soviet society Flashcards
what happened to middle and upper class
1917 began to attack aristocrats encouraged hostility to bourgeois
it kept the peasantry and WC class happy and distracted
lenin formalises the prosecution of burzhui - class enemy
calling them former people
what happened to burzhui houses
requisitioned into houses for the workers
assaulted, robbed and killed
increased during the civil war
burzhui women
turned to prostitution
NEp and collectivisation and the burzhui
communist propaganda continued to denounce the burzhui
but they were merely tolerated during this time
the great turn
anyone who benefitted from NEP , nepmen and kulaks were denounced and portrayed as greedy
working class and the decree on workers
control production and supervise management
why did the decree on workers not work
gave themselves pay raises and extra holidays
how was discipline restored
through the civil war repression, through managers and labour regulations
passports to regulate movement
and trade unions were now under state control. Authoritarian?
Did workers lives improve under Lenin NEP
no, laid off workers wages remained low and heavy industry were under state control
No unions to represent the workers
NEP labelled as the new exploitation of workers
’ new soviet man’ under STalin
had a responsability to benifit the community
Stakhanovite movement
Heroes of Soviet
mass cultural movement of workers and encouraged socialist emulation, to break production records
Wage differentials
Bonuses and extra rewards to inspire workers
wage differentials betwee n highest and lowest wages bigger than america
Why were stakhanovites resented
increased labour norms by 1963 10 percent increase in labour productions
Working conditions under stalin
Cramped poor sanitation
water supply
What happened to LC during second year plan
increases as consumer goods
What happened to LC during third year plan
decreased because of war prep
did a Heirachy form
a heirachy formed there were elites in the communist party
Women under Lenin
could divorce and abortions
legally seen as equal
set up nurseries so women could work
Women branch of central committee to promote position of women in society
- for women under lenin
Rapes
Nuseries not that much set up in reality
had to balance both home and work life
extreme burden
Impact on women; stalin bad things
The central commitee for women was shut down with Stalin claiming that women’s issues had been solved
women earned 40 percent less
Impact on women; the good things
Expansion of higher education in 1929 the government reserved 20 percent higher education places for women
40 percent of engineering students were women
health care and education
more nursries in the 1930’s
What happened
to women in 1934
had become concerned with divorce and falling birth rate
men seeking divorce had to contribute 60 percent of income
abortion was outlawed except if it was at risk to a women’s life
Mother heroines
10 or more children
male homosexuality
illegal
traditional women reasserted
images of strong muscular women during the five year plans and collectivisation now depicted women and importance of being a mother bearing children
Impact on youth lenin
Command economy successes during the war
1.5 million railway wagons of industrial plant and machinery will move to western regions
3500 new factories were created and thousands by existing manufacturing plans were converted to war production
economic impact during the war : Agriculture
The countryside was stripped of men, horses and machinery by the end of the war
80% of collective farm workers were women
Ruthlessly procuring of grain
only soldiers and essential manual labourers were guaranteed a supply of good food
during the war the peasants had been allowed to keep the small private plots of land which when expanded and sell their produce at market but it’s not sufficient to provide a full diet
Lend lease
Even before the end of the war the USA was supplying Britain and USSR with essential supplies to enable them to keep up with the struggle against Nazi Germany this game is called land lease as in theory the supplies will be returned or paid off after the war finished
Lend lease made up 10% of Soviet GDP
The cost of the war
The western regions of the USSR suffered the greatest devastation as the retreated in 1941 the red Army destroyed as much as possible in the scorched earth policy to deprive the Germans are valuable resources
How much towns in the USSR lose during the war
17000 town
40% of agricultural output
Social effects of the war
for the war as an opportunity to expand Soviet power and strength and its control of a national minorities
due to the Nazi Soviet pact of 1939 the USSR had taken over the eastern half of Poland
April 1940 20,000 Polish army officers and members of the Polish elite was shot
Repression of national minorities during the war
600,000 Volga Germans departed to eastern Siberia even though there was no reason to suspect the loyalty to the USSR as many had sons and brothers fighting in the red Army
mass arrests and executions in Ukraine
Stalin was angry at reports that some Ukrainians had welcomed the Germans advance and occupation of 1941 the scale of results however far exceeded the actual numbers involved
2 million people from the Caucasus region including Crimean tartars when deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia Stalin had never trusted the loyalty of these nationalities to the USSR
