THEME 4: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS - HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS THE GOVERNMENT IN PROVIDING SOCIAL SECURITY FOR THE SOVIET PEOPLE BETWEEN 1917 AND 1985 Flashcards
How did the Communists believe the state should work to bring about social change?
With authority invested in the Party and the state, there was an opportunity to transform society for the good of ordinary working people. This transformation would entail using social policy to provide the population with its basic needs and to change the attitudes and values of society itself. Communist ideology envisaged a society that operated on a collective basis and would therefore mark a break with the individualist approach associated with capitalism.
What were the key features of social change during this period?
An important branch of Soviet social policy was the provision of social security through the achievement of full employment and adequate housing and pensions. These measures would ensure that poverty, a feature of capitalist societies, was eradicated. In the pursuit of equality, the status of women was addressed and policies towards the role of the family were used to break down traditional attitudes that limit opportunities for women. Educational provision would be extended to ensure that the potential of the whole population was developed and utilised to its full.
Why might the Communist Party also benefit from providing social stability and provision?
A population whose basic needs are met is much more likely to support the regime that carries responsibility for providing it. In this way, the social policy of the Soviet government was a method of providing social and political stability. Stability was enhanced after 1953 by government promotion of the family as a unit that provided social self-regulation and cohesion. Early attempts to change the nature of the family were abandoned after 1935 in favour of more traditional attitudes.
What did the ‘huge expansion of educational opportunities’ allow for the Communist Party?
It allowed the hold of the state to reach most of the population. The growth of education ensured Soviet citizens were better equipped for a modern industrial economy, but also provided opportunities to instil socialist values from a young age. Education was one of the main mechanisms for upward social mobility in the Soviet Union, and a recognition by the population that this provided opportunities for advancement tied many citizens into the Soviet system.
What impact did the civil war have on the industrial population?
It resulted in a drift of factory workers to the countryside, where food supplies were more reliable. Those factories still in production found themselves without sufficient workers and the government resorted to issuing a decree that forced people without employment to take any work offered to them. In 1918, under War Communism, labour conscription was introduced to ensure that the Red Army was adequately supplied to win the civil war. Labour exchanges were established to supervise the hiring of workers. but fear of being forced into a job they did not want meant that many workers did not register with the exchanges.
What impact did the end of the civil war have on employment?
The demobilisation of the Red Army returned millions of soldiers to the cities in search of work, and food shortages in the countryside led to a wave of workers and peasants drifting into the cities. Unemployment soared and reached over a million workers by 1926. Yet, for skilled workers, there was increasing job security under economic growth of the NEP and real wages started to rise.
What was the arteli and what was the government response?
Arteli were groups of workers, usually in the same trade, who offered their services as a group and were paid as a group. They were led by older members, who arranged jobs and distributed pay, often based on age but in some cases based on the length of their beard. The government considered them to be a backward feature of the organisation of the economy and did not encourage their use, but by 1929 the use of ‘shock brigades’, made up of enthusiastic young communists, to work on construction projects owed much to this system.
What happened to wages under NEP?
Wage differentials grew as skilled workers demanded more money from their unskilled counterparts. The trend was encouraged by the relative shortage of skilled workers, much in demand as the economy recovered from the civil war. Thus there were increasing benefits for some sections of the working class.
What evidence is there to suggest that Stalin’s industrialisation drive led to full employment?
In 1930, the Soviet government announced that it was the first country to achieve full urban employment in peacetime. The number of hired workers from 11.6 million (1928) to 27 million (1937). Employment opportunities were plentiful with the rapid expansion in heavy industry. The excessive targets set by the government for industry resulted in factories using every available labour source.
What impact did full this have on demographic distribution within Russia?
The lack of modern technology, with most work undertaken manually, put additional pressure on the labour force. Many had joined the urban and industrial workforce from the countryside. Large numbers of peasants drifted to the towns as a result of the process of collectivisation and the subsequent hardship inflicted on rural areas. Despite this, by 1932, there were labour shortages.
What evidence is there to suggest that full employment led to divisions?
The more established groups of skilled workers tried to protect their position and pay by discrimination and harassment of the newcomers.
How were the trade unions treated during this time?
Restrictions were placed on trade unions, who were no longer allowed to negotiate with managers to improve conditions. Working conditions were poor, with little attention paid by the government to even basic levels of health and safety. In October 1930, unemployment benefit was cancelled in the light of full employment. Trade unions were left to act as providers of social insurance, dealing with issues such as compensation for injury out of their own funds.
What evidence is there of a productivity issue within the Soviet Union during this period?
In 1927, the average Soviet worker produced only half of what an average British worker produced. Productivity increased during FYPs as machinery was produced, but still lagged behind much of the industrialised West. To meet production targets, the managers had to use day and night shifts so machinery was busy 24 hours very day. This did nothing to improve the experience of the industrial worker.
What impact did labour shortages have on production targets?
Workers unhappy with their job constantly changed their occupation in search of better employment. To deal with this, the government issued a passport system. In 1932, an internal passport was needed to change jobs, and food rations were distributed through the workplace. Even by 1937, 30% of all urban workers still changed jobs in each quarter of the year.
