WOMEN IN STALINISM: MODERNITY AND MATERNITY

Women were subjected to all of Stalinism's more heinous aspects too. Women suffered

from food scarcity during droughts that preceded nationalization, putting their historical idea as

familial caretakers in jeopardy. Women bore a substantial portion of the burdens of fast

urbanization and industrialization, such as unaffordable housing, a dearth of amenities, as well as

other challenges, even as women dealt with growing expectations and needs in their jobs.

Millions of women were tortured and executed, whereas others handled with the great

hardships of losing husbands, fathers, or siblings during the most brutal phases of Soviet

communism, such as the suppression that preceded expropriation or the tens of thousands of

political assassinations carried out throughout the "Great Terror" that reached its peak in 1936-

1938. Stalinism was a particularly devastating phase in Soviet history, with ramifications that

affected the populace immediately and had larger consequences for twentieth-century ancient

world.

The 1930s were an era of upheavals in employment, family relationships, domestic uses,

and democratic engagement for the Communist populace, which unavoidably mixed "good"

components with the "bad" repercussions. Just as the women who enter the labor market and

academic institutions rose, the policy is followed in particular sectors, such as medical, teaching,

and domestic tasks, that were poorly paid, less respected, and definitely not as politically

powerful.

Women discovered new options for employment, education, and recreation when

millions of citizens relocated from rural to quickly developing cities, even because those left

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behind in countryside had to shoulder a greater number of the labor load with less supplies.

Lastly, not all males shared the intellectual dedication to women having freedom and equality,

and women began to suffer discrimination, intolerance, and abuse on a regular basis. These

resources offer insight into how Soviet women, in specific, but the populace as a whole, dealt

with the requirements and problems of totalitarianism by examining these "common" elements of

Communism.

Analytical Aspects of Modernity and Maternity

The study of the familial and personal responsibilities of Soviet educators who were

already parents emphasizes on the confluence of reality, practice, and symbols. Scholars of

communist states have long acknowledged the 'dual load' that came with women having full-time

work and relatively close obligation for children, home, and housekeeping. During the 19th

century, when communist pledges of female empowerment gave way to considerations of policy

and economic tyranny, these duties were completely established in the Soviets1.

While urbanization, industrialization, and the civil rights movement all had a major

impact on women's experiences, these procedures also increased women having reliance on their

labor and limited their operations without offering support that was expected through welfare

programs and higher standard. Instructors also took on extra responsibilities that were unique to

this political atmosphere, such as giving intensive language education, supervising students'

behavior outside of school, and promoting state propaganda via their classes. Additional

obligations and practices of caregiving were essential aspects of the daily experience of

1
Lapidus, Gail Warshofsky. 1979. Women In Soviet Society. Berkeley [etc.]: University of
California Press.
Page | 2
Stalinism for parent educators, further confounding attempts to interpret what historians had to

say.2

Inquiring about the experiences, attitudes, and personalities of mother educators fills a

crucial hole in existing literature concerning Soviet female employees. Earlier behavioral

genetics of Soviet females in academic professions focused on them, while more contemporary

historians of Stalinism have paid less emphasis to female workers in their analyses of

development strategy, women's perspectives, and gender portrayals.

Although successful women constituted up a small percentage of the people working on

communal farms, in manufacturing, or in economic sectors, they faced the same challenges of

combining job demands under conditions of extreme poverty and brutal violence. Female

managers appear to have been neglected in modern historiography because, because they were

less numerous than females in other industries, they possessed the strategic significance of

female Stakhanovisms or active spouses of executives. Inquiring into how mother instructors

managed their numerous responsibilities leads to a more detailed account of Stalinists.

