Soviet Social Policy: War Communism to Brezhnev

• Soviet economic policy aimed to distribute wealth fairly, but social benefits were secondary to economic priorities.

Full Employment and Social Benefits

• Lenin and Stalin aimed for all able-bodied adults to work.

War Communism

• Work was compulsory for Soviet citizens aged 16-50.
• Workers received a work card for social benefits.
• Food, fuel, housing, and transport were provided free to urban workers.
• Laundries and crèches were available in cities.
• War Communism failed due to insufficient rations; the urban population fell by 25% during the Civil War.

The NEP

• Unemployment returned as soldiers demobilized and industries became efficient.
• Free crèches were abolished, reducing women's work opportunities.
• By 1924, 18% of the urban workforce was unemployed.
• The Soviet Union developed a comprehensive social benefit system during the 1920s.
• Urban workers received social insurance, education, disability, maternity, and unemployment benefits.
• Trade unions administered the system, covering 9 million urban workers during the 1920s.
• Peasants were excluded frorn these welfare benefits.

Work and Benefits under Stalin

• Compulsory work was reintroduced, resulting in full employment for male urban workers.
• More women joined the workforce due to the Five-Year Plans.
• Labor discipline was harsh, and conditions were dangerous in factories.
• Living standards improved slowly, but a social benefit system emerged.
• Food rations and better transportation was available
• Vaccines for typhus and malaria were universally available from 1947.
• Factory canteens provided meals for workers.

Problems with Welfare

• Peasants received fewer benefits than workers.
• Work canteens used substandard food, causing illness.
• Poor sanitation in factories and farms led to infestations and disease outbreaks.

Housing

• Housing was a persistent problem from 1917-1953.
• In the 1920s, housing was redistributed from the rich to the poor.
• The Narkomfin Apartment House in Moscow was an architectural experiment, but costly.
• Urban housing was divided into kommunalka (communal apartments) under Stalin, families lived in single, small rooms.
• Barracks-style dormitories were built in new factory towns like Magnitogorsk; for example with 15,000 beds for 26,000 workers in the Moscow Coal Fields.

Khrushchev and Brezhnev: Stable Society (1953-85)

• Khrushchev and Brezhnev aimed to improve welfare to build on Stalin's achievements.
• Improvements were essential to Brezhnev's 'social contract'.

Welfare under Khrushchev

• Improving lives was central to Khrushchev's vision.
• Healthcare spending doubled betwen 1950 and 1959.
• Pension budget quadrupled between 1950 and 1965.
• Free lunches, public transport, pensions, and healthcare for farmers were introduced in 1961.
• Soviet life expectancy increased

Housing, 1953-85

• Housing was a priority for Khrushchev and Brezhnev.
• Khrushchev invested in new building methods, resulting in K-7 housing blocks (Khrushchyovka).
• These low-cost blocks were constructed quickly from prefabricated panels.
• Families gained entire apartments with running water and central heating.
• Khrushchyovka became the standard model, continuing throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Brezhnev's 'Social Contract'

• Achieving Communism by 1980 was abandoned.
• Brezhnev invested in welfare as part of a 'social contract'.
• People supported the government and the government guaranteed living standards.
• Soviet citizens were guaranteed job security, low prices, a second economy, social benefits, and some mobility.
• Welfare provision included subsidized rent, utilities, holidays, healthcare, and pensions.

Social Stability

• The social contract promoted stability.
• Citizens enjoyed higher living standards in the late 1960s and 1970s.
• Government benefits and black market trade ensured a secure life.
• Organized opposition was rare, ensuring stability from 1964-1985.

Social Problems

• Problems persisted despite increased welfare.
• Traditional ideas about women's roles prevailed; female unemployment reached 10% in some areas.
• Male life expectancy declined from 68 to 64 years during the 1970s, mainly due to alcoholism.

The Changing Status of Women

• The Communist Party aimed for equality.
• The status of women varied by location and time.

Status of Women in Soviet Towns

Civil War

• Lenin established Zhenotdel.
• Alexandra Kollontai believed in inherent differences.
• Zhenotdel recruited women for crèches and orphanages.
• Some women worked in factories due to labor shortages.

NEP

• Crèches closed, and women were sacked for men.
• Unemployment and limited benefits forced many women into prostitution.
• 39% of urban men used prostitutes in the 1920s.

Stalin's Industry

• Women joined the industrial workforce due to the Five-Year Plans.
• Over 10 million women joined the labor force by 1940, increasing it by over 300%.
• Women made up 75% of the urban labor force during World War II.
• Women were paid 60-65% of men's wages, faced abuse, and rarely got promotions.

Women Workers, 1953-85

• Women held about 45% of industrial jobs during the 1960s.

Status of Women in the Countryside

• A high proportion of women worked in agriculture during the 1920s-40s.
• Women performed a 'triple shift' which included agricultural labor, household chores, and handicrafts.
• Khrushchev wanted to recruit women for the Virgin Lands Scheme, focusing on traditional nurturing roles; jobs as milkmaids, carers and gardeners
• They were excluded from machinery and tractor work.
• Women did the lowest-paid, most demanding jobs.
• By 1970, 72% of the lowest-paid Soviet farmers were women.
• By 1980, 80% of teachers in rural schools were women but only 2% of farm managers were women.

The Family, 1917-85

• Communist views and policies on the family changed over time.

The Family, 1917-35

• Lenin's government was divided over the family.
• Alexandra Kollontai wanted communal living and free love.
• Communal living experiments were abandoned by the mid-1920s.
• Lenin was more conservative and critical of free love.
• Lenin supported Zhenotdel's reforms.
• These reforms included abortion on demand, contraception, divorce, legalised prostitution and male homosexuality.
• Relaxation of divorce laws led to rising divorce rates.
• Some men abused the system by marrying and divorcing pregnant women.

The Great Retreat, 1936-53

• Soviet family policy became conservative under Stalin.
• Trotsky criticised the 'Great Retreat'.
• Stalin aimed to increase birth rates and cut divorce rates.
• Abortion was criminalized unless the woman's life risked.
• Contraception was banned.
• Male homosexuality was criminalized.
• Lesbianism was treated as a 'disease'.
• Sex outside of marriage was stigmatized.
• Divorce was expensive and difficult to obtain.
• Following divorce, fathers had to pay one-third of their income to support their children.
• Pronatalist policies offered financial incentives for women to have children.
• Women with 7 children got 2,000 roubles a year for 5 years and for 11 children, 5,000 roubles.

The Family, 1953-64

• Khrushchev introduced policies to liberate women.
• Policies were based on traditional assumptions.
• He legalised abortion in 1955.
• Paid maternity leave increased from 77 days to 112 days in 1956.
• Crèche, child care facilities, and laundries expanded during the Sixth Five-Year Plan.
• Convenience foods and mass-produced clothing were introduced.
• Refrigerators aimed to end daily shopping trips.
• Contraception remained hard to acquire.
• Crèches opened late and closed early.
• Domestic appliances were either less helpful or less available.

The Family, 1964-85

• Family policy changed in 1965 with a new law that liberalized divorce.
• One-third of Soviet marriages ended in divorce by 1979.
• Brezhnev's goal was to increase the birth rate.
• His pronatal campaign emphasized 'natural' differences.
• This pronatalist message was coupled with criticism of working women.
• Working women were blamed for juvenile delinquency, crime, drug taking, alcoholism and family break up.

Literacy and Young People

• Only 32% of the Russian Empire's population could read and write in 1917.
• Lenin believed ending illiteracy was crucial.

Reduction of Illiteracy

• Policies encouraged literacy over time.

Literacy and the Civil War

• Trotsky introduced literacy classes throughout the Red Army and by 1925, all soldiers were literate.
• Lunacharsky set up Reading Rooms (likpunkty) with six-week courses.
• The literacy campaign was not a success outside the Red Army.

Literacy and the NEP

• The campaign to end illiteracy was restarted in 1925.
• The government aimed to eradicate illiteracy among adults by 1927.
• Communists worked with trade unions to establish libraries and literacy classes.
• The Metal Workers' Union reported a drop in illiteracy and the Transport Workers' Union achieved 99% literacy by 1927.
• Literacy rates improved and spreading literacy in rural areas was much harder.

Literacy under Stalin

• The Communist Party set the target of eliminating illiteracy by the end of the First Five-Year Plan in 1930.
• Stalin's campaign used 'cultural soldiers' to fight a 'cultural war' against illiteracy in villages.
• Teachers were associated with the government, leading to peasant resistance.
• 40% of teachers were physically attacked in the first year.
• The campaign failed to eliminate illiteracy during the first Five-Year Plan.
• Over 94% of Soviet citizens were literate by 1939.

Communist Young People's Groups

• Groups were set up for young people.
• The Young Pioneers was established for ages 10-15 in 1922 and Komsomol was founded for ages 16-28 in 1918.

Komsomol and the Young Pioneers in the 1920s

• Members wore uniforms and participated in camping and hiking.
• They had talks from factory workers, soldiers, and farm workers.
• Komsomol members were meant to be disciplined and supportive.
• They had a reputation for drunkenness, promiscuity, and hooliganism.

Youth Groups under Stalin

• Members were expected to spy on their parents and report any criminal behaviour.
• They encouraged hard work and obedience.

Youth Groups, 1954-85

• Khrushchev had faith in youth organizations.
• He wanted Komsomol members to hold officials accountable.
• Brezhnev was suspicious of Komsomol.
• He viewed Komsomol as potentially dangerous and emphasized discipline and respect for the government.

Education: The Curriculum

• The Communists had high hopes for education.

Schooling, 1917-28

• Winning the Civil War was more important than education
• Many schools were requisitioned by the army and turned into stores or barracks, meaning that in some areas education ceased.
• Schooling expanded during the NEP.
• From 1927 fees for primary schools were abolished
• The majority of children received four years of primary education and about 60% of Soviet children of primary school age attended school by 1928,
• Secondary education was largely unreformed and children from wealthy families got a full secondary education.

State Control of the Curriculum under Stalin

• Education expanded and the government established control over the curriculum.
• Stalin's goal was to create disciplined and patriotic Soviet citizens.
• The curriculum focused on core subjects, the history of 'great men', and regimented discipline.

Education under Stalin

• Primary education expanded significantly.
• Official figures showed almost 100% of 8-12 year olds gained four years of primary education, and around 65% of 12-17 year olds gained some secondary education and around 20% of 15-17 year olds completed secondary education, by 1953.
• University education also expanded.
• University student numbers went from 170,000 in 1927 to 1.5 million in 1953.

Educational Inequalities under Stalin

• Access to secondary school and university was limited.
• Communist Party and trade unions offered scholarships.
• The system favored the sons and daughters of Party officials.

Educational Reform and Expansion, 1953-85

• Khrushchev believed education was in need of reform.
• Brezhnev restored much of the Stalinist curriculum after Khrushchev's fall.

Khrushchev's Reforms

• Khrushchev was determined to improve schooling.
• He merged small country schools to improve standards and doubled the number of schools in towns and cities.
• He then invested in teacher training and recruitment; reducing class sizes
• Abolished fees for students attending secondary schools from 1956.
• The balance shifted from traditional subjects towards vocational training and replaced exams with continuous assessment ending the right of head teachers to expel students.

Education, 1964-85

• Senior Communists believed reforms undermined the academic excellence of the Soviet system.
• Brezhnev's priority was to reverse Khrushchev's reforms.
• A traditional curriculum was reinstated.
• Vocational training of students was ended and textbooks were updated reflecting latest discoveries in the 1970s.
• By 1985 students were still required to study the same mix of subjects established in 1947.

Explore the evolution of Soviet social policy from wealth distribution under War Communism to the family policies of the Brezhnev era. Examine social benefits, labor conditions in Stalin's factories, and transportation developments. Understand the role of figures like Trotsky in promoting literacy.