4b. What was life like in the Soviet Union?
You have been exploring how Stalin came to power and consolidated his control over the party, the military and Soviet society. We will consider here what life was like for people living in the Soviet Union at this time.
Stalin’s rule began with a ‘cultural revolution’ in society. This lasted until 1931 and it involved returning to the class warfare of the early 1920s that you read about in the last chapter; after 1931 there was a return to more traditional values in society as a whole and a switch to ‘socialist realism’ in culture.
The Cultural Revolution led to substantial and lasting changes in Soviet society. The compromises that had taken place during the NEP were ended; the bourgeoisie, as well as the Nepmen and the kulaks, were now to be purged. Non-Marxists in all walks of life – academia, education, the arts, architecture – were denounced and bourgeois values were attacked. A cultural revolution took place in an attempt to find a truly ‘proletarian’ approach to all aspects of life. This involved creating a vision of a perfect socialist world; visionaries drew up plans for new cities involving communal living in large apartments, and it was believed that it was possible to create a ‘new socialist man’, who would be an enthusiastic participant in this utopian world.
Getting rid of class enemies meant liquidating the kulaks. It also involved removing technical experts from industry. The Shakhty trial of 1928 involved accusing a group of engineers from the Shakhty region of economic sabotage, and it indicated the government’s intention to remove technical experts from industry. The attacks on ‘bourgeois experts’ continued throughout the first Five Year Plan; Nepman were denounced and the intelligentsia also found itself increasingly under attack.
The young were at the forefront of this cultural revolution. The youth organization called the Komsomol took a key role in finding and attacking class enemies.
Within the Communist Party itself, members of proletarian origin were now promoted; these included Khrushchev, Kosygin and Brezhnev, who were to be future leaders of the USSR. With urbanization and increased access to education, social mobility also took place in industry and some from peasant backgrounds rose up to high levels in the workplace.
Interestingly, those who were now promoted in the party and in other areas became the new middle class in the 1930s; they embraced aspects of the customs and lifestyle of the old bourgeoisie that had been so despised. This meant owning cars, staying in hotels, eating in restaurants and enjoying holidays. Thus, a new privileged group developed – party officials and bureaucrats, artists, ballet dancers, scientists, doctors – with access to comforts that remained completely out of reach for ordinary people. The position of this new hierarchy was reinforced by the reimposition of more traditional and conservative values by the government after 1932.
Watch the following short documentary from 2:25 minutes on life in the Soviet Union at this time.
Make notes on the different experiences of social groups.
New laws on divorce and abortion had given women more freedoms and marriage was looked upon as a bourgeois institution that was intended to exploit and degrade women.
However, in the mid 1930s, there was a return to more traditional values that took place in education which affected women. In what as became known as ‘The Great Retreat’, the family was once again the central unit of society under Stalin and, as historian Sheila Fitzpatrick highlights: ‘the old-style liberated woman, assertively independent and ideologically committed on issues like abortion was no longer in favour’
To encourage population growth, abortion was once again made illegal. Divorce was now also made harder and more expensive, and women were financially rewarded for having more children. These changes were enshrined in the Family Act of 1936.
Around the same time, laws were passed against prostitution and homosexuality. Part of this drive to reinstate the importance of family life was because of the need to create some stability after the chaos that had been caused in society by collectivisation and rapid industrialisation.
Nevertheless, Women remained essential to the industrial and agricultural revolutions that were taking place. Although many still remained in traditional female occupations such as clerical work, teaching and nursing, many others worked with the men in the new factories, coal mines and industrial projects, such as the building of the Moscow metro.
Most factories now created crèches to allow women to continue working after having children. Between 1928 and 1940, the number of working women rose from 3 million to 13 million. They did not, however, receive the same pay as men or the same promotion opportunities.
In small groups draft diary entries (two per year) from the perspective of a young women. You need to record the changes in the role and status of women living in Stalin's USSR between 1928-38.
The Cultural Revolution meant a renewed attack on the churches. Komsomol groups carried out attacks on what was still left of religious life in the villages; priests were thrown out of villages, accused of supporting the kulaks during collectivization.
Churches were raided and any congregations along with their place of worship now had to be registered with the government. Many peasants resisted but, by the end of 1930, 80 per cent of the country’s village churches were closed.
The Soviet Union not only had significant populations of Christians but there were also Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish communities how were not able to practice their faith. Groups that were called 'shamanist', found in the indigenous peoples of northern Russia, Siberia and the Far East were also persecuted.
There were 'peaks' in the persecution of religious groups between 1932-33 and 1937-38 with new party decrees focusing on anti-religous policy. Some historians have suggested that the NKVD played a role similar to a 'Holy Inquisition' at this time.
The Cultural Revolution disrupted education; traditional teaching and discipline came under attack and theories were put forward for new approaches to teaching. Shulgin, who headed an education research institute, argued for the ‘withering away of the school’ and a more practical approach to education. Many older non-party teachers were now driven out and replaced by ‘Red specialists’.
However, the government realized that education needed to be a key tool in shaping society and that the disruption caused by the Cultural Revolution was unhelpful to this process. Thus, from the mid-1930s, it reimposed control over education. Textbooks were prescribed by the government and formal examinations were reintroduced. Uniforms were imposed, with pigtails for girls, and traditional academic subjects were put back into the curriculum. Tests and exams were reintroduced.
By 1936, the insistence on a proletarian background for higher education was removed and fees were introduced. Nevertheless, opportunities for students from working-class backgrounds were still better than at any time before; a literacy campaign was also launched to ensure that peasants had basic reading and writing skills.
Stalin is purported to have said:
'Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed'
In pairs discuss what this statement suggests about Stalin's attitude towards education in the Soviet Union.
