THE USSR. Life under Stalin

THE USSR. Life under Stalin

Memoirs of the professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences Valeria Antonovich Torgashev.

Immediately after the end of the war, the life of the population of the USSR begins to improve dramatically. In 1946, the wages of workers and engineers and technicians (engineers) working at enterprises and construction sites in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East increased by 20%.

In the same year, official salaries of people with higher and secondary special education (ITR, science, education and medicine workers) increase by 20%. The importance of academic degrees and ranks is rising. The salary of the professor, the doctor of sciences rises from 1600 to 5000 rubles, the associate professor, the candidate of sciences - from 1200 to 3200 rubles, the rector of the university from 2500 to 8000 rubles. In scientific research institutes the scientific degree of the candidate of sciences began to add 1000 rubles to the official salary, and the doctor of science - 2500 rubles. At the same time, the salary of the union minister was 5000 rubles, and the secretary of the district party committee - 1500 rubles. Stalin, as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, had a salary of 10 thousand rubles. Scientists in the USSR at that time had additional incomes, sometimes exceeding their salaries by several times. Therefore, they were the richest and at the same time the most respected part of Soviet society. The card system, which enabled many people to save many people from starvation during the war, caused severe psychological discomfort after the war. The assortment of food products, which were sold on cards, was extremely poor. For example, in bakery there were only 2 sorts of rye and wheat bread, which were sold by weight in accordance with the rate specified in the cut-off coupon. The choice of other food products was also small. At the same time, in commercial stores there was such an abundance of products that any modern supermarkets could envy. But the prices in these stores were inaccessible to the majority of the population, and the products were purchased only for the festive table. After the abolition of the card system, all this abundance turned out to be in ordinary grocery stores at quite reasonable prices. For example, the price of cakes, which previously sold decreased from 30 to 3 rubles. The market prices for food products fell by more than 3 times.

March 1, 1949 - 1951, there are further price reductions, an average of 20% per year. Every decline was perceived as a national holiday. When March 1, 1952, the next price reduction did not happen, people got a feeling of disappointment. However, on April 1 of the same year, the decline in prices was still held. The last decline in prices occurred after Stalin's death on April 1, 1953. During the post-war period, food prices and most industrial goods fell by more than 2 times on average. So, eight years after the war, the life of the Soviet people has improved noticeably every year. In all the known history of mankind, no similar precedents have been observed in any country.

The standard of living of the population of the USSR in the mid-1950s can be assessed by studying the materials on the studies of the budgets of families of workers, employees and collective farmers conducted by the Central Statistical Office of the USSR from 1935 to 1958 (these materials, which in the USSR were classified "secretly" , Are published on the site istmat.info). Budgets were studied in families belonging to 9 groups of the population: collective farmers, state farm workers, industrial workers, industrial engineers, industrial workers, primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, doctors and nurses. The most well-to-do part of the population, to which employees of the defense industry enterprises, design organizations, scientific institutions, university professors, artel workers and military personnel were, unfortunately, did not fall in the field of view of the CSO. Of the above-mentioned study groups, doctors had the highest income. Each member of their families had 800 rubles of monthly income. Of the urban population, the lowest income was for industrial employees - 525 rubles per month accounted for each member of the family. The rural population has a per capita monthly income of 350 rubles. At the same time, if the workers of state farms had this income in explicit monetary form, then it was obtained from collective farmers when calculating the cost of their own products consumed by the family at state prices.

Consumption of food was in all groups of the population, including rural, approximately at one level 200-210 rubles per month per family member. Only in the families of doctors did the value of the food basket reach 250 rubles due to a greater consumption of butter, meat products, eggs, fish and fruits while cutting bread and potatoes. Rural people consumed most of all bread, potatoes, eggs and milk, but much less butter, fish, sugar and confectionery. It should be noted that the amount of 200 rubles spent on food was not directly related to family income or a limited choice of products, but was determined by family traditions. In my family, consisting of four people, including two schoolchildren, in 1955, the monthly income per person was 1200 rubles. The selection of products in the Leningrad grocery stores was much wider than in modern supermarkets. Nevertheless, our family's expenses for food, including school breakfasts and lunches in departmental canteens from parents, did not exceed 800 rubles a month.

