Without payment for housing and communal services and travel in transport: how in 1961 in the USSR they planned to speed up the economy and improve the lives of citizens

At the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, the economy of the Soviet Union developed at a faster pace.

Accelerated growth was ensured by high volumes of industrial and agricultural production, as well as a rapidly growing urban population.

From 1950 to 1960, industrial output in the country has tripled.

According to this indicator, the USSR took second place in the world and first in Europe.

In turn, the production of agricultural products increased by more than one and a half times.

Moreover, if at the beginning of the decade the overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens (more than 61%) were residents of villages, then already in 1960, almost half of the country's population lived in cities.

Such data are contained in the materials of the USSR State Statistics Committee.

Under these conditions, in 1958, work began in the country on the creation of a new, third program of the CPSU.

The main goal of the new party plan was the transition to a communist society.

The draft program was completed by 1961 and presented to General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev in the spring.

In May 1961, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU approved the document.

On June 19, exactly 60 years ago, the third party program was adopted by the plenum of the Central Committee and decided to publish the draft in the Soviet press for general information.

“Under the tried and tested leadership of the Communist Party, under the banner of Marxism-Leninism, the Soviet people built socialism.

Under the leadership of the party, under the banner of Marxism-Leninism, the Soviet people will build a communist society.

The party solemnly proclaims: the current generation of Soviet people will live under communism! ”- said in the conclusion of the new program.

Big ambitions

The party's plan was finally adopted at the XXII Congress of the CPSU in October 1961 and assumed specific deadlines.

In particular, until 1970, the USSR had to overtake the United States in terms of production per capita, as well as increase the material wealth and cultural and technical level of citizens.

Moreover, already at the end of the second decade, by 1980, the country's leadership promised to create the material and technical base of communism and provide "an abundance of material and cultural benefits for the entire population."

It was planned to finally build a communist society in the subsequent period.

• May Day procession in Moscow - citizens carry a portrait of Nikita Khrushchev

• © Wikimedia Commons

For 20 years, the country's leadership planned to increase labor productivity in industry more than four times, and in agriculture - five to six times.

As a result, according to the authors of the program, the working day of Soviet citizens could be reduced to six hours with one day off a week, and to seven hours with two.

Moreover, for employees of hazardous industries, the work schedule was hoped to be cut to five hours with a five-day working week.

In addition, the authorities expected to increase the real incomes of the population by more than three and a half times.

At the same time, the difference between the wages of collective farmers, workers and employees was to be reduced.

Moreover, by 1980 it was planned to make utilities and public transport free of charge.

Along with this, the authorities promised to finally solve the housing problem.

“In the first decade, the country will end the housing shortage.

Those families who still live in overcrowded and poor dwellings will receive new apartments.

As a result of the second decade, each family, including the families of newlyweds, will have a comfortable apartment that meets the requirements of hygiene and cultural life, ”the program noted.

In their plans, the Soviet leadership proceeded from the assumption that the country's economy would continue to grow at the same rate as in the 1930s and in the post-war period.

That is why the authorities have set such ambitious goals, says Sergei Bespalov, a leading researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

“Nikita Khrushchev personally initiated the inclusion of all these provisions in the third program of the CPSU.

We can say that the same notorious voluntarism, which Khrushchev was later accused of, manifested itself in this issue in full.

The most advanced part of the Soviet leadership and society was initially very skeptical about these plans.

Nevertheless, the decision was made, "the expert said in an interview with RT.

• RIA News

• © V. Savostyanov

According to Bespalov, at that time the country's economy had already reached a relatively high level of development, a significant part of the population lived in cities and was employed in industrial production.

Under these conditions, one should have expected a natural decline in economic growth rates.

“In addition, Khrushchev and his associates did not realize that by simply building up some economic indicators it was impossible to achieve the creation of the material and technical basis of communism, and even more so of a communist society.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to form some completely different economic structure and radical changes in public relations, in the system of public administration - right up to the withering away of all government bodies, ”the expert explained.

Moral incentive

However, the promises of the country's leadership had a positive effect on the mood in society.

Georgy Ostapkovich, Director of the Center for Market Research, Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, NRU HSE, shared this opinion with RT.

“In principle, that period was characterized by such populist statements, which often had no economic basis.

The overwhelming majority of the population believed in such promises.

People worked with enthusiasm and fulfilled all their assignments and duties, ”said the economist.

• Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ).

  Truck assembly shop

• RIA News

• © Lev Ustinov

Note that in the 1960-1970s, the Soviet economy still continued to develop at a relatively fast pace.

So, according to the USSR State Statistics Committee, in the first half of the decade, the national income (the total income of all enterprises and citizens) annually grew by an average of 6.5%, in the second half - by 7.8%.

“It should be understood that the bulk of production, more than 60%, was concentrated exclusively in the defense complex.

Nobody cared about consumer goods, food, household services.

There was a shortage of footwear, textiles, clothing, ”Ostapkovich recalled.

Leaving the race

From the mid-1960s to the end of the first half of the 1970s, the economy of the Soviet Union was confidently approaching the American one in scale.

So, if at the beginning of this period the size of the gross national product (GNP) of the USSR was 49% of that of the United States, then by 1975 the value had grown to 57%.

However, since 1976, the gap between the GNP of the two states began to grow again.

CIA materials testify.

According to Sergei Bespalov, the possibilities for further increasing industrial production in the USSR had already been exhausted.

In addition, as the expert noted, the slowdown in economic growth was caused by a number of errors in the state planning system.

At the same time, the factor of people's enthusiasm began to weaken, and the growing dependence of the country on oil and gas exports began to exert an increasingly negative influence.

“As a result, by the early 1980s, the growth rate of the Soviet economy dropped to 3-4% per year.

At that time, the key Western countries entered the phase of the scientific and technological revolution, which subsequently provided them with high rates of economic growth.

At the same time, the USSR concentrated its scientific and technical achievements mainly in the military-industrial complex, "Bespalov added.

Meanwhile, as the specialist emphasized, over two decades, the authorