UDC

94(47).084.8+369.542(470.54)“1967/1973”

DOI

10.17238/issn2227-6564.2019.6.16

Authors

Vladimir N. Mamyachenkov
Ural State University of Economics; ul. 8 Marta/Narodnoy Voli 62/45, Yekaterinburg, 620144, Russian Federation;
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6070-8746 e-mail: mamyachenkov@mail.ru

Abstract

The question of the state’s social role, being at all times relevant, has traditionally attracted the attention of social scientists. It has been addressed in a large number of scientific works, but at the same time, the regional perspective has been overlooked. The author emphasizes that a certain breakthrough in the historiography of the pension problem in the Soviet Union happened as late as in the 21st century, when an objective analysis of the domestic experience of pension reforms was first possible. This article turns to the period of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when quite significant changes were taking place in the Soviet pension system. The study is based on statistical data of a large industrial territory, the Sverdlovsk Region, kept in the State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region, as well as on laws, regulations and various electronic resources. The purpose of this article was to study the implementation of three Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on further development of pension provision in the Middle Urals. The author argues that until 1956, pension provision in the Soviet Union could be considered relative and assumes that pensions and benefits were raised against the background of a certain revival of the Soviet economy in the second half of the 1960s as a result of the 1965 reform. Moreover, it is noted here that, having once aroused high social expectations in citizens, the Soviet state was obliged to pay ever-increasing pensions even in the face of complete stagnation of the economy. The author concludes that the significant increase in social benefits, among other factors, fuelled the development of hidden inflation, which further deepened the systemic crisis of the Soviet economy.

Keywords

Soviet Union, Sverdlovsk Region, Middle Urals, social benefits, pension provision

References

1. Constitution of the russian Federation. Moscow, 2019. 32 p. (in Russ.).
2. Narodnoe khozyaystvo SSSR [Economy of the Soviet Union]. Moscow, 1956. 262 p.
3. Shmidt O.Yu. (ed.). Bol’shaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya [The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia]. Moscow, 1926–1947. Vol. 44.
4. State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region (SASR). Coll. R-1813 (Regional Statistics Division). Inv. 1. Fol. 175. Ff. 169–170 (in Russ.).
5. Belova N.F., Dmitrichev I.I. Semeynyy byudzhet: statisticheskiy aspekt [Family Budget: Statistical Aspect]. Moscow, 1990. 143 p.
6. Gerasimov N.V. Sovershenstvovanie sotsobespecheniya sem’i, zdravookhraneniya, raspredeleniya i oplaty zhil’ya [Improving the Family’s Social Security, the Healthcare System, and the Housing Distribution and Payment]. Minsk, 1981. 136 p.
7. Kozlov A.E. Sotsial’noe obespechenie v SSSR: pravovye osnovy [Social Security in the USSR: Legal Basis]. Moscow, 1981. 184 p.
8. Likhtenshteyn R.N. Narodnoe potreblenie v period razvernutogo stroitel’stva kommunizma [National Consumption During the Period of Full-Scale Building of Communism: Diss. Abs.]. Sverdlovsk, 1961. 15 p.
9. Samatov V.A. (ed.). Material’no-bytovoe polozhenie trudyashchikhsya Urala v usloviyakh sotsializma (1937– 1975) [The Material and Household Situation of the Working People in the Urals Under Socialism (1937–1975)]. Sverdlovsk, 1981. 170 p.
10. Izyumova L.V. Sotsial’noe obespechenie kolkhoznogo krest’yanstva v 1930–1960-kh gg. (po materialam Evropeyskogo Severa Rossii) [Kolkhoz Peasantry Social Maintenance in the 1930–1960s (Based on the Materials of the European North of Russia)]. Vestnik Pomorskogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2008, no. 1, pp. 12–18.
11. Kapustina O.V. K voprosu ob istorii sozdaniya sovetskoy sistemy vseobshchego gosudarstvennogo pensionnogo obespecheniya (vtoraya polovina 1950-kh–1980-e gg.) [On the History of the Creation of the Universal Soviet Pension System (Second Half of the 1950s – 1980s)]. Sotsial’noe i pensionnoe pravo, 2013, no. 1, pp. 47–51.
12. Pudovkin A.V. Analiz sistemy pensionnogo obespecheniya SSSR [Analyzing the Pension System of the USSR]. Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta, 2015, no. 41, pp. 217–223.
13. Mamyachenkov V.N. Pensionnoe obespechenie v SSSR (1928–1991 gg.): istoriko-ekonomicheskiy aspekt [Pension System in the USSR (1928–1991): Historical and Economic Aspect]. Ural industrial’nyy. Bakuninskie chteniya: Industrial’naya modernizatsiya Urala v XVIII–XXI vv. [The Industrial Urals. Bakunin Readings: Industrial Modernization of the Urals in the 18th – 21st Centuries]. Yekaterinburg, 2014. Vol. 1, pp. 422–427.
14. Mamyachenkov V.N. Personal’nye pensii v SSSR: iz istorii sotsial’noy politiki Sovetskogo gosudarstva [Personal Pensions in the USSR: From the History of the Social Policy of the Soviet State]. Nauchnyy dialog, 2018, no. 12, pp. 393–404. DOI: 10.24224/2227-1295-2018-12-393-404
15. On Further Improvement of the Pension System: Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Dated September 26, 1967, No. 1909-VII. Library of Normative Legal Acts of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Available at: http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/usr_6641.htm (accessed: 15 October 2019) (in Russ.).
16. On Measures for Further Improvement of Pension Provision to Collective Farmers: Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSr dated June 3, 1971, No. 1735-VIII. Available at: http://www.consultant.ru/cons/cgi/ online.cgi?req=doc&base=ESU&n=21581#04374221912880134 (accessed: 15 October 2019) (in Russ.).
17. On Further Raising Pensions for the Disabled and Families Who Have Lost Their Breadwinner: Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Dated November 21, 1973, No. 5070-VIII. Library of Normative Legal Acts of the Union of Soviet Socialist republics. Available at: http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/usr_8200.htm (accessed: 15 October 2019) (in Russ.).
18. On State Pensions: Law of the USSR Dated July 14, 1956. Available at: http://www.consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online.cgi?base=ESU&dst=&n=44832&req=doc#05253350994720283 (accessed: 15 October 2019) (in Russ.).
19. On Pensions and Benefits to Collective Farmers: Law of the USSR Dated July 15, 1964, No. 2688-VI. Available at: http://www.consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online.cgi?req=doc&base=ESU&n=17963#09204919283847051 (accessed: 15 October 2019) (in Russ.).
20. SASR. Coll. R-1813 (Regional Statistics Division). Inv. 83. Fol. 263. Ff. 1–3.
21. Ekonomika SSSR v 1960–1980-e gg. [Economy of the USSR in 1960–1980s]. 21Biz.ru: Zhurnal o biznese i ekonomike. Available at: http://21biz.ru/ekonomika-sssr-v-1960-1980-e-gg (accessed: 15 October 2019) (in Russ.).
22. SASR. Coll. R-1813 (Regional Statistics Division). Inv. 100. Fol. 330. Ff. 8–9 (in Russ.).