Very cheap was the food in the departmental canteens. Lunch in the student canteen, including soup with meat, the second with meat and compote or tea with a pie, cost about 2 rubles. Free bread was always on the tables. Therefore, on the days before the grant of the scholarship, some students living alone bought tea for 20 cents and ate bread with mustard and tea. By the way, salt, pepper and mustard, also always stood on the tables. The scholarship in the institute, where I studied, since 1955, was 290 rubles (with excellent grades - 390 rubles). 40 rubles from nonresident students went to pay for the hostel. The remaining 250 rubles (7,500 modern rubles) was enough for a normal student life in a big city. At the same time, as a rule, out-of-town students did not get help from home and did not earn money in their spare time.

A few words about the Leningrad gastronomes of that time. The fish department was the most diverse. Several varieties of red and black caviar were put up in large bowls. Full range of white fish hot and cold smoking, red fish from chum salmon, smoked eels and pickled lamprey, herring in cans and barrels. Live fish from rivers and inland water bodies were delivered immediately after catching in special tankers with the inscription "fish". There was no frozen fish. It appeared only in the early 60's. There were a lot of canned fish, of which I remember bull-calves in tomato, ubiquitous crabs for 4 rubles for a jar and a favorite product of students living in a hostel - cod liver. Beef and lamb was divided into four categories with a different price, depending on the part of the carcass. In the department of semifinished products were presented langets, entrecotes, schnitzel and escalopes. The variety of sausages was much wider than now, and I still remember their taste. Now only in Finland you can try sausage, reminiscent of the Soviet of those times. It should be said that the taste of cooked sausages changed already in the early 60's, when Khrushchev ordered to add sausage to soy sausage. This order was ignored only in the Baltic republics, where in the 70's it was possible to buy a normal doctor's sausage.

Provision of the population with industrial goods in the mid-50's was quite high. For example, in the working families for each person more than 3 pairs of shoes were purchased each year. The quality and variety of consumer goods exclusively domestic production (clothes, shoes, dishes, toys, furniture and other household goods) was much higher than in subsequent years. The fact is that most of these goods were produced not by state enterprises, but by artels. And the production of artels was sold in ordinary state stores. As soon as new trends appeared in fashion, they were instantly tracked, and in a few months fashion goods appeared in abundance on store shelves. For example, in the mid-1950s, a youth fashion for shoes with a thick rubber soles of white color appeared in imitation of the extremely popular in those years songwriter in the style of rock and roll Elvis Presley. These shoes of domestic production, I quietly purchased in an ordinary department store in the autumn of 1955, along with another fashionable object - a tie with a bright color picture. The only goods that can not always be bought are popular recordings. Nevertheless, in 1955 I had records bought in a regular store, almost all popular American jazz musicians and singers such as Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Glen Miller. Only records Elvis Presley, illegally performed on the used X-ray film (as they said "on the bones") had to be bought with hands. I do not remember at that time imported goods. Both clothes and footwear were produced in small batches and differed in a wide variety of models. In addition, the production of clothes and footwear for individual orders in numerous sewing and knitting workshops, in shoe shops that are part of the fishing cooperative was widely spread. Many tailors and shoemakers worked individually. The most common commodity at that time were fabrics. I still remember the names of such popular fabrics at that time as drapes, cheviot, boston, crepe de chine.

I can illustrate the life of the USSR population in 1955 on the example of my family. The family consisted of 4 people. Father, 50 years old, head of the department of design institute. Mother, 45 years old, engineer-geologist of Lenmetrostroy. Son, 18 years old, a high school graduate. Son, 10 years old, a schoolboy. The family income consisted of three parts: the official salary (2200 rubles for the father and 1400 rubles for the mother), the quarterly bonus for the fulfillment of the plan is usually 60% of the salary and separately the premium for the extra work. I received no such award from my mother, I do not know, and my father received it about once a year, and in 1955 this premium was 6,000 rubles. In other years it was about the same size. I remember how my father, having received this award, laid out a lot of hundred-ruble notes on the dining table in the form of a card solitaire, and then we had a festive dinner. On average, our family's monthly income was 4,800 rubles or 1,200 rubles per person. Of this amount, 550 rubles was deducted for taxes, party and trade union fees. The food was 800 rubles. 150 rubles was spent on paying for housing and utilities (water, heating, electricity, gas, telephone). 500 rubles was spent on clothes, shoes, transport, entertainment. Thus, the regular monthly expenses of our family of 4 people were 2000 rubles. Unspent money remained 2,800 rubles a month or 33,600 rubles (one million modern rubles) per year. The income of our family was closer to the average level, than to the upper one. So higher incomes were for employees of the private sector (artels), which accounted for more than 5% of the urban population. High salaries were from the officers of the army, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the MGB. For example, a regular army lieutenant platoon commander had a monthly income of 2600-3600 rubles, depending on the location and specifics of the service. At the same time, the income of the military was not taxed. To illustrate the incomes of workers in the defense industry, I will cite just an example of a well-known young family who worked in the design bureau of the Ministry of Aviation Industry. A husband, 25 years old, a senior engineer with a salary of 1400 rubles and a monthly income, taking into account various bonuses and business trips of 2500 rubles. Wife, 24 years old, senior technician with a salary of 900 rubles and a monthly income of 1500 rubles. In general, the monthly income of a family of two people was 4000 rubles. In a year there were about 15 thousand rubles of unspent money. I believe that a significant part of urban families had the opportunity to postpone annually 5-10 thousand rubles (150-300 thousand modern rubles).

