Stalin - Social Policies

Question 1

literacy - when did Stalin relaunch the literacy campaign?

Answer 1

in 1930 at the 16th party congress

Question 2

literacy - what were cultural soldiers?

Answer 2

the government requited 3 million volunteers from the komosol to educate workers and peasants. However they were unpopular and 40% were attacked due to their connection with collectivisation. they also had few supplies and little to offer peasants.

Question 3

literacy - was Stalin successful?

Answer 3

68% of adults were literate by the end of the first five year plan
by 1934 94% of citizens were literate
97% of men and 90% of women

Question 4

marriage - what was the great retreat?

Answer 4

divorce was made more difficult and expensive as part of the great retreat in 1936. this also included the criminalisation of abortion - contraception was secretly removed from shelves - and gay men.

Question 5

marriage - what was emphasised?

Answer 5

the role of the perfect soviet wife, wives of famous soviet men such as Lenin were turned into public heroes - normal women tended to hate this as it showed a willingness to accept different classes.

Question 6

children - what happened to maternity leave?

Answer 6

reduced to just 6 weeks.

Question 7

children - what happened to childcare?

Answer 7

buildings previously used for childcare were used for other things, groups of women and housewives mobalised to provide childcare

Question 8

children - what happened to the birthrate?

Answer 8

the birthrate was falling which led to government campaigns targeted at women. having 7 children meant the government provided 2000 roubles a year for five years.

Question 9

education - what was Stalin’s aim with education?

Answer 9

to turn young people into good workers, making sure they could read and write and were educated enough to work on factories and farms.

Question 10

education - what reforms did Stalin make?

Answer 10

reintroduced discipline, exams, homework etc. children were given a code of conduct on how to behave. punctuality, attendance and traditional teaching methods were important.

Question 11

education - what was primary schooling like?

Answer 11

only primary school was funded by the government as it was the only education necessary for workers. by 1932 95% of 8-12 year olds were at primary school. it was possible to get scholarships and grants for education if you were a party member.

Question 12

education - how many people had a secondary education?

Answer 12

in 1928 216000 children were completing secondary, in 1939 this number was up to 1.5 million
by 1953 65% of 12-17 year olds had gained some secondary education.

Question 13

education - what happened from 1940 onwards?

Answer 13

labour reserve schools trained 14-17 year olds for 6 months to 2 years with no pay. 4.2 million people were recruited between 1946 and 1952.

Question 14

education - what was Stalin’s aim with universities?

Answer 14

he wanted to improve universities to replace old bourgeoise specialists with new ‘red specialists’

Question 15

education - what happened to the number of university enrollments?

Answer 15

1927 = 170,000 1932 = 500,000

Question 16

education - what did Stalin change in terms of university staff?

Answer 16

he purged many of the old university teachers and replaced them with red specialists.

Question 17

education - what happened to the number of universities?

Answer 17

increased by 800% by 1939

Question 18

education - what happened to universities as a result of the war?

Answer 18

the war had a huge impact and decimated many universities. but by 1953 there were 1.5 million students and over 50,000 academies.

Question 19

women - how much time did women spend on chores?

Answer 19

on average 5 times longer in the 1930’s as they did in the 1920’s

Question 20

women - what were female party members encouraged to do?

Answer 20

quit their jobs to focus more on their role as mothers. join the movement of wife activists

Question 21

women - did women work in the countryside?

Answer 21

yes, by 1940 there were 500,000 female taxi drivers.

Question 22

women - what did the five year plans do for women?

Answer 22

they saw more women in work. 1928 = 3m women in industry. 1945 = 15m

Question 23

women - what was education like for women?

Answer 23

they had an increased presence in technical education - 1929 = 20% 1940 = 40%

Question 24

women - what imagery was used during WWII?

Answer 24

Russia was depicted as a woman and the slogan ‘motherland is calling’ was used a lot

Question 25

women - how many women fought in the red army?

Answer 25

by 1945 800,000 women had fought in various roles, but they were demobilized at the end of the war

Question 26

women - what did post WWII bring?

Answer 26

a period of much greater equality. marked by the first woman in space in 1963, a Russian. it also led to a lot of single parent families, the percentage of Russia that was female went from 52% to 55% in 1959.

Question 27

housing - what type of housing continued?

Answer 27

the Kommunalka continues but housing increasingly becomes an issue

Question 28

housing - what new style of house was built?

Answer 28

in 1927-29 a new constructivist style housing was used, they were comfortable and stylish but unfortunately not many were built so they had little impact on the housing crisis.

Question 29

housing - what happened to the urban population?

Answer 29

between 1929 and 1940 the urban population trebled but the government continued to spend very little on housing. by 1940 families in the Kommunalka’s had just 4m squared of space per family.

Question 30

housing - what was welfare like in magnitogorsk?

Answer 30

new factory towns such as magnitogorsk had bad housing - with several families in one room. the majority of magnitogorsk workers lived in barrack style dorms. 20% in mud huts. all had terrible sanitation and lice spread quickly.

Question 31

housing - how many beds for Moscow miners were there?

Answer 31

just 15,000 beds for 26,000 miners.

Question 32

housing - where was Stalin’s focus?

Answer 32

collective farms - 1945 - 1950 919,000 houses and 31,000 communal buildings were built in the countryside.

Question 33

housing - what was housing like in WWII?

Answer 33

1/3 urban houses were damaged during the war. after the war housing was still not a priority and it was leaky and poor quality, often not having any electricity.

Question 34

social security - what happened to working conditions?

Answer 34

they got worse, harsher labour discipline is introduced and lateness made a crime. continuous work week is introduced where workers work 6 days a week with one random day off. 1940 saw the reintroduction of internal passports and workers lose the right to change jobs.

Question 35

social security - what was provided by the 5 year plans?

Answer 35

workers got rations, Moscow metro opened, better healthcare, factory canteens, wider access to electricity.

Question 36

social security - how was healthcare provided?

Answer 36

on a party first basis.

Question 37

social security - what happened to infant mortality rates?

Answer 37

between 1940 and 1950 they went down by 50%. 1947-52 sees 2/3 more doctors and from 1947 vaccinations become available.

Question 38

social security - what is the issue with healthcare?

Answer 38

planned economy fails to provide sanitation and healthcare goods leading to poor levels of hygiene etc.