The proletariat

Question 1

Proletarianisation

Answer 1

to turn the mass of the population into urban workers, it was believed that the masses had to be proletarians in order to create a socialist - and ultimately communist- state
to develop a cooperative mentality in both town and countryside

Question 2

Proletarianisation was an important step in?

Answer 2

the creation of the ‘scaliest man’ and yet life was far from paradise for the workers

Question 3

after a brief period of ‘worker power’ both in the factories and on the land in the early months of Bolshevik rule, what happened ?

Answer 3

labour discipline was tightened and that early ‘freedom’ never returned

Question 4

during the civil war, what was issued?

Answer 4

to stop workers leaving their employment

Question 5

by 1921 workers could be?

Answer 5

imprisoned or shot if they failed to meet targets and unions became a means of keeping the workers under control

Question 6

the harsh living and working conditions experienced in Leninist times persisted throughout?

Answer 6

the NEP

Question 7

In Stalin’s early years the harsh living and working conditions got?

Answer 7

worse - as peasants were herded into the collectives and more emigrated to the town

Question 8

as more peasants emigrated to towns under Stalin, what happened to the urban labour force by 1932

Answer 8

by 1932, the urban labour force was doubled

Question 9

the drive for industrialisation brought?

Answer 9

a 7-day working week and longer working hours

Question 10

arriving late or missing work could result in?

Answer 10

dismissal
eviction from housing
loss of benefits

Question 11

damaging machinery or leaving job without permission was?

Answer 11

a c criminal offence

Question 12

strikes were?

Answer 12

illegal

Question 13

From 1931, what produced a more diverse proletariat ?
(Stalin’s s rule)

Answer 13

the introduction of wage differentials bonuses
payment by the piece (designed to increase productivity)
opportunities for better housing = to reward skills and devoted application

Question 14

workers were allowed to?
(Stalin’s rule)

Answer 14

choose their place of work and could therefore improve their lot, while disciplinary rules were eased

Question 15

huge propaganda campaigns including the Stakhanovite movement increased?
(Stalin’s rule)

Answer 15

‘socialist competition’, which in turn produced a new ‘proletarian elite’

Question 16

more peasants moved to?
more town workers became?
children of workers benefitted from?

Answer 16

towns
more town workers became managers
children of workers benefitted from the increased educational opportunities that Stalinst Russia offered

Question 17

The Stakhanovite movement
What did Aleksei Stakhanov (a miner) do in August 1935?

Answer 17

he extracted 102 tonnes of coal in 5 hours 45 minutes, when the normal expected time was 14 times that length of time

Question 18

Aleksi Stakhanov was used and hailed by Stalin as?

Answer 18

an example of how human determination and endeavour might increase productivity

Question 19

Competitions were arranged for?

Answer 19

others to emulate Stakhanov’s achievement

Question 20

The Stakhanovite movement became a way of?

Answer 20

forcing management to support their workers to increase production

Question 21

failure to fulfil targets (which were increased on average by 10% in 1936) meant?

Answer 21

managers might be branded ‘saboteurs’ and removed

Question 22

Stalin’s industrialisation drive thus produced new opportunities for?

Answer 22

social advancements

Question 23

Stalin’s purges hit who the most and what did they do?

Answer 23

• hit the intellectuals and white-collar workers the hardest
  this reduced the numbers competing for jobs and created plenty of vacancies ‘at the top’

Question 24

1933 Stalin could announce

Answer 24

‘life has become better, comrades, life has become more joyous’

Question 25

realities of daily life remained grim throughout this period , for instance what happened to living conditions?

Answer 25

living conditions in the towns remained primitive
in towns workers had to live in extremely cramped communal apartments and cope with inadequate sanitation and erratic water supplies

Question 26

public transport and shops

Answer 26

• public transport= over crowded, shops were often empty and queues and shortages were an accepted feature of life

Question 27

Although real wages increased during the second 5 year plan, what were they in 1937?

Answer 27

1937= still lower than they had been in 1928
1928 had been little better than in 1913

Question 28

when was rationing phased out?

Answer 28

in 1935
- marks prices were high

Question 29

those in positions of importance in socialist system(e.g party cadres) could?

Answer 29

obtain more goods more cheaply
this not the case for ordinary workers (whose living standards stagnated, may have even fallen slightly in the last years before war )