Health and Sport
The government put a strong emphasis on health and hospitals and clinics were built across the country.
Physical exercise was also encouraged and large stadia were built in towns and cities to allow athletics, football, and ice hockey to take place. State support was given to those who excelled in sports.
Culture
The 1920s had seen cultural creativity in all areas of the arts. However, the Cultural Revolution involved a full-scale attack on the intelligentsia and the cultural elites; only artists who were fully committed to socialism were now tolerated.
The youth in Komsomol disrupted theatre productions by playwrights whose loyalty was considered doubtful and the organization called RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) increasingly policed the work or authors to ensure that they promoted the values of socialism.
In the middle of 1931, Stalin proclaimed that the Cultural Revolution was at an end. All proletarian artistic and literary organizations (such as RAPP) were closed down and all artists were told that they had to come together in a single union. The main aim of all art was now to be to promote socialist realism.
This meant showing an idealized picture of socialist life: supposedly the reality that the Soviet Union was moving towards. It showed men and women working together to build the perfect socialist future. As Robert Service puts it, ‘Above all, the arts had to be optimistic’.
Nevertheless, to a certain extent, music was apparently able to flourish in the 1930s. Historian Stephen Lee suggested that music in the USSR had something of a renaissance in this period. Shostakovich and Prokofiev gained critical acclaim domestically and internationally.
In small groups listen to this song about Stalin from 1935 (there are English subtitles!). What does this source reveal about Soviet culture in the 1930s?
In small groups briefly research the work of Sergei Eisenstein.
Discuss why Stalin may have praised the film Ivan the Terrible but criticised the sequel and dismissed the film-maker from his post.
The USSR, according to a census completed in 1926, was one of the most multi-ethnic (and multi-religious) states in the world - with 188 ethnic categories classified.
The Bolsheviks had formally held that religious and ethnic minorities in rural areas, unlike the population in industrial cities, were backward and would hold back the revolution and development. The NKVD had seen some national minorities as 'counter-revolutionary' in the 1920s.
However, Lenin's government promoted a nationality policy based on internationalism which aimed for unity between different ethnic groups. In 1923 the state had proclaimed a policy of self-determination including cultural and linguistic rights to minorities.
But, under Stalin this policy changed.
The cultural revolution led to propaganda and the education system promoting the Russian language and values, and in turn the cultural identity of minorities.
Then, in 1937 Stalin initiated a move to arrest all ethnic Germans working in the military and industry. This was an escalation into the NKVD secret 'national operations' policy. Between 1937 and 1938 almost 57,000 ethnic Germans were arrests and 42,000 were shot. He then moved against ethnic Poles - arresting 140, 000 and executing 111,000. Other secret national operations were organised including the persecution of Korean, Chinese, Afghan, Bulgarian, Latvian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Sami and Swedes. It has been suggested that the total number of victims of the Great Terror comprised 34% 'national operations'.
This persecution may have been based more on the fear that these nationals could have connections with the West rather than just on ethnicity. However, some historians have claimed that this was a deliberate policy of 'genocide based on ethnic criteria.'
In pairs read through the source below and discuss what this suggests about Stalin's determination to a) move the USSR 'forward' and b) the aim of the 'national operations' in the 1930s.
'The history of old Russia consisted, amongst other things, in her being beaten continually for her backwardness. She was beaten by the Mongol khans. She was beaten by the Turkish beys. She was beaten by the Swedish feudal lords. She was beaten by the Polish-Lithuanian nobles. She was beaten by the Anglo-French capitalists. She was beaten by the Japanese barons. She was beaten by all of them for her backwardness.'
Extract from a statement by Stalin in 1931, quoted in historian Robert Service's book, A history of Modern Russia. 2003.
This is a part b) style question. You need to provide a full explanation of two reasons for 6 marks.
Hint
- For ideological reasons, Stalin wanted all art to give people the message of Socialist Realism.
- Stalin wanted art and culture to focus on the lives of ordinary working people
- Stalin wanted art and culture to show how communism was developing.
- Stalin wanted art to praise his own policies to consolidate control
- He wanted art and culture to show the USSR was a good place in which to live.
- Art and culture could be used for propaganda purposes - to support his economic policies
- Encourage workers to increase productivity
- To foster 'threat perception' of imminent western attack
This is a part a] style question. 15 marks.
Remember for top markband your response must:
- Account includes the main events/developments and directly addresses the question
- Account is consistently supported by accurate historical knowledge
- Account is logically sequenced.
Write an account of what life was like for minorities in the Soviet Union. 15 marks.
Hint
- A census completed in 1926, was one of the most multi-ethnic (and multi-religious) states in the world - with 188 ethnic categories classified.
- The Bolsheviks had formally held that religious and ethnic minorities in rural areas, unlike the population in industrial cities, were backward and would hold back the revolution and development.
- The NKVD had seen some national minorities as 'counter-revolutionary' in the 1920s.
- Lenin's government promoted a nationality policy based on internationalism which aimed for unity between different ethnic groups.
- In 1923 the state had proclaimed a policy of self-determination including cultural and linguistic rights to minorities.
- But, under Stalin this policy changed.
- The cultural revolution led to propaganda and the education system promoting the Russian language and values, and in turn the cultural identity of minorities.
- In 1937 Stalin initiated a move to arrest all ethnic Germans working in the military and industry. This was an escalation into the NKVD secret 'national operations' policy.
- Between 1937 and 1938 almost 57,000 ethnic Germans were arrests and 42,000 were shot.
- He then moved against ethnic Poles - arresting 140, 000 and executing 111,000.
- Other secret national operations were organised including the persecution of Korean, Chinese, Afghan, Bulgarian, Latvian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Sami and Swedes.
- It has been suggested that the total number of victims of the Great Terror comprised 34% 'national operations'.