How Did Stalin Change Throughout The Russian Revolution
Throughout the course of history, a drastic change in leadership and a rollercoaster economy caused the lives of many people to severely change in the Soviet Union. Russia, before the revolution was very behind in industrialization and politics. However, things began to change once Vladimir Lenin took over. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, complete equality for women was proclaimed. Shortly after Lenin’s rule there was a fight for power between Trotsky and Stalin. In the end, Stalin prevailed and earned leadership of the Soviet Union during the mid-1920s. However, once Stalin came to power, the lives of the society changed dramatically. Stalin’s wished to restore society which caused him to reverse Lenin’s previous work. Stalin revoked many laws concerning women’s emancipation because he wanted to strengthen tradition and build up the population.
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The revolution in October signaled full emancipation for women.
Lenin and the Bolsheviks were strong believers that women were oppressed and did not have equality with me in the eyes of the law. This revolution: “changed the nature of marriage and gave women equality before the law, freeing women from housework and empowering them to participate in public life and productive labor on an equal footing with men.” At the end of the 1920s, the Bolsheviks established the Soviet Family Code of 1918. This code established civil marriage, made divorce more accessible, and abolished the idea of illegitimate children. Lenin changed the laws regarding abortion. He even legalized the acts of receiving and giving an abortion on November 18, 1920. Women’s emancipation was strongly encouraged by The Zhenotdel, which was an all women's department that was established to focus on the needs of women and their participation in the state and
economy. According to the Bolsheviks, women were treated as “domestic slaves”, being given the tasks of housework and the duty of taking care of the family’s children. To help with this situation, Lenin established daycare centers and communal kitchens to free women from their housework duties and to encourage them to participate in state affairs. The fight for equality all changed in 1924. The government had just recovered causing it to relax its censorship and repression but then Lenin died. He had no chosen successor which created a power struggle within the Communist Party. The contenders were Stalin and Trotsky. Stalin’s Soviet Union was almost the complete opposite of Lenin’s Soviet Union: “Daily life was difficult in Stalin’s Soviet Union”. The new Soviet Union was faced with many obstacles, one being housing. The government built a few new apartments but it did not satisfy the millions amount of people moving into the cities. The typical family lives in a single room house in which the whole family shares a kitchen and a bathroom with all other families living on the same floor. Citizens were also faced with the issues of constant shortages and inflation: “The average non-farm wage purchased only about half as many goods in 1932 as it had in 1928”. Following 1932, wages increased but five years later, citizens could only purchase 60 percent of what they had in 1928. Through these hardships, citizens still managed to remain optimistic. Their optimism and ideology attracted Westerners to the idea of Communism. Soviet workers now received old-age pensions, free education, free medical services, and day-care centers were now provided to help families with children. During this time period, unemployment rates were the lowest they had ever been. The transformation that Lenin provided for women was soon overturned by Stalin and his approaches. He chose to revoke many of the laws that supported women’s emancipation. Stalin wanted to strengthen traditional values and to grow the population. In 1936, many laws had been rescinded and the Zhenotdel had also dissolved. The government now awarded payments to women whom had large families, made abortion illegal, and made divorces difficult to obtain. However, higher education levels were now available to women. In 1950, 75 percent of the doctors in the Soviet Union were female. Women were now faced with the challenge of being mother and workers. The majority of the female population were forced to work outside of the home because men’s wages were not high enough to support the family alone.
The revolution in October signaled full emancipation for women.
Lenin and the Bolsheviks were strong believers that women were oppressed and did not have equality with me in the eyes of the law. This revolution: “changed the nature of marriage and gave women equality before the law, freeing women from housework and empowering them to participate in public life and productive labor on an equal footing with men.” At the end of the 1920s, the Bolsheviks established the Soviet Family Code of 1918. This code established civil marriage, made divorce more accessible, and abolished the idea of illegitimate children. Lenin changed the laws regarding abortion. He even legalized the acts of receiving and giving an abortion on November 18, 1920. Women’s emancipation was strongly encouraged by The Zhenotdel, which was an all women's department that was established to focus on the needs of women and their participation in the state and
economy. According to the Bolsheviks, women were treated as “domestic slaves”, being given the tasks of housework and the duty of taking care of the family’s children. To help with this situation, Lenin established daycare centers and communal kitchens to free women from their housework duties and to encourage them to participate in state affairs. The fight for equality all changed in 1924. The government had just recovered causing it to relax its censorship and repression but then Lenin died. He had no chosen successor which created a power struggle within the Communist Party. The contenders were Stalin and Trotsky. Stalin’s Soviet Union was almost the complete opposite of Lenin’s Soviet Union: “Daily life was difficult in Stalin’s Soviet Union”. The new Soviet Union was faced with many obstacles, one being housing. The government built a few new apartments but it did not satisfy the millions amount of people moving into the cities. The typical family lives in a single room house in which the whole family shares a kitchen and a bathroom with all other families living on the same floor. Citizens were also faced with the issues of constant shortages and inflation: “The average non-farm wage purchased only about half as many goods in 1932 as it had in 1928”. Following 1932, wages increased but five years later, citizens could only purchase 60 percent of what they had in 1928. Through these hardships, citizens still managed to remain optimistic. Their optimism and ideology attracted Westerners to the idea of Communism. Soviet workers now received old-age pensions, free education, free medical services, and day-care centers were now provided to help families with children. During this time period, unemployment rates were the lowest they had ever been. The transformation that Lenin provided for women was soon overturned by Stalin and his approaches. He chose to revoke many of the laws that supported women’s emancipation. Stalin wanted to strengthen traditional values and to grow the population. In 1936, many laws had been rescinded and the Zhenotdel had also dissolved. The government now awarded payments to women whom had large families, made abortion illegal, and made divorces difficult to obtain. However, higher education levels were now available to women. In 1950, 75 percent of the doctors in the Soviet Union were female. Women were now faced with the challenge of being mother and workers. The majority of the female population were forced to work outside of the home because men’s wages were not high enough to support the family alone.