Living standards and wages during the Five Year Plans

Living standards and wages during the Five Year Plans Tiffany Chow, Chung Ning Tong, Louisa Luk

First Five Year Plan • Living standards during the First Five year plan didn’t improve • Over crowing became was a big problem in cities • Organisation and materials to build and improve conditions was diverted else where, for example, the building of more factories • Rural towns were still very backward • Some towns were transformed into industrial sites • Town transport was overworked and packed • Shops lacked basic commodities • There was also food rationing (un co-operation the peasants) • Very little control, crime rates were high

First Five Year Plan “sanitary work was non-existent … no kitchens or dining halls… women practically live on the street... fully justified dissatisfaction and bitterness” – M. Fainsod (1958) on living conditions for unskilled workers “strained housing situation into an appalling … chronically overcrowded lodgings… strained family life… courts dealt with an incredible mass of cases… lines outside stores” – M. Lewin (1976)

Second Five Year Plan • Some expansion • There were still long queues • Shops still lacked basic commodities • Some enterprises were setting up their own shops and bringing in food from their private plots • Some people were benefiting from the five year plan

Wages during the Five Year Plans • Lack of skilled workers. Most people would 'flit' from job to job. • Wages rose • Higher wages and ‘packets’ were given to skilled workers • Rewarding people for staying at a single job long enough to learn new skills • In many cases managers earned 5x more than their workers • However, even though workers were paid more, because of inflation, the money wasn’t worth much • Piece Works - payment according to how much a person has done. • Left-wing opponents claimed that this inequality in pay is completely contradictory of the communist system • It created a class system in the Soviet Union • Awarding honors to outstanding • The highest Honors given were called Stakhanovite

Second Five Year Plan “Russian people were working their way up to a higher standard … learned to read and write … Russia’s rapidly expanding economy was crying for professional skill… Higher schools were paid stipends to their students… Living conditions were improving” – J. Scott (1942) an American journalist who worked in Russia

Living standards and wages during the Five Year Plans