 1917 and 1985?
The Bolshevik approach to women’s liberation:
Lenin and the Bolsheviks sought the emancipation of women, aiming for equality within the family.
Divorce was made easier, and abortion was legalized in 1917.
Women gained the right to take jobs or study without their husband’s permission.
Equal pay laws for men and women were passed in December 1917.
The civil war’s impact on women:
Over 70,000 women fought in the Red Army.
Many women joined factories, but inadequate childcare services made it difficult.
Traditional attitudes about women’s suitability for heavy manual labor persisted.
The civil war and famine left many women homeless, increasing prostitution.
Alexandra Kollontai’s role:
Kollontai was a leading feminist figure within the Bolshevik Party and believed in free love.
As head of Zhenotdel, she advocated for the liberation of women and their rights to equal status.
Resistance in Muslim regions:
In Central Asia, traditional polygamous family structures were resistant to change.
The government used female activists to promote contraception and education but faced violent resistance.
The impact of collectivization and industrialization on women in rural areas:
Women in the countryside were heavily impacted by collectivization and industrialization.
After WWII, many rural areas had a shortage of men, and women worked the land.
The introduction of maternity benefits and social provision in the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years improved the status of rural women.
The status of women in urban areas:
Women’s work became a socialist duty during industrialization, particularly in light industries like textiles.
Women entered sectors previously dominated by men, including construction and engineering.
The number of women in higher education rose, but they still faced discrimination in skilled jobs and management.
The privileged group of Soviet women in the 1930s:
Wives of Party officials and managers were encouraged to engage in social work rather than full-time employment.
This reinforced social divisions among women.
Women in the Second World War:
Women served in the Red Army in medical units and some as pilots and tank crews.
89 women received the Hero of the Soviet Union award.
After the war, many women returned to unskilled roles once the men returned.
The double burden for women in the 1950s:
Women were expected to work and care for the home, making career progression difficult.
What was the role of women in Soviet politics between 1917 and 1985?
- Women were granted the vote by the Provisional Government in 1917, but political participation remained limited.
- Despite communist ideals of sexual equality, women were significantly underrepresented in the Communist Party, comprising only 16% of Party membership in 1932.
- Female delegates at Party congresses never exceeded 10% before 1999.
- At the higher levels of the Party, women were rare. Alexandra Kollontai was the first female people’s commissar, serving from 1917-1918.
- Other prominent women, like Nadezhda Krupskaya (Lenin’s wife), were also active, but there were only seven women in the Central Committee before WWII.
- Ekaterina Furtseva became the first female member of the Politburo in 1957, but her career declined when Khrushchev was dismissed in 1964.
- The next woman to join the top body of the Party was Alexandra Biryukova in 1988. Political power remained in male hands.
What was the role of women in Soviet politics between 1917 and 1985?
- Women were granted the vote by the Provisional Government in 1917, but political participation remained limited.
- Despite communist ideals of sexual equality, women were significantly underrepresented in the Communist Party, comprising only 16% of Party membership in 1932.
- Female delegates at Party congresses never exceeded 10% before 1999.
How were women represented in higher levels of the Communist Party?
- At the higher levels of the Party, women were rare. Alexandra Kollontai was the first female people’s commissar, serving from 1917-1918.
- Other prominent women, like Nadezhda Krupskaya (Lenin’s wife), were also active, but there were only seven women in the Central Committee before WWII.
- Ekaterina Furtseva became the first female member of the Politburo in 1957, but her career declined when Khrushchev was dismissed in 1964.
- The next woman to join the top body of the Party was Alexandra Biryukova in 1988. Political power remained in male hands.
How were women portrayed as role models in Soviet propaganda?
Soviet propaganda used posters, statues, and other materials to present the ideal socialist woman as contributing to the state’s development.
- Prominent Soviet women in arts and sports were highlighted as role models:
- Natalia Bessmertnova was a famous ballerina at the Bolshoi Ballet.
- Actress Ludmila Savelyeva gained fame in War and Peace (1967).
- Irina Rodnina, a figure skater, won 10 world championships and 3 Olympic golds.
- Gymnasts Ludmilla Tourischeva and Olga Korbut earned multiple Olympic medals, with Korbut dazzling audiences at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Who was the most famous Soviet female role model, and why?
- The most famous female role model was Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space in 1963.
- She was treated as a hero, akin to male cosmonauts like Yuri Gagarin.
- Tereshkova had an impeccable proletarian background and became a prominent member of the Communist Party.
- She remains revered as a hero in present-day Russia.
