4.1.9 Life in the Soviet Union (USSR)

What was life like for the average person in the Soviet Union?

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (or CCCP) ruled from 1917 until 1991. During this time, the people saw many changes to their way of life. In countries with liberal forms of government, citizens elect leaders to reflect their desires, but the Soviet Union was a dictatorship by the communist party. The Communist Party was led by various leaders, each with hid own approach. Lenin was a revolutionary who promoted collectivization and central planning to ensure communist success. His successor, Joseph Stalin, used terror and force to maintain control. Their different approaches had strong effects on the daily life of the people.

As you read about how communism was practiced in the Soviet Union, compare those actions to the theory of communism as presented below.

 

© ADLC, Adapted from Perspectives on Ideologies/Understandings of Ideologies, Oxford Canada  

 



Centrally-Planned/Command Economy


Chicago American's front page story depicting Holodomor's starvation to death of six million Ukranians. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

The economy, based on the the collectivist values of economic equality and collective interest, was one of the key differences between life in the former Russia and life in the communist Soviet Union. The Soviet economy was based on state ownership of the means of production; the state owned the land and capital and planned how economic activities such as farming and industry operated. Citizens did not own property or work for the profit motive.

Under a command economy, everyone worked for the good of the whole. Private property was gradually abolished and everyone was guaranteed employment. Although it meant that everyone received some income, it also caused great unrest, especially among the kulaks, a class of land-owning farmers who lost their land when Stalin initiated his infamous collectivization policy. 

Collectivization was one of the most profound changes in the lives of most citizens. Russia had a long tradition of collective farming in one form or another, but under communist rule, large communes were established in which individuals no longer owned their own land or profited from their individual labour. (Read more... )

Stalin's initial efforts to collectivize farming led to a massive famine, called the Holodomor, in which millions perished.

Industrialization


Graph comparing the Gross Domestic Product of the Soviet Union, North America and Europe between 1970-1990.


Graph depicting the Industrial Production of the Soviet Union in respects to Oil, Coal and Steel between 1921-1940

By the early 1900s, Russia was far behind the remainder of Europe in industrialization. Most of the nations in Europe had developed mines and factories and transportation systems to ship their products within their borders and abroad; the Russian economy was based almost entirely on unmechanized agriculture. Under communist rule, the USSR began an ambition program of modernization.

Consider these two charts to the left. What do they tell you about the success of central planning over time in the USSR?

Lenin's New Economic Policy

""What was Lenin's New Economic Policy?" AP Euro Bit by Bit #40, Paul Sargent, You-tube

 

 


Watch Industrialization and the Five Year Plans Under Stalin

"What Were Stalin's 5-Year Plans?" AP Euro Bit by Bit #41, Paul Sargent, You-tube  

 

 



Political Control

On the previous page, you learned how the communist party spread its message through the use of posters. The Soviets, similar to the Nazis, developed programs of indoctrination and propaganda to support and control the people. Other techniques included

  • extensive local, regional, and national organization
  • secret police using terror as a weapon
  • establishment of professional, cultural, and youth groups that supported the leader, often with forced participation
  • redirection of popular discontent (use of scapegoats) (In the Soviet Union, the kulaks and the church were often blamed for the problems faced by the people.)

Courtesy Sovietposters.com
© Liberated woman - build up socialism!
1920s Poster
Propaganda, Censorship, and Indoctrination were used extensively. The central government controlled the media. Inaccurate reports of Soviet success and news articles about the supposed "failure" of capitalism were common in Soviet newspapers and on television. Novels and articles that portrayed the Soviet government in an uncomplimentary light were banned. The school curricula promoted the values of communism.

Women were appealed to through the promotion of their status as equal members of society.

Youth were essential to the Soviet Communists. Similar to the Nazis, they knew that control of the young was a key element to success. The Communist Youth League or Komsomol was formed under Lenin. Young people aged 14 to 28 were encouraged to join this organization while younger children could join the Pioneers. By the 1970s, Komsomol had tens of millions of members. Nearly two-thirds of the present adult population of Russia once belonged to the organization.

Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.

-Lenin

Secret Police

The Cheka, or secret police, was established in 1917 to arrest "enemies of the state"-those who protested communist party rule. Later, this became the KGB, which employed thousands of people as informants, police, and guards in prisons and labour camps. By the mid-1980s, there were an estimated 500 000 KGB agents and 2 million volunteer informants. Internal passports meant that citizens were monitored as they moved around Russia. The "labour book" required by all adults was a record of work history and was held by the employer, preventing worker mobility.

Elections

Participation in elections was controlled. Although non-communists could run for office, this was only with the approval of the Communist Party. In early elections, voting was done with a show of hands with the idea that people should declare their views openly. This led to low voter turnout. Later, elections were by secret ballot, but with only one candidate on the ballot. Those in favour of the candidate dropped the ballot into a box unmarked-those not in favour had to mark the ballot which would make their view public to the polling officials who could then report them to the secret police. Official voter turnout was 98%, but much lower in reality.

Civil Rights

In theory, each of the four constitutions of the Soviet Union guaranteed citizens rights to employment, leisure, health care, housing, education, and old age care. They were to have equality of gender and freedom of conscience, speech, religion, the press, and assembly, as well as protection of privacy. Literacy increased and women experienced great gains toward equality under Soviet rule. However, many rights were upheld only as long as they were consistent with Communist goals.

Dissent

Dissent was an integral part of the process when the USSR was first founded, but later any criticism of state policy was considered anti-Soviet and punishable by imprisonment or death. Notable dissidents Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (a novelist) and Andrei Sakarov (inventor of the Soviet H-bomb) were able to get their messages about oppression in the Soviet Union to the outside world. Solzhenitsyn believed that the Soviets could not rule without the threat of imprisonment and its economy could not succeed without the use of forced labour camps. He wrote about his experiences as a prisoner in one of these camps and conducted research about the camps. His book, The Gulag Archipelago, was published through the underground press or samizdat, and it was published in the West. He was exiled from the Soviet Union. Sakarov protested the build-up of weapons and believed that the threat of world destruction by nuclear war was very real. His essay, Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom, was published in samizdat and in the West. He continued to protest against Soviet military expansion and advocate for human rights. As a result, he was held under house arrest for many years.

Read "Communism in the Soviet Union" on pages 179 to 181 in your text Perspectives on Ideology.


  As you read, take notes on the following:
  • How did the Soviet Union reject liberalism politically and economically?
  • What values and beliefs lie behind the ideology of communism?
  • What techniques of dictatorship were used to maintain control?

View an excellent PBS presentation on Soviet Propaganda here

Read The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.