Social security

Social security

1. Labour market under Lenin

   • During Civil War (1918-21) industrial production collapsed and factory workers drifted to the countryside
   • Gov introduced labour conscription in 1918 to get more workers in the factories
   • Labour exchanges were established to supervise hiring but people didn't use them in case they got stuck in a job they didn't want
   • 1921 saw the demobilisation of the Red Army so they returned to urban areas --> food shortages in the countryside
   • 1926 --> over 1,000,000 unemployed
   • NEP increased job security of skilled workers and real wages rose
   • Arteli groups common (work and get paid as a group) --> mirrored in the "shock brigades" of 1929
   • NEP led to wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers rising which was made worse by the shortage of skilled workers

2. Industrialisation and full employment

   • Impacts of full employment
     • Productivity remained low despite new machinery
       • Managers used uninterrupted shifts to achieve targets
     • Trade unions not allowed to negotiate for better working conditions
       • 1930 --> led to provide social insurance and dealt with compensation issues
     • Swamping of industry by peasants led to workplace divisions
     • WW2 saw more women employed, demobilisation returned many men, PoW used as forced labour
     • 1932 --> internal passport system established to regulate job swaps and food rations were distributed in the workplace
       • 1937 --> 30% urban workers changed jobs each season
       • Increased absenteeism so they resorted to slave labour from the Gulags --> absenteeism made criminal in 1939
     • 1931 --> wage differentials increased to reward skilled workers
       • 1932 --> better rations, bonuses, honours and medals introduced as incentives --> didn't work so well as there wasn't much in the shops to buy
   • Full employment was achieved as a consequence of the 5YPs in 1930
   • Heavy industry provided many employment opportunities
   • Excessive targets of the Plans meant factories took labour from any source
   • Collectivisation drove peasants to the cities
   • 1932 saw labour shortages despite all of this

3. Housing

   • slow to make an impact --> not enough housing
   • 1917 --> Bolsheviks confiscated big houses, divided them and rented them to families
     • Distribution to need was often dropped for distribution according to Party rank
   • 5YPs --> housing received few resources & low priority despite high demand
   • New industrial centres lacked facilities
   • Workers often slept in tents, makeshift huts or the factories themselves
   • Conditions improved in the 1930s when barracks were built and apartments blocks were built wherever resources would allow it
   • 1936 --> 5% people renting lived in the kitchen or corridor with 25% living in dormitories
   • Improvements to rural areas were even slower as peasants on collectives were expected to provide their own houses
   • Damage in WW2 made it all worse as areas such as Stalingrad lost 90% of its housing

4. Social benefits

   • 1930s --> cheap food in work canteens and work clothes provided free
   • Trade unions were stripped of political and economic power --> provided social events for workers
   • Workers given 2 weeks' paid holiday that were usually spent on gov subsidised holidays
   • Healthcare designed to benefit all and despite limited resources provided a compulsory vaccination scheme that prevented a cholera outbreak in 1921
   • Many doctors fled in 1917 which weakened the healthcare provision so the gov increased the training places on offer --> numbers of doctors increased to 155,000 by 1940
   • There was no choice in healthcare and prescriptions had to be bought but at a subsidised price and services remained primitive in rural areas