While concentrating on this significant occupational category, the notion of maternity

also supports a program that goes "above cultural history" to investigate the link between

women, cultural, and authority amid Stalinist modernity's tensions. While early study focused

largely on claims of women's liberation and equal on the one side, and the Soviet county's

limitations. The impact of persecution on familial ties is demonstrated by studies on social

hierarchies in careers and presidency, women's criticisms about harsh living conditions, domestic

2
Schlesinger, Rudolf. 1998. The Family In The U.S.S.R. London: Routledge.
Page | 3
violence of women in heavily reliant positions, the funds that encouraged acts of rebellion, and

the influence of persecution on social hierarchies in careers and presidency.3

Maternal Aspects

As stated in a Soviet study, ‘60 percent of employees are women, thus support towards

the teacher-mother and the organization of modules designed to the requirements of her

performance of the material given by all academic union organizations'. Like all other Soviet

women in different professions, parent educators were guaranteed comprehensive assistance to

help with child rearing. Female professors, in instance, were expected to have six weeks of

maternity benefit and then enough time to nurse their babies for 9 months after getting back to

work.4

Gender influenced emotions and affiliations are thus simultaneously claimed and

implicitly assumed in depictions of mother educators in need of special assistance. Although

maternity and daycare assistance were offered to female instructors, these resources provide

enough information concerning the breadth, effectiveness, or length of these facilities. Like other

social security measures in the early 1900s, public rhetoric contained arrogant assurances of

Stalinist "care" as well as regretful confessions that treatment amount and accessibility were

lacking.

However, daycare was an individual’s choice encompassing a high level of quality and

availability of services on the one side, and the pragmatic and metaphoric financing in caring for

children on the other side. No empirical substances have been known to predict how instructors'
3
Leonavičius, Vylius. 2020. "Soviet Modernity And Modernity Of Soviet Period". Filosofija.
Sociologija 30 (4). doi:10.6001/fil-soc.v30i4.4149.
4
Kenez, Peter, and Sarah Davies. 1998. "Popular Opinion In Stalin's Russia: Terror, Propaganda
And Dissent, 1934-1941". The American Historical Review 103 (5): 1658. doi:10.2307/2650083.
Page | 4
children were disbursed among possibilities such as admissions in state facilities, job creation of

caretakers, and guidance from state specific cases, nevertheless, have been identified that exhibit

all of these possibilities.

Representation

By focusing on Soviet instructors in the 19th century, fresh insights into key features of

Stalinism can be gained, such as nontraditional family policy, the alteration of foreign work, and

the influence of state persecution. Parenting was quite frequent among Soviet educators,

according to statistical information and particular instances, and therefore both the practice and

depictions of educators as children were culturally important. Teachers' lives are complicated, as

becoming and being a parent demonstrated.5

While the Soviet government claimed that all parents would have accessibility to

daycare, official documents and historical materials attest to both a lack of maternity assistance

and citizens' possible approaches. The shapes of their familial, corporate, and actual lives forced

and restricted them to make decisions; these practices required energy and time.

The complexity of instructors' lives, as well as the paradoxes of Stalinism, were

represented in public portrayals of their parenting practices. Some instructors were lauded for

balancing legal responsibility with parenting duties, while others were chastised for enabling the

two to collide. Some instructors exploited their own children to justify perceived or actual

failures in their legal standards, while others rhetorical technique to seek further chances or to

ask for security.

5
Sacks, Michael Paul, and Alastair McAuley. 1982. "Women's Work And Wages In The Soviet
Union". Russian Review 41 (1): 83. doi:10.2307/129578.
Page | 5
 Children's memories show that just being a parent and a professor entailed juggling many

responsibilities in ways that resulted in a consistent, but demanding identity. However, the notion

that Soviet media celebrated "generation of people" as proof of professional accomplishment and

adult supervision illustrates how Stalinist rhetoric favored mother educators' different identities.

Simultaneously, the notion of the parent teacher as sufferer was evoked as a method of

uncovering and condemning local authorities' excessive and callous malfeasance.

The media attention aided in the creation of excuses for the Fright, however these

females also became symbols of a deeper knowledge of having to balance contractual standards,

public subjectivities, and maternal responsibilities in dangerous and difficult circumstances.

