Topic 4: Life in the Soviet Union 1944-41 Flashcards
1
Q
What did Moscow’s population rise to between 1929 to 1936?
A
2.2 million in 1929 and 4.1 million in 1936
2
Q
What did Leningrad’s population rise to between 1926 to 1939?
A
1.6 million in 1926 to 3.4 million in 1939
3
Q
How did they divide the already small apartments to accommodate for the new population?
A
5.5 square metres in 1930 to 4 square metres in 1940
4
Q
What were corner dwellers?
A
People waiting to receive a flat
5
Q
Where did corner dwellers live?
A
Coal sheds, under-stair cupboards, corridors, or the communal kitchens
6
Q
What did Magnitogorsks’ population rise by between 1929 to 1932?
A
1929: 25
1932: 250,000
7
Q
What were the housing improvements in new towns?
A
Barrack style dormitories
8
Q
What did workers have to cope with in new towns?
A
Unpaved roads, open sewers, no street lighting, and public transport.
9
Q
What was common in new towns?
A
Crime and violence.
Women were often targeted at night.
10
Q
What items were in short supply?
A
Shoes and clothing.
11
Q
How long were queues when shoes were available?
A
Sometimes longer than 1,000 people
12
Q
What goods were seen as ‘luxurious’?
A
Watches and furniture
13
Q
What was the popular proverb about stealing?
A
He who does not steal, robs his family.
14
Q
When was bread rationed until?
A
1935
15
Q
Was the average diet of a worker better or worse than in 1900?
A
Worse
16
Q
When did some people start to wait outside of shops?
A
At 2am even in freezing temperatures.
17
Q
What was built in 1928 for leisure?
A
Gorky Park
18
Q
Where was Gorky Park?
A
Moscow
19
Q
What did Gorky Park offer?
A
Gardens, snack bars, a swimming pool, and a music and dance area
20
Q
What did other towns have in terms of leisure opportunities?
A
Football stadiums, parks, athletics grounds, and cinemas.
21
Q
What was the annual audiences at the cinema in Magnitoorsk?
A
600,000
22
Q
What kinds of films were popular?
A
Civil War films
23
Q
What were the mini Olympics?
A
Organised by factories.
Teams from different factories competed.
Winners could compete on a national level
24
Q
Why did peasants not get as much to eat?
A
They were regarded as less important.
25
What kind of housing did peasants live in?
Basic housing
One room wooden huts with an outside toilet.
26
Did collectivisation change the living conditions of the peasants
No
27
How was investment different in new towns compared to villages?
Villages received little investment and non of the leisure opportunities that the workers did
28
What were the negatives of working conditions in towns?
No health and safety
Internal passports
Restricted trade unions
Progressive piecework
The 1940 Labour Code
29
What was not a priority in factories?
Health and safety which led to accidents.
30
Why were internal passports introduced?
To stop people changing jobs
31
What could managers do without trade union approval?
Sack workers
32
What was progressive piecework?
Workers were paid by the amount they produced
33
Why was progressive piecework a step away from the Party's earlier beliefs?
They believed in equal wages for the workers
34
What was the 1940 Labour Code?
Increased the working day from 7 to 8 hours.
Lengthened the working day from 5 to 6 days.
Job changes was a criminal offence
Being late to work could lead to a 25% pay cut for six months.
35
What were the positives of working conditions in towns?
Everyone had a job
Factories gave basic clothing
Larger factories had childcare and laundry
Rewards were used
36
How did the Great Depression hit the west compared to the USSR?
Jarrow: 73% unemployment
USA: 25% unemployment
USSR: 0% unemployment
37
What did factories give to their workers?
Clothing and set up canteens to give out hot food
38
What did larger factories provide?
Childcare centres and laundry facilities
39
What rewards could workers be given?
Pay or ration increases
40
What were the peasants angry about?
Loss of land
Being told what to do by the Collective Chairman
Low wages
Long hours
Lack of freedom
41
What did the Collective Chairman decide?
Crops to be grown on collectivised farms
42
How much did peasants make in relation to factory workers?
