R5.3 Culture and Society

Question 1

What was the church like under Lenin?

Answer 1

Marx described religion as the opium of the people, and Lenin allowed religious worship whilst destroying the earthly power of the Russian Orthodox Church: Seizing church land, secularising birth marriages and deaths and persecuting priests

Question 2

What was church like under Stalin?

Answer 2

Orthodox Church found itself under direct attack when religious schools were closed and religious teachings were forbidden, many churches physically destroyed and between 1929 and 1940 holy day of Sunday was abolished, likely to make workers work 6 days a week

Question 3

What was anti-religion like under Stalin?

Answer 3

-Brief relaxation of anti-religion in 1935, however it was renewed during the terror, Stalin’s 1936 constitution criminalised the publication of religious propaganda
-Soviet Muslims suffered property and institutions being seized and sharia courts abolished
-Anti-religious drive also extended to Jewish schools and synagogues which were closed down

Question 4

By 1941 how many Churches and Mosques closed?

Answer 4

By 1941, nearly 40,000 Christian Churches and 25,000 Muslim Mosques had been closed

Question 5

Who were the different themes in R5.3 Culture and Society?

Answer 5

-Church
-Women
-School children
-Young youth
-Working men

Question 6

What was sexism like for Women under Lenin?

Answer 6

Soviet propaganda under Lenin referred to the “liberation” of women, where sex discrimination was outlawed and divorce/abortion easier

Question 7

What happened to Stalins attitudes towards women in the 1930s?

Answer 7

-He noticed the failing population (due to purges and bad living conditions) which led Stalin to revert to more traditional policies, labelled “the great retreat” it was a rejection of the social experiments of the post-revolutionary period
-The family became a new focus in propaganda, with Stalin as the father and marriage now romanticised

Question 8

What did Stalin introduce in 1936?

Answer 8

A family code

Question 9

What were rules in the family code?

Answer 9

-Abortion became illegalised
-Difficult to get a divorce
-Contraception banned
-Child support payments by father fixed at 60% of income
-Adultery criminalised
-New decrees enforced against prostitution and homosexuality

Question 10

What was life like for Women even after the emphasis on family life?

Answer 10

Numbers of women working in factories continuously grows, divorce rate remained high and abortion rates high, between years 1929 to 1940 there was a continual fall of population growth

Question 11

What was life like for specifically single/divorced women?

Answer 11

More likely than men to be unemployed and not get compensation, the number of prostitutes hence increased and there was generally NO improvement for women in the 1930s, as poor women still burdened with the expectation of raising a family during full time work

Question 12

What was education for children like in this time?

Answer 12

Education seen as a crucial building block in socialist society, free education in co-education offered in 1920s and Stalin believed this experiment unsuccessful

Question 13

Why did Stalin dislike the free education experiment in the 1920s?

Answer 13

He believed an industrialising USSR needed a better educated and skilled workforce, but the 1920s education system wasn’t creating a skilled enough workforce, with lack of scientists and technicians

Question 14

What came as a result of Stalins criticisms of the 1920s educative system?

Answer 14

The 1930s central committee introduced a more organised schools structure, reverting to more traditional teaching and discipline

Question 15

What courses had emphasis on them?

Answer 15

Courses in maths, science and technology to help train engineers/specialists

Question 16

What was life like for teachers?

Answer 16

Many feared purges and though were given higher status were closely watched at all times

Question 17

What was one of the successes that came from Stalins education system?

Answer 17

The growth in literacy levels, especially in the country side

Question 18

What was Komosol?

Answer 18

From 1926, a youth organisation for those aged 10 to 28, it was more significant under Stalin and taught communist values, special palaces were built to serve as communist centres for these young pioneers and it also had free summer and winter holiday camps

Question 19

What was Komosol’s links to the party?

Answer 19

It had close links to the party, and eventually was directly affiliated in 1939. Members took an oath to live, study and fight for the fatherland

Question 20

How did the youth treat youth groups such as Komosol?

Answer 20

Not all were enthusiastic to join, some felt rebellious and showed interest in western culture such as cinema and american music

Question 21

How did Urban Working men treat industrialisation?

Answer 21

In general they were enthusiastic as it brought a wave of new jobs and opportunities for rising standards of living

Question 22

What happened to the most skilled workers?

Answer 22

They were the best workers and with the spread of technical education, training, introduction of wage differentials + Stakhanovites. Determined and loyal workers often found ways to improve and make a decent living. Exampled by how they experienced a rising living standard until 1941

Question 23

Unlike the skilled men, how was life like for unskilled working men?

Answer 23

Much harder, many of whom were former peasants, unused to strict labour discipline and likely to move from job to job

Question 24

What points suggest that there was significant cultural change during this time?

Answer 24

-Komosol members very enthusiastic and led attacks on bourgeoisie values
-Churches raided and priests persecuted, by 1941 only 1 in 40 churches still working as a church, 152 of 168 bishops killed
-Jews and Islamic culture suffered from persecution
-Maxim Gorky strong supporter

Question 25

What points suggest there was not significant cultural change during this time?

Answer 25

-Leading figures in the Russian arts were not respected outside the USSR
-Novelist Boris Pasternak remained silent, some writers sent to industrial/agricultural sites to ensure they were imbued with socialist values
-Most popular cultural activity in Russia was cinema: much preferred Hollywood movies than soviet propaganda

Question 26

What were qualities of Rural life, as opposed to Urban life?

Answer 26

-Strong central control in the countryside
-Compulsory schooling with increased levels of literacy
-Basic certainties of rural life were questioned
-During 1930s collectivisation grudgingly accepted, with some peasants benefitting from mechanisation
-Party viewed peasants as inferior citizens

Question 27

What were qualities of Urban life as opposed to Rural life?

Answer 27

-Great Famine of 1932-33 led to towns being swamped with refugees and rationing system often broke down
-Shortage of housing and no privacy in Kommunalka. Some workers lived in barracks or factories, with only favoured party members gaining private accommodation
-Cities lacked sewage, lighting and transport, water rationed and a lot of violence
-1933 food consumption was lower than 1900, many depended on black market to survive
-Conditions improve in “three good years” between 1935-37, some small trades legalised