Educators' personalities in the 1930s were shaped by conflicts within Stalinist maternity, which

were essential, though never completely recognized, elements of their personas.6

The conflicts among mother professors' educational and parenting backgrounds may also

be used to assess the modernism perspective. Analyzing the jobs and lives of female teachers, in

general, demonstrates the strength and relevance of developing institutions, as well as the role of

the individual in performing, adhering to, and opposing them. Humans were developed as

citizens in civilization, defined by their participation in society, which included both

occupational and maternal contribution for mother instructors.

Even inside these classifications, although, modernization assumed that people would

have various responsibilities, as the delivery and upbringing of their own infants were distinct

from schooling and socialization. Women instructors who were also families contributed to the

construction of the liberal democracy because of their femininity and employment, but their

6
Randall, A. E. 2004. "Legitimizing Soviet Trade: Gender And The Feminization Of The Retail
Workforce In The Soviet 1930S". Journal Of Social History 37 (4): 965-990.
doi:10.1353/jsh.2004.0062.
Page | 6
behavior and intents were affected by causes other than the dictator's "gendered stereotype of

women as parents."

On a pragmatic level, mother instructors juggled work and family life, while on a politics

one, they strategically invoked, rejected, and disputed the meaning with their own maternity

benefit. The practical needs of family evolved as representation in a setting of state repression,

while the concept of the mother instructor acted as both a profession necessity and a resource

allocated to despairing individuals on several levels. The samples and explanations in this

essay are therefore in line with research on gender in the 1930s, which looks at women's freedom

in reacting to economic considerations, addressing state officials, detecting inconsistencies in

legislation, and adopting self-protective tactics.7

Conclusion

Even during the midst of the Emergency, and at a critical junction between motherhood

and learning, two crucial components of the Stalinist modernism project, these sensations and

acts illustrate the importance of autonomy in creating identities and practices. The result of this

investigation of the feelings, interpretations, and behaviors linked with maternity is that the

contemporary model is more informative than authoritative. Focusing on modernization is

particularly useful for demonstrating systems and routines, but analyzing the jobs and lives of

Soviet female staff reveals the shortcomings of this perspective. This essay argues that

expanding assessment to include numerous actors using specific activities to attain conflicting

goals leads to a deeper understanding of what Stalinism entailed to the Soviet people.

7
Koenker, Diane P. 1995. "Men Against Women On The Shop Floor In Early Soviet Russia:
Gender And Class In The Socialist Workplace". The American Historical Review 100 (5): 1438.
doi:10.2307/2169865.
Page | 7
References

Kenez, Peter, and Sarah Davies. 1998. "Popular Opinion In Stalin's Russia: Terror, Propaganda

And Dissent, 1934-1941". The American Historical Review 103 (5): 1658.

doi:10.2307/2650083.

Koenker, Diane P. 1995. "Men Against Women On The Shop Floor In Early Soviet Russia:

Gender And Class In The Socialist Workplace". The American Historical Review 100 (5):

1438. doi:10.2307/2169865.

Lapidus, Gail Warshofsky. 1979. Women In Soviet Society. Berkeley [etc.]: University of

California Press.

Leonavičius, Vylius. 2020. "Soviet Modernity And Modernity Of Soviet Period". Filosofija.

Sociologija 30 (4). doi:10.6001/fil-soc.v30i4.4149.

Randall, A. E. 2004. "Legitimizing Soviet Trade: Gender And The Feminization Of The Retail

Workforce In The Soviet 1930S". Journal Of Social History 37 (4): 965-990.

doi:10.1353/jsh.2004.0062.

Sacks, Michael Paul, and Alastair McAuley. 1982. "Women's Work And Wages In The Soviet

Union". Russian Review 41 (1): 83. doi:10.2307/129578.

Schlesinger, Rudolf. 1998. The Family In The U.S.S.R. London: Routledge.

Page | 8