They made 20% of what a factory worker made
43
How did peasants work?
Slowly and put little effort in
44
What did peasants put more effort into?
Their own plots of land
45
What did desperate factory workers do with peasants?
Fake internal passports for peasants that wanted a job in factories.
46
What is the old Russian proverb about wives and soup?
The harder you beat your wife, the better the soup will taste
47
Traditionally, what was expected of women?
Not to have strong views
Not to have a career
Not to be educated
Not to be independent
To be an uncomplaining housewife and mother
48
What was common in traditional Russian families?
Domestic violence
49
What was the Zhenotdel?
A body to promote women's issues
50
What did Communists believe about marriage?
Traditionally a form of slavery
51
What changes did the Bolsheviks make to women's lives before the 1930s?
Women did not have to take her husbands surname
Women did not have to ask her husband permission to get a job
Divorce was made easier
Abortion was available on demand
Marriage was civil rather than religious
52
Which European country became the first to legalise abortion on demand?
USSR
53
The USSR went from the highest marriage rate to...
The highest divorce rate
54
How many marriages ended in separation in the 1930s?
Half
55
Who was divorce mainly used by?
Men who wanted to abandon their wives and children
56
What did family break ups lead to?
Gangs of children living on the streets
57
In Moscow, compare the rate of live births to abortions
Abortions outnumbered live births 3 to 1
58
Why did Stalin close the Zhenotdel?
He claimed its work was done
59
In 1937, what did Stalin declare?
That women were now equal with men
60
What did the 1936 Family Code adopt?
Unregistered marriages were not recognised by the state.
Divorce was more expensive.
Men who left families still had to support them financially.
Abortion was made illegal.
Homosexuality was made illegal.
Mothers with 6 or more children would receive money from the state.
61
What evidence is there to show that the Family Code was a success?
The birth rate rose from 25 births per 1,000 people in 1935 to 31 per 1000 in 1940.
The divorce rate slowed.
62
What did Stalin say about bad husbands and fathers?
Stalin said 'a poor husband and father cannot be a good citizen'
63
What changes to women's employment were made immediately after the Revolution?
Women should be paid the same and given the same promotion aspects
64
How many women were working in 1928?
3 million
65
Under the NEP what kinds of jobs did women have?
Domestic service, farming, and small textile workers.
66
Who did unemployment under the NEP affect first?
Women
67
How many women entered the workforce during industrialisation?
10 million
68
How many women workers were there by 1940?
13 million
69
What professions did women tend to dominate under Stalin?
Medicine and teaching
70
By 1940, what percentage of women worked in heavy industry?
41%
71
What did women become under industrialisation?
Engineers, construction workers, steel makers, and train drivers
72
What did Pasha Angelina do?
Awarded Stakhanovite status
Organised an all-woman tractor team which achieved 129% of its quota
She became a Soviet celebrity
Appeared in propaganda posters
73
How much less were women paid than men?
60-65% less
74
What were the negatives for women working in Leningrad?
Made up 44% of the workforce
Paid less
Less literate
Less involved in political and technical education
75
How many factory directors were women?
20 out of 328
76
Where did 17 of the factory directors work?
In textile workers where 75% of the workers were women
77
What % of all doctors were women?
50-60%
78
How many women were head doctors in hospitals?
4
79
What was the double burden for women?
Women had to work a full-time job and deal with childcare and domestic duties.
80
What is the old Russian proverb about women and men?
Women can do everything; men can do the rest
81
How did the state try to help with childcare?
They offered free childcare but there weren't enough places
82
Who recognised that women played the most advanced role against collective farming?
Kaganovich
83
(Women) It was difficult for the NKVD to take action against ___
All women protests
84
What political rights did women have right after the Revolution?
The right to stand for, and vote in Communist Party elections
A small group of women rose to important positions
85
Who was Alexandra Kollontai?
The first women People's Commissar
86
How did the Communist Party fail women in politics under Stalin?
They failed to advance women into politics
87
What happened to women that tried to advance in the Communist Party under Stalin?
They were harassed and ignored
88
What was the Great Retreat?
