Stalin

• Work and Benefits under Stalin overview

  • Employment during industrialisation.
  • Benefits of the Five Year Plans.
  • Post-war employment and benefits.
• Employment during industrialisation

  • Rapid industrialisation led to full employment for men and women.
  • Poor working conditions; safety was not prioritised for workers; speedy construction was more important than safe workplaces.
  • Miners worked in dangerous condtions; meeting production quotas was more important than health and safety.
  • Harsh labour discipline; lateness criminalised; damaging factory property was criminalised; strikes were banned.
  • 'Continous work week' was implemented.
  • In 1940, internal passports were introduced and workers lost the right to change jobs.
• Benefits of the Five Year Plans

  • Living standards; workers entitled to food rations; by 1933, most Soviet citizens had access to electricity; factory and farm canteens provided meals for workers.
  • Public Transport; in the 1930s over 30,000km of railways built; passenger traffic increased by 400%; Moscow Metro opened in 1930s.
  • Healthcare; mass vaccination campaigns launched against smallpox, diptheria, malaria and typhoid.
  • New benefits linked to industrial work through factories or collective farms; peasants therefore benefit less.
• Post-war employment and benefits

  • Full employment continued; from 1945-1950, industrial workforce increased by 4.2 million.
  • Food shortages; in 1947, communal canteen meals cost workers 200-300 roubles a month - about half their monthly wages; workers under 18 entitled to 3 subsidised meals a day from factory canteens; however, subsidies only covered 2.3kg of meat and 6 eggs a month.
  • Healthcare improved; infant mortality decreased 50% from 1940-1950; number of medical doctors increased by 2/3 from 1947-1952.
  • No healthcare improvement; hygiene education poor; average worker had 13 sick days.