1941 - Social Weaknesses

• There was considerable disruption to many people's lives due to Stalin's economic policies.
• Families were split when 1 or more members left the countryside to seek work in the new industrial cities.
• The living conditions in the new industrial cities were difficult.
• The culture of fear and blame in the industrial workplace led to people changing jobs and place of residence very frequently.
• The working class endured very harsh and dangerous conditions at work as well as increasingly harsh discipline even for minor offences.
• The purges created an atmosphere of constant fear in which no one could be trusted.
• Arrests in the purges were often entirely arbitrary or based on very flimsy evidence.

  • This led to a breakdown in the usual norms of morality, trust and friendship.
• Women remained second class citizens in many respects often having to balance their traditional duties of childcare and home making with the new demands of the Five Year Plans and the need to work.