Reinstatement of traditional roles for women
89
What was the Housewife's Movement?
Focused on good works like collecting money for good causes, organising activities for sick children, and supervising factory canteens and nurseries
90
What were the expectations for women under the Great Retreat?
Mothering
91
When did the first woman become a member of the Politburo?
1957
Ekaterina Furtseva
92
What was abandoned in education immediately after the Revolution?
Traditional teaching through exams, memorising facts, corporal punishment and traditional academic subjects were abandoned
93
What was the 'project method'?
This involved sending children to factories to work and then prepare reports on what they had seen and done.
94
What were the problems in education in the 1930s?
Not enough schools
Schools were underfunded
Teachers no longer had authority
Teachers were not trained properly
Children were used as cheap labour
95
Why were universities allowed to decline in the before Stalin made changes?
Traditional academic departments closed and few practical subjects were taught at a low level.
University places were reserved for children of the working class.
96
What did Stalin want for students?
Disciplined and technically skilled
97
What was expected of students under Stalin?
Students to sit in rows with arms folded
School uniforms introduced with compulsory pigtails
Exams, homework, rote learning
98
To what age was education compulsory?
15
99
When were fees introduced in education? (Not a year)
For the last three years of a student's education
100
What lessons were compulsory under Stalin?
Compulsory reading, writing, sciences, Russian, geography, history, and Communist ideology.
101
What were the changes in the percentage of children receiving primary education between 1928 and 1932
1928: 60%
1932: 95%
102
What did literacy rates increase from and to between 1928 and 1939?
1928: 55%
1939: 94%
103
What did the number of university students increase to?
1927: 170,000
1939: 812,000
104
What did the 1926 census highlight about national groups?
There were over 180 national groups living in the Soviet Union
105
What did the Declaration of the Rights of the People's of Russia promise?
Equal treatment.
Self-government.
Freedom of religion.
The right to develop their own culture and lifestyle.
106
What happened to the largest 15 national groups?
They were formed into the Soviet Socialist Republics.
All were equal (with Russia as the most powerful)
107
Communists spoke about the USSR as a family of...
Nations
108
How were different cultures celebrated under Lenin?
School books and newspapers used local languages
Local leaders were trained and given roles in the Party and government.
109
Why did people think Stalin would understand national minorities?
He was Georgian
He had been the Commissar for National Minorities
110
Why was Stalin angry at Ukrainians in particular?
Their refusal and resistance to collectivisation
111
How did Stalin impose a new form of Russification?
Celebration of local languages and culture came to be seen as disloyal to the Soviet Union.
The Russian language and culture was shown to be superior to all others.
All schools had to teach Russian as a second language.
Many national minority leaders, teachers, artists, and writers were arrested during the purges.
112
By 1939, all factories began a seven-day work week. What did that mean for religious groups?
Christians, Jews, and Muslims could not have holy days off.
113
How was the Orthodox Church targeted by Stalin?
Churches were smashed up.
Members of religious groups were sent to labour camps.
Purges hit the bishops and churches were closed.
114
Which religion did Stalin order schools to teach?
None - they were to teach atheism
115
By 1939, how many churches were open in the USSR and why?
Only a few hundred.
So the government could claim to be allowing 'freedom of conscience' under the 1936 constitution
116
How did Stalin target Muslims?
Mosques and schools for Muslims were closed down.
Pilgrimages to Mecca were banned.
117
How did Stalin treat the Jews in the USSR?
They continued to be persecuted and discriminated against
118
In 1937, what happened to ethnic Koreans in the USSR?
Moved from the Soviet Union's Far East to central Asia
119
Why did Stalin think the Korean population were a potential problem?
Stalin thought that the Koreans living closer to Japan would support an invasion despite the fact that Japan was occupying Korea.
120
In 1941, which groups were exiled to Siberia and central Asia because of the Nazi invasion?
Volga Germans
After Finland joined the invasion, 89,000 Finns were also deported.
121
What happened as a result of Stalin's attacks on national minorities?
Many national groups developed long-lasting anger towards the Soviet state
