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Unlock This CourseThe early Communists wanted to free women from the old family. Marriage became a simple act at a register office instead of a church service. Abortion was made legal in 1920. From 1926 either partner could end a marriage without the other even being there.
By the 1930s Stalin's government saw these freedoms as a danger. In Moscow in 1934 there were 37 divorces for every 100 marriages, and nearly three abortions for every birth. Many fathers left and paid nothing for their children. The birth rate was falling at the very time Stalin wanted more workers for the Five-Year Plans and more soldiers in case of war. He also wanted stable families that would bring up disciplined, loyal children.
Key terms:
The result was the family law of June 1936. A draft was printed in the newspapers first, and many women wrote in to object to the ban on abortion. The law was passed anyway.
Abortion was banned unless the pregnancy put the woman's life or health in danger. Divorce became harder. Both partners had to attend, and there was a fee of 50 roubles for a first divorce, 150 for a second and 300 for a third.
An absent father had to pay a quarter of his wages for one child, a third for two and half for three or more. Refusing to pay could mean up to two years in prison. A mother who already had six children got 2,000 roubles a year for five years for each further child. More maternity homes and nurseries were promised.
The effects were mixed. The number of divorces fell. The birth rate rose sharply at first, but it soon slipped back because many women turned to illegal abortions, which were dangerous. Propaganda now praised marriage and motherhood, yet women were still expected to work full time.
Stalin's drive for industry needed every pair of hands. The number of women in paid work rose from about 3 million in 1928 to more than 13 million in 1940. By then about four workers in every ten were women.
Women went into jobs once kept for men, such as building work, engineering and driving tractors. Pasha Angelina became famous for leading an all-women tractor brigade from 1933. Girls had the same right to education as boys, so more women trained for the professions. By 1940 more than half of Soviet doctors were women.
Most women stayed in the lower-paid, less skilled jobs, and few became managers. Wages were so low that many wives had to work whether they wanted to or not. Men rarely shared the housework, so women carried the double burden. After a shift came the queues for food, then cooking and washing, often in a shared kitchen.
On paper, Soviet women were equal. The 1936 Constitution said that women had equal rights with men in every part of life, including politics. Women could vote and stand for election.
In practice, women had very little power. In 1930 the party closed the Zhenotdel, claiming that the problems of women had been solved. After that no part of the party spoke up for women. Only about one party member in seven was a woman, and no woman sat in the Politburo at any time under Stalin. Women were most often found in junior posts, such as local councils, while men took the decisions at the top.
In the 1920s many Soviet schools had tried new ideas. Pupils worked on group projects, exams and homework were dropped, and teachers had little power to punish. Stalin needed something different: workers who could read instructions, engineers for the new factories, and obedient citizens. So the 1930s brought more schooling and much stricter schooling.
The party ran a huge campaign against illiteracy. Adults went to evening classes in factories and on collective farms, often taught by Komsomol volunteers. About 51 per cent of people aged nine and over could read and write in 1926. By 1939 it was about 81 per cent.
From 1930 every child had to attend four years of primary school. In the towns it was seven years. The number of pupils rose from about 12 million at the end of the 1920s to about 35 million by 1940. But from 1940 families had to pay fees for the last three years of secondary school.
From 1931 the party ordered a return to traditional teaching. Lessons followed a fixed timetable, with set textbooks, homework, marks and exams. The teacher's authority was restored and pupils were expected to obey. Reading, writing, maths and science came first, because industry needed them.
Schools also taught loyalty. Remember from Censorship, Propaganda and Rewriting History that there was one state curriculum and that history was taught the way Stalin wanted. Wider literacy helped the government too, because more people could now read its newspapers and posters.
Don't write that Stalin gave women their rights. Easy divorce and legal abortion came in the 1920s, and the 1936 family law took them away. Don't say that women were forced back into the home. They were expected to be mothers and workers at the same time. And don't confuse equality in law with real power: the Constitution promised equal rights, but men kept the top jobs.
(b) Explain two effects of the 1936 family law on women in the Soviet Union. [8 marks]
One effect was that women lost control over the size of their families. Abortion had been legal since 1920, but the 1936 law banned it unless the woman's life or health was in danger. Stalin wanted a higher birth rate to supply workers and soldiers. This meant that a woman who could not cope with another child now had no legal choice, so many turned to illegal abortions, which were dangerous. As a result the law brought more risk into women's lives, and the birth rate rose only for a short time.
A second effect was that marriage became harder to leave but mothers were better protected. Divorce now needed both partners to attend and cost 50 roubles the first time, rising to 300 for a third. This meant that fewer husbands walked away, and the number of divorces fell. Fathers who did leave had to pay a quarter of their wages for one child, so a mother was less likely to be left with nothing. Because women were still expected to work full time, however, the law added to their double burden.
What lifts this to the top level: each paragraph names one clear effect, supports it with precise detail from the law (the abortion ban, the fees, the quarter of wages) and uses linking phrases such as 'this meant that' to show how the law led to the effect.
The question asks about effects on women, so don't just list the terms of the 1936 law. For each term you use, add what it changed in women's lives. Write two separate paragraphs, because one effect on its own cannot score more than 4 of the 8 marks, however well it is explained.