Stalinist society

Question 1

describe changes to proletarianism and workers:

Answer 1

-during 5YPs there were harsher living and working conditions e.g. 7 day working week, crime to leave job without permission
-from 1931 wage differentials, bonuses, payment by the piece and opportunities for better housing were introduced, which created a more diverse proletariat
-Stakhanovite movement: propaganda campaign to encourage competition and increase productivity
-his purges left vacancies in managerial positions
-realities = primitive living conditions in countryside, cramped and unsanitary conditions in communal living
-real wages did increase BUT they were still lower in 1937 than they had been in 1928
-market prices were very high
-there was corruption as party officials could obtain goods more cheaply - this disproves theory that USSR had become a soviet system
-dekulakisation

Question 2

describe continuity in proletarianism:

Answer 2

-continued class attacks e.g. on NEPmen
-agenda of new socialist man continued

Question 3

describe changes for women:

Answer 3

-stalin reverted to more traditional policies due to population decline and fear of war - encouraged idea of family
-divorce and abortion carried big social stigmas
-large fees to deter divorce
-adultery made illegal
-contraception banned
-financial incentives for big families
-however many women continued to work e.g. by 1940 they made up 43% of industrial workforce
-number of women in education doubled
-growth in state provision of nurseries etc helped ease burden of working women
-women earned 40% less than men
-3x as many abortions as live births

Question 4

describe changes to education:

Answer 4

-liberal changes made under Lenin were reversed
-emphasis on formal teaching to help Russia develop into a modern industrial society
-collective farms and town enterprises put in charge of education, making education linked to industrial workforce
-selection for secondary schools reopened for all
-promoted reading, writing and science
-promoted nationalism and military training for all
-teachers were closely watched and could be arrested if they didn’t follow the party line and live up to expected principles
-clear educational improvements - by 1941 there was 94% literacy in cities and 86% in countryside, and education proved a vehicle for social mobility