What were the wage differences like during the 1930s?
In 1931, wage differences between skilled and unskilled workers increased as an attempt by the government to reward skilled workers and discourage them from moving jobs. The following year, better rations and bonuses were distributed to add to the incentives. From 1934, the use of piecework rates (whereby workers were paid according to amount they produced) was expanded, an action that pleased skilled workers as it increased their opportunities for higher wages. But higher wages were only a small incentive with so little in shops to buy.
How did the government motivate the workforce during the 1930s?
Mostly through material incentives and honours and medals. Soviet workers were encouraged to work like the hero Alexei Stakhanov, a coalminer from the Donbass region who could mine 15 times the average amount of coal. Komsomol enthusiasts were used by the government to form ‘shock brigades’. These were employed to instil socialist values in the workforce in order to promote production. There were rewards for model workers, such as a new flat and bigger rations; slackers were held up to ridicule.
What were the consequences of the restrictions on workers changing jobs during the 1930s?
This period saw an increase in absenteeism. Harsh punishments were introduced for absent workers in key industries in 1931, but the problem persisted. By 1939, absenteeism was a criminal offence that could result in imprisonment. Of course, with labour being in such short supply, these measures were being in such short supply, these measures were not always applied. Slave labour from the labour camps had to be used to meet the need for workers.
What impact did WW2 have on labour?
During the war, women were employed in greater numbers to help make up the shortfall caused by the conscription of men into the Red Army. Demobilisation of soldiers in 1945 returned many men to the workforce, but not necessarily where they were needed. Prisoners of war were used as forced labour, supplemented by the increasing numbers in the Gulag. Labour camp inmates rose from fewer than 1.5 million (1945) to nearly 2.5 million (1953).
ANALYSIS – Overall, was full employment positive for the workers of the Soviet Union?
Despite the achievement of full employment, at a time when most of the developed world was experiencing an economic depression that put millions out of work, the Soviet worker had a harsh, drab life. The demands of industrialisation in the 1930s were followed by the privations of the Second World War and the tough period of reconstruction from 1945-53. It was to be a long time before some of the material benefits of full employment were enjoyed by many of the Soviet workforce.
What were the initial policies implemented in relation to housing in 1917?
In 1917, the Bolsheviks began a programme of confiscating the large houses of the rich, partitioning them and renting them to families of workers. The principle of allocating housing according to need was often dropped in favour of distribution according to rank within the Communist Party. The reality was that there was not enough housing to meet the needs of all.
What evidence is there to suggest the Five Year Plans led to housing problems?
Housing received few resources, was a low priority and the focus on industrialisation greatly increased the demand for workers’ housing. Established cities saw exceptional growth. Moscow’s population increased from 2.2 million (1929) to 4.1 million (1936). Leningrad experienced huge growth too, from 1.6 million (1926) to 3.4 million (1939). Many new cities also emerged from the industrial development of the 1930s. The towns of the Donbass coal and steel region saw a doubling of their population in the 1930s. The population of Magnitogorsk rose from a mere 25 people (1929) to 250,000 (1932). These new industrial centres lacked the range of cities usually associated with towns and cities. In the rush to industrialise, resources for housing were often non-existent. Workers had to sleep in tents, make-shift huts or even in the factories. Conditions improved throughout the 1930s, but often amounted to little more than the erection of drab barracks. Blocks of apartments were built where resources would allow. They all looked the same and often included elements designed to promote communism: kitchens were usually communal. The allocation of a modern apartment with running, water, electricity and central heating was only a realistic hope for those workers who showed an impressive commitment to fulfilling the Plan.
How did many workers live during the FYPs?
In 1936, only 6% of rented units of housing consisted of more than one room and in 24% of cases it was only part of one room. 5% of people renting lived in a kitchen or a corridor and 25% lived in dormitories. These figures illustrate the pressure that must have existed on family life. The cost of rented housing was very low, with few families spending more than 8% of their income on accommodation, but the lack of privacy probably goes some way towards explaining the popularity of communist youth groups, which got children out of the home in the evenings.
To what extent did rural housing improve under Stalin?
Peasants on collectives were expected to provide for their own housing, which was more often than not little better than a one-room timber hut.
What impact did WW2 have on the provision of housing under Stalin?
Some cities were particularly badly hit: Stalingrad lost 90% of its housing and Leningrad lost one-third during the siege of the city (1941-44). Housing remains a low priority under the Fourth and Fifth Five-Year Plans, which tackled post-war reconstruction by focusing on heavy industry. At least in Moscow, where vast resources were used to build an underground transport system, complete with stations decorated with sculptures and murals like palaces, workers could travel from their drab apartments to their equally drab workplace in some comfort.
What benefits did the workplace provide under Stalin?
By the 1930s, cheap food was available within the workforce canteens. During the difficult years of the early 1930s, the government instructed canteens to keep rabbits to ensure a supply of meat for their workforce. Another benefit was that work clothes were given free of charge.
