An analysis of pronatalist politics in the USSR in the postwar period
Abstract
The USSR lost 27 million people as a result of the Great Patriotic War-- the highest death count of any country. This great sacrifice threatened terrible demographic consequences, both immediate and long-term. In order to replace the dead as well as accelerate fertility growth further, the Soviet government introduced a pronatalist policy, in the form of the Order of July, 8, 1944, entitled “On increasing government support for pregnant women, mothers with many children, single mothers, and strengthening protection of motherhood and childhood; on the establishment of the honorary title ‘Mother Heroine,’ the foundation of the order ‘Motherhood Glory,’ and the medal ‘Motherhood Medal’ .”
This article uses archival materials from GARF and RGASPI to prove that the author of the draft Ukaz was Nikita S. Khrushchev, who at the time was the first secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine. An analysis of the Order`s draft and accompanying informational note shows that the main purpose of the Order was not to increase support for women and mothers, as stated in the Order, but to increase fertility through various measures, including the encouragement of births among unmarried young girls and widows. This paper presents an analysis of pronatalist measures included in the Order, their influence on gender relations, decisions about the formation of family, and reproductive behaviors among Soviet citizens. Although the Order title suggested that women would be aided, in fact the measures were mainly designed to protect male interests.
As a result, this decree had a negative influence on gender relations, family stability, and the welfare of women and children. Soviet experts and public opinion attempted to improve the situation, but not all of these efforts were successful. As the results of the analysis presented here show, success depended on the ability to present pro-natalist logic to the leadership of the country on the basis of statistical data.
Analysis of the situation resulting from adoption of the Decree also allows us to evaluate post-war family policy as a whole. Since quantitative demographic analysis is complicated by the fact that in the first post-war decades in the USSR there was no systematic collection of statistical data on family status, in our study of gender and social history we combined various sources of information, including those gleaned from state archives and the mass media of the time, complementing the segmented statistics. This approach makes it possible to reveal descriptive and qualitative details of a social phenomenon, including family development and gender relations. It allows us to deepen our understanding of the post-war life of the Soviet people and expand the possibilities of a comprehensive assessment of the impact of the Decree on the social life and demographic behavior of people in the USSR at that time.
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References
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