24 - Class, Women And Young People

Question 1

What did the Soviet regime encourage to create a classless society? What would families share?

Answer 1

Communal living

Kitchens and toilets

Question 2

What life was often subjected to public scrutiny? Whose interests were seen as superior to individuals?

Answer 2

Private life

The community

Question 3

What is a term used by the communists to describe the “class enemy”?

Answer 3

Burzhui

Question 4

What did people try to hide behind as private life was slowly being abolished? Why?

Answer 4

A mask of conformity

To preserve their own identity

Question 5

Why was the Communist Party so keen to unmask potential threats?

Answer 5

To subject them to the purges

Question 6

What did the October Revolution intend to bring to Russia? What did workers take control of as a result of the revolution?

Answer 6

Greater equality

Factories and farms

Question 7

What harsh discipline was introduced under War Communism?

Answer 7

Harsh labour discipline

Question 8

What 2 reasons saw working conditions deteriorate under Stalin?

Answer 8

Seven-day work week

Longer hours

Question 9

What was introduced in the 1930s to increase one’s productivity?

Answer 9

Bonuses and payments

Question 10

What elite did the Stakhanovite movement produce? For what 2 reasons were they better off?

Answer 10

Labour elite

Higher wages and better housing

Question 11

What conditions deteriorated in the countryside? Why?

Answer 11

Living conditions

Collectivisation

Question 12

What 2 elements characterised the poor standards of urban living?

Answer 12

Overcrowding

Poor sanitising

Question 13

What Revolution produced greater opportunities for women? What 2 things could they get assistance with?

Answer 13

Communist Revolution

Jobs and childcare

Question 14

What marital process was made easier? What medical procedure was legalised under Lenin?

Answer 14

Divorce

Abortion

Question 15

What did women begin to do in increasing numbers? What was provided to benefit childcare?

Answer 15

Work

Nurseries

Question 16

What did women have to carry on doing while juggling a job? Which gender initiated most divorces?

Answer 16

Housework

Men

Question 17

What did Stalin begin to extol in the early 1930s? Why?

Answer 17

Traditional family values

Falling birth rate

Question 18

What did Soviet propaganda portray Stalin as to families? How were women portrayed?

Answer 18

A “father figure”

As mothers opposed to workers

Question 19

What legal procedure was made more difficult under Stalin? What was offered to large families facing a divorce?

Answer 19

Divorce

Financial incentives

Question 20

How much of the industrial workforce were women by 1940?

Answer 20

43%

Question 21

What key element was seen as crucial to building a new socialist society? Who provided free schooling for all?

Answer 21

Education

Lenin

Question 22

What training was provided from Lenin’s educational curriculum? How was this workforce described?

Answer 22

Vocational training

“Socially useful labour”

Question 23

What key institutions played a role in indoctrinating socialism? Who were students told to inform the authorities on?

Answer 23

Universities and schools

Teachers/parents holding “anti-Soviet” views

Question 24

Where in society were improvements made? How many people under the age of 50 were literate?

Answer 24

Education

90%

Question 25

What was the name of the youth-wing to the Communist Party? When was it formed?

Answer 25

Komosomol

1918

Question 26

What was the name of the junior-wing of the Communist Party? When was it established?

Answer 26

Pioneers

1922

Question 27

What did the Pioneers take an oath to? What did they wear?

Answer 27

The Communist Party

A special uniform

Question 28

Who did Komsomol encourage its young members to assist? What clubs did they set up? What work were they encouraged to participate in?

Answer 28

Police
Political clubs
Voluntary social work

Question 29

What did Komsomol membership ease? What did it enhance?

Answer 29

Educational advancement

Job prospects

Question 30

How many members did Komosomol have by 1940? What did some of its members controversially prefer?

Answer 30

10 million

Western culture

Question 31

What does Historian Orlando Figes state about family decrees from the mid-1930s?

Answer 31

“They aimed to strengthen the Soviet family”

Question 32

What does Historian Sheila Fitzpatrick mention about the purges of “class enemies”?

Answer 32

“Party officials replaced class enemies purged from central government”