Soviet Attitudes Toward the Family and Youth (AQA A Level History: Component 1: Breadth study): Revision Note

Summary

• The Bolsheviks saw the family as key to creating the new Soviet person

• Controlling family life helped shape behaviour, raise the birth rate and support industry

• Under Lenin (1917-1928), family law was liberalised

  • Civil marriage was introduced

  • Divorce became easier

  • Abortion was legalised

• Youth groups, the Komsomol and Young Pioneers, built Party loyalty from a young age

• Historians debate whether these policies improved lives or mainly strengthened state control

  • Goldman argues early reform was a real, principled break from the past

  • Fainsod argues the regime’s grip on the young was patchy, especially in rural areas

Illustration – progression of youth organisations (new)

Why was the family important to Soviet politicians?

The family as a political tool

• The family shaped children's earliest values

  • A loyal young generation would secure the future of the Revolution

• Marxists expected the old "bourgeois" family to fade away

  • The state would take over key roles, including:

    • childcare

    • education

    • welfare

What the state wanted from the family

• The state used the family to:

  • Rebuild the population after the Civil War

  • Provide a stable workforce for industrialisation and the Five-Year Plans

  • Influence behaviour and maintain social order

• Lenin and Stalin used the family as a political tool

  • However, their policies changed sharply over time

Lenin’s and Stalin’s policies toward the family: from revolution to tradition

Illustration: Family policies change (new)

Lenin: freeing up the family, 1917-1928

• The Bolsheviks attacked the family as a "bourgeois" institution

• Early decrees changed family law quickly

  • Only civil marriage was recognised in 1917

  • Divorce was made cheaper and quicker

    • Known as the "postcard divorce"

  • Abortion was legalised in 1920

  • Free contraception advice was provided

• The 1926 Family Code went further

  • Common-law couples gained the same rights as married couples

  • Wedding rings were banned in 1928 as "bourgeois"

The Zhenotdel

• The Zhenotdel was the Party's women's department

  • It was founded in 1919

  • It helped put the early family reforms into practice

• It supported women and working families

  • It set up childcare, crèches and reading rooms

  • It promoted equal rights

• Its impact was limited

  • Soviet courts had little power

  • This made new rights hard to enforce

The end of communal living

• Radicals like Kollontai wanted to replace the family with communal living

  • By 1925, these experiments had ended

• The 1926 Marriage Code restored a more traditional view

  • Marriage was treated as the basic model for society

  • Adoption became easier

  • Common-law (de facto) marriage gained equal legal status

• The New Economic Policy (NEP) did not fund crèches or daycare properly

  • Many children were orphaned during the Civil War and then went on to form street gangs

Stalin: a return to tradition from 1936

• In the 1930s, Stalin shifted to pro-natalist policies

  • These were designed to encourage more births

  • He had clear reasons:

    • The birth rate was falling

    • Collectivisation and poor living conditions caused upheaval

    • War seemed increasingly likely

• Propaganda now praised marriage and the family

  • Stalin was presented as an “ideal family man” and father figure to the Soviet people

    • This image was propaganda rather than reality, as Stalin’s own family life was troubled

• Abortion, legal since 1920, came under threat

The 1936 family measures

Did the policies work?

• Many women kept working despite the new focus on the home

  • Female industrial workers rose from 3 million in 1928 to 13 million in 1940

  • Women were 43% of the industrial workforce by 1940

• Promised gains were uneven

  • Women still earned about 40% less than men

  • Nurseries, creches and canteens expanded, but provision was patchy

• Key targets were missed

  • Moscow's divorce rate was still 37% in 1934

  • There were 150,000 abortions to every 57,000 live births

  • Population growth kept falling from 1928 to 1940

• Marriage did stay common:

  • 91% of men and 82% of women in their 30s were married by 1937

    • Khrushchev later eased some of these rules

Youth groups in the USSR: the Komsomol & Young Pioneers

The organisations

• The Bolsheviks built youth groups to train loyal communists early

• They developed in stages

The Komsomol

• The Young Communist League, known as the Komsomol, formed in 1918

  • It was for older young people, roughly aged 14 to 28

  • It promoted political training, propaganda work and loyalty to the Party

  • It became directly tied to the Party in 1939

The Little Octobrists

• The Little Octobrists were created for younger children

  • They were usually aged around 7 to 10

  • They introduced children to basic Soviet values before they joined the Young Pioneers

The Young Pioneers

• The Young Pioneers began in 1922

  • They were for younger children, roughly aged 10 to 14

  • Members wore red scarves

  • They took part in camps and clubs, and joined anti-religious campaigns

• The Young Pioneers prepared children for later Komsomol membership

Growth

• Growth was slow at first

  • Only around 6% of eligible young people joined at first

  • Membership grew under Stalin

What did the youth groups do?

• They promoted communist values

  • Smoking, drinking and subscribing to religion were discouraged

• They served the Party

  • Members took an oath to the Fatherland and "the great Lenin"

  • They handed out propaganda

  • They joined anti-religious campaigns

• In the 1930s, some were urged to report on their own parents

• Komsomolskaia Pravda, founded in 1925, became the youth newspaper

  • It promoted family values

  • It encouraged respect for parents

Why did young people join?

• Membership brought real rewards

  • Pioneer Palaces and free camps offered community

  • The red neckerchief uniform marked members out

  • Membership opened doors to education and social mobility

Resistance and opting out

• Not everyone joined the groups

  • Some preferred Western cinema, fashion and jazz

    • This was labelled as "hooliganism"

• A few formed small secret groups

  • Open defiance to the state, however, was rare

Did Soviet attitudes toward the family & youth improve life in the USSR?

• This type of question asks you to weigh real gains against the state's use of the family for control

  • The evidence points both ways, so judge it carefully

Soviet attitudes improved life in the USSR

• Early reforms gave people new freedoms

  • Civil marriage, easier divorce and legal abortion widened choice under Lenin

  • The 1926 Family Code protected common-law partners

• The state tried to support families

  • Nurseries, creches and clinics expanded

• Youth groups offered structure and opportunity

  • Camps and clubs provided community

  • Membership could support social mobility

Key historian

• Goldman sees early Bolshevik reform as a real, principled break with the past

  • It was not just a temporary tactic

  • This supports the view that the early reforms aimed at genuine change

Soviet attitudes did not clearly improve life in the USSR

• Policy often meant control, not freedom

  • Stalin's 1936 rules made divorce costly

  • Contraception was banned

  • The family became a tool for discipline and population growth

• Promised gains often fell short

  • Divorce and abortion rates stayed high

  • Many women still faced the "double burden" of work and home

• The state's grip on youth was incomplete

  • Few joined at first

  • Rural areas lagged behind

Key historian

• Fainsod argues the regime’s grip on the young was patchy

  • This was especially true in the countryside

  • Family and religion stayed strong in rural areas

  • This supports the view that youth policy reshaped life less than propaganda claimed