Of high-priced goods should be allocated cars. The assortment of cars was small, but there were no problems with their purchase. In Leningrad, in a large department store "Apraksin Dvor" was an automobile salon. I remember that in 1955 there were cars for free sale there: Moskvich-400 for 9000 rubles (economy class), Victory for 16000 rubles (business class) and ZIM (later Seagull) for 40,000 rubles (representative class). Our family savings was enough to purchase any of the above cars, including ZIM. And the car Moskvich in general was accessible to the majority of the population. Nevertheless, there was no real demand for cars. At that time, cars were seen as expensive toys, creating a lot of problems in content and maintenance. My uncle had a car Moskvich, in which he traveled out of town several times a year. The uncle got this car back in 1949 only because in the courtyard of his house in the building of the former stables he could equip the garage. My father was offered to buy a decommissioned American Willys, a military SUV of that time, for only 1500 rubles. My father refused the car, as there was nowhere to hold it.

I will mention some prices in 1955: rye bread - 1 ruble / kg, rolls - 1.5 rubles / 0.5 kg, meat - 12.5-18 rubles / kg, live fish (carp) - 5 rubles / kg, sturgeon caviar - 180 rubles / kg, dinner in the dining room - 2-3 rubles, dinner in a restaurant with wine for two - 25 rubles, leather shoes - 150 - 250 rubles., 3-speed bike Tourist - 900 rubles., Motorcycle IZH-49 With an engine of 350 cu. Cm - 2500 rubles., Ticket to the cinema - 0.5-1 rubles., Ticket to the theater or to a concert - 3-10 rubles.

The material standard of living of the population of the USSR in the mid-fifties was higher than in the United States, the richest country of that time, and higher than in modern America, to say nothing of modern Russia. In addition, the people of the USSR were given benefits unthinkable for any other country in the world:

- a network of dairy kitchens, providing free meals for infants up to 2 years;

- a wide network of preschool institutions (nurseries and gardens) with a minimum payment for the maintenance of children - 30-40 rubles a month, and for collective farmers free of charge;

- summer rest for children in pioneer camps for a small fee or free of charge;

- Children's music schools, which allow children to get musical education and at an early stage to identify musical talents;

- Children's sports schools, including boarding schools;

- free afternoon groups in schools;

- Pioneer houses and Pioneer Palaces, providing free children's leisure;

- Houses of Culture and Palaces of Culture, providing adult leisure;

- sports societies that provided physical education of the population;

- a wide network of sanatoriums, holiday homes, tourist bases, providing treatment and rest for free or for a small fee, available to all segments of the population;

- The broadest opportunities for free education and professional development for all levels of the population in day, evening or correspondence form;

- guaranteed housing and work on the specialty, maximum social protection, full confidence in the future.

The overwhelming majority of citizens of modern Russia from liberals to communists, is convinced that the population of the USSR has always lived much worse than in Western countries.

Nobody suspects that it was under Stalin and only thanks to Stalin that Soviet people in the middle of the last century lived much better materially and morally than in any other country of that time and better than in the modern US, to say nothing of modern Russia. And then the evil Khrushchev came and spoiled everything. And after 1960, the inhabitants of the USSR imperceptibly found themselves in a completely different country and after a while forgot how they lived before. It was in this new country that all the negative features that are considered organically inherent in the socialist system appeared. It was this pseudo-socialist country, quite unlike the former Soviet Union, that collapsed under the weight of the accumulated problems in 1991, and Gorbachev only accelerated this process by acting in Khrushchev's style.