Everyday Stalinism I

Living standards, norms and values of various groups of the Soviet people in the 1920's and 1930's

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Descriptive Summary
• Location of Originals
• Biography / History Note
• Scope and Content
• Arrangement
• Selected Search Terms
• Related Materials
• Custodial History
• Index of Organizations and Geographic Names
• Container List

Location of Originals

The Russian State Archives of Economy (RGAE), Moscow. Fond 1562.

Biography / History Note

The Central Administration for Statistics of the USSR (until 17 January 1923 known as the Central Administration for Statistics of the Russian Federation) was founded on 25 July 1918. On 19 March 1926 it was granted the status of Narkomat Soiuzov SSSR (Ministerial powers).

Its main tasks were the following:

• Setting up, expanding and supervising over statistical work within the state organs and administrations
• Conducting national, industrial and agricultural censuses
• Publishing statistical information

In the late 20s / early 30s the focus of attention gradually shifted to various problems concerning the economy.

In 1930 the Central Administration for Statistics became subordinate to the Gosplan (Ministry of State Planning) and was renamed the Ekonomiko-Statisticheskiĭ Sektor (Department of Economics and Statistics). On 17 December 1931 it was again renamed to TsUNKhu (Central Administration of People's Economy) and again on 24 March 1941 to TsSU. From 10 March 1948 onwords it became directly subordinate to the Council of Ministers.

Scope and Content

The contents of the materials provide an insight into the socialist society of the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s. It provides answers to questions on the cultural and political interest and economic situation of the ordinary Soviet citizen within that period. How much money did a Soviet engineer earn? Did every student read Marx and own a radio? Could an average family spend enough money on food? How active were Soviet citizens in socialist political movements?

In 1936 and 1938 the TsUNKhU, in cooperation with the VLKSM (the All-Union Lenin Young Communist League - an organization responsible for the political education of young people in the USSR), set up a special survey into the cultural and political interest and way of life of young workers and students (1936) and kolkhozniki (1938). The questionnaires clearly reflect the Soviet ideology of the 1920s and 1930s. The forms contain questions concerning, among other things, participation in socialist political work, party membership, membership of the Stakhanov-movement (named after Alekseĭ Stakhanov - a miner who delved twenty times a day's norm of coal in one day) and participation in the GTO program (Ready for Labor and Defense - a semi-military popular movement).The questionnaire, however, is divers and also provides information regarding matters of education, attendance of cultural and public events, use of libraries, possession of books, knowledge of foreign languages, memberships of sport societies and recreational activities (did they have radios, skis, musical instruments, etc.) A special section deals with questions on popular and political literature including classical works of Marxism-Leninism as well as books by M. Gorkiĭ, A.Serafimovich, D. Furmanov, N. Ostrovskiĭ, L. Tolstoĭ, H. de Balzac, I. Turgenev, etc.

The documents produced by the Labor Statistics Department, a special department within the TsSU, form the core of the collection. The documents contain information on every aspect of labor of interest to the Soviet government: efficiency, disciplinary fines, monthly salaries, the division of workers among the different branches of Soviet industry, women in different professions and membership of the "udarniki movement" (a doctrine stimulating workers to produce beyond their daily quotes). The documents also contain data on unemployment and the salary funds movements in capitalist countries in 1932.In addition to statistics on labor, the documents contain information on the living conditions of the Soviet people, such as housing, clothing, food consumption, medical care, recreational habits, expenditure, etc.

The documents of the collection provide insight into the development of the socialist society and the impact of the socialist economy on various social and ethnic groups in the Soviet Union. Most of them were brought up and formed by the Soviet political system. The statistical and analytical data cover various cities and regions (Moscow, Leningrad, Ukraine, Ural, and Republic of Germans in the Volga region and many others). The surveys (questionnaires) were addressed to various professionals and ethnic groups - industrial workers, engineers, employers, kolkhozniki and students.

The collection includes the following types of documents:

• TsSU and the TsUNKhU bulletins containing the results of investigations into the income and expenditure of the Soviet population (1926-1928, 1932, 1934-1939)
• Reports and secret memorandums of the TsUNKhU to the Central Committee of the Communist Party and government concerning the budgets and salaries of factory workers (1932-1935)
• Instructions on how to compose questionnaires for the surveys into the lifestyle and interests of students, young workers and kolkhozniki (1936,1938)
• Filled-in questionnaires (1936,1938)
• Registration forms completed by day-laborers containing information on salary etc. (March 1935)

Arrangement

The materials are organized into the following series:

• Inquiries into cultural and polititcal interest, 1936-1938
• Statistics on labor, income and expenditure of Soviet citizens, 1925-1939

Related Materials

Other publications in the "Everyday Stalinism" series:

Peasants under Stalinism: mentality and way of life, 1923-1929, 1938-1939

Custodial History

The materials in this collection were classified until 1993.

Index of Organizations and Geographic Names

The following organizations and geographic names are mentioned in the container list of this finding aid.

Organizations

• Государственный комитет по статистике - Госкомстат [Gosudarstvennyĭ komitet po statistike - Goskomstat]
• Народный комиссариат обороны [Narodnyĭ komissariat oborony] = People's Commissariat for Defense
• Совет народных комиссаров СССР - СНК СССР [Sovet narodnykh komissarov SSSR - SNK SSSR] = Soviet of People's Commissars of the USSR
• Центральное cтатистическое управление СССР - ЦСУ СССР [Tsentral´noe statisticheskoe upravlenie SSSR - TsSU SSSR] = Central Administration for Statistics of the USSR
• Центральное управление народно-хозяйственного учета СССР - ЦУНХУ СССР [Tsentral´noe upravlenie narodno-khoziaĭstvennogo ucheta SSSR - TsUNKhU SSSR] = Central Administration for Statistics - Peoples Husbandry of the USSR
• Центральный комитет Всероссийской коммунистической партии (большевиков) - ЦК ВКП(б) [Tsentral´nyĭ komitet Vserossiĭskoĭ kommunisticheskoĭ partii (bol´shevikov) - TsК VKP(b)] = Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party

Geographic Names

• Автономная социалистическая советская республика немцев Поволжья [Avtonomnaia sotsialisticheskaia sovetskaia respublika nemtsev Povolzh´ia = Autonomous Socialist Republic of Germans of Povolzhie]
• Гомельская область [Gomel´skaia oblast´ = Homel´skaia oblast´]
• Горький [Gor´kiĭ]
• Днепропетровск [Dnepropetrovsk = Dnipropetrivs´k]
• Донецкая область [Donetskaia oblast´ = Donets´ka oblast´]
• Иваново [Ivanovo]
• Курская область [Kurskaia oblast´]
• Ленинград [Leningrad]
• Москва [Moskva]
• Московская область [Moskovskaia oblast´]
• Омская область [Omskaia oblast´]
• Орехово-Зуево [Orekhovo-Zuevo]
• Полтавская область [Poltavskaia oblast' = Poltavs´ka oblast´]
• Ростовская область [Rostovskaia oblast´]
• Свердловская область [Sverdlovskaia oblast´]
• Харьков [Khar´kov = Kharkiv]
• Харьковская область [Khar´kovskaia oblast´ = Kharkivs´ka oblast´]

Container List