Theme Society- Living And Working Conditions Flashcards
Workers housing under the tsars. the pace of urbanisation between 1890 and 1914
As industrialisation increased, the demand for new workers increased with it and cities exploded in size. In those years’ major cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Riga doubled in size. Workers moving to these growing towns and cities needed places to live, but this was largely left to the free market of businesses and individual workers, not state policy. The state did not pursue a house-building programme to match the pace of industrial change.
workers housing under the tsars, the result of failure to develop social housing was that towns cities had awful living conditions
Worker ‘barracks’ were the norm. These were built by their employers. They lacked private space. Shift systems sometimes meant workers would share beds in rotation. 20-40 per building. Overcrowded. Unsanitary.
workers housing conditions under the tsars, public health crisis
Towns and cities became centres for endemic diseases, usually water-borne diseases. By 1914 Russia had 1,000 towns and just 200 of these had piped water and just 28 had a sewerage system. The mixing of waste water and ‘clean’ water was common. A Cholera outbreak caused 100,000 deaths in St. Petersburg alone in 1914.
workers housing under the communists, lenin
immediately after the October Revolution, Lenin sought to improve the conditions for the workers whom he claimed to represent. Large private housing [m/c / Noble mansions] were expropriated and turned into Kommunalka – communal apartments. The local Soviets were put in charge of these buildings and distributed them based on family size. Typically, two to seven families shared a hallway, kitchen, and bathroom, but had their own private bedrooms/living space.
This represents a partial change because workers were now living in the old elites housing, representing some progress. However, communal living remained a norm.
workers housing under the communists, stalin
Housing conditions in towns and cities worsened during Stalin’s Five-Year Plans. The focus on industrialisation once again came at the cost of quality of life.
Under the First Five-Year Plan, there was a 50% short-fall in housing. This meant that many people who had recently moved to cities were forced to live in their places of work, in barracks, or in crowded tenements. In Magnitogorsk in 1931, around 25% lived in wood/mud huts they had made (this a carry-over from their peasant way of life in the countryside).Kommunalka continued BUT, Soviet policy was changed to allocate space rather than rooms. 25% of the population of Moscow lived in a room shared with another family.
workers housing under communist. khrushchev
As with the Virgin Lands Scheme, Khrushchev put a lot of political capital into housing development. He saw housing as a way of symbolising the improvements the Soviet Union was bringing to everyday life. Indeed, he even sought to contrast the achievements of the USSR to the USA. He also wanted the ‘renew’ Communism and return it to the core principles of improving living standards for the people, something he believed Stalin had moved away from. Hence, the massive social housing building programme was driven in part by de-Stalinisation.
was their more change or continuity in urban housing conditions 1855-1964
There was a considerable degree of continuity in housing for much of the period. Overcrowding was common under the Tsarist barracks and in the Leninist/Stalinist Kommunalka. Similarly, communal living in the form of barracks was normal throughout much of the period.
Yet, it is worth highlighting the communists, particularly Lenin and Khrushchev had a greater positive impact than the other leaders. Khrushchev had the largest impact with his massive social housing schemes. Lenin also had a noteworthy impact with the introduction of Kommunalka which allowed workers to occupy better homes than they had under the Tsars. The primary reason the communists had a greater impact was their ideology. Ideologically, communism was keenly interested in the conditions of ordinary people. Unfairness, poverty, and inequality were issues that Communist ideology strongly criticised. Hence, the Communist leaders were simply far more interested in improving conditions – and creating a state in the interest of the proletariat – than the Tsars were.
urban working conditions under the tsars. the new world discipline
The urban workers in the Tsarist period were mostly former peasants. Peasants were used to following ‘natures clock’ when working in the fields and rarely had a manager looking over them. Since most of their workers had formerly been used to working in the countryside, employers imposed a ‘New Work Discipline’ to set the standard in an urban setting. Factories introduced very harsh rules to maximise the production efforts of their employees. This involved long hours, shift work, strict rules of work (enforced by a foreman), and harsh punishments for wrongdoing [including fines and flogging]. Workers had very few rights and employment contracts. Employers prioritised profits.
urban working conditions under the tsars, the factory inspectorate 1882
There were only about 200 inspectors employed in any given year and they had over 18,000 factories to inspect. An impossible task! Just 50% of factories were inspected in 1900 This meant that many factories could get around other laws
urben working conditions under the tsars, 11 hour working day enforced by law 1896
11-hours days were still incredibly long, this did not change practice too much. Factories liked to keep operations going for 24 hours to maximise production. Shift rotations allowed this to continue.
urban working conditions under the communists
For most of the communist era, workers were not employed by private businesses, but directly by the state. This meant that the regime had direct control over issues like factory conditions, working hours, pay, and discipline. Considering the regime described itself as the dictatorship of the proletariat one would expect that 1917 marked a break in the experience of the workers and represented a shift towards the improvement. This was not necessarily the case
urban working conditions under the communists, lenin. workers decrees on 1917
set minimum wages and a maximum of 8 hour working day and gave workers the control of factories.
Rabkrin, est. 1920 [The Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate] was given the task the Factory Inspectorate had formerly had.
urban conditions under the communists, lenin, war communism
reintroduced labour discipline through party managers. Party managers controlled factories and sought to raise the productivity of the workers. They reintroduced fines and punishments for ill-discipline. Further, Rabkrin did little to improve conditions and often sided with the party managers / bureaucrats rather than the workers. The use of fines to punish workers for wrong-doings continued to be the norm.
The underlying theme connecting both of these issues was that workers interests were subordinate to that of the Party. Despite claims of being a Dictatorship of the Proletariat, Lenin really created a dictatorship of the communist party. Communist party interests – maintaining power, stability, progress – were not necessarily the same as worker’s interests – improved pay, conditions, etc. Hence the interests of the party were taken more seriously than the interests of the workers.
urban working conditions under the communists, stalin, image and reality
There was a significant contrast between the way the state promoted working and the nature of it. Propaganda during the Stalinist period celebrated the glory of work. Stakhanovite propaganda gave the impression that meeting one’s targets was doing a great duty to the community. Stakhanovites were celebrated as New Soviet People with superior moral and values to other Russians. They were examples for the people to follow.
Yet, most workers lives became much worse under the harsh conditions of the Five-Year Plans. All of the policies were geared towards maximising the production efforts of the workers.
urban working conditions under the communists, stalin 1940 labour decree
20 minutes lateness was punishable by 6 months hard labour
· Working week lengthened to 6 days
· Changing jobs without authorisation was a criminal offence. This meant that the ‘free market’ of jobs was effectively over. Individuals had to work where the state directed them to work.
· Missing work could lead to eviction
Stalin saw a reversal of this progress on hours as the Five-Year Plans demanded labour-intensive work to achieve targets. During the First Five-Year Plan [1928-1932] the working day averaged 10-12 hours.
One new aspect was the harsh treatment of workers deemed to be ‘wreckers’ by Stalin. ‘Wreckers’ were those who either:
· Caused damage to the state or country, or
· Failed to carry out duties – e.g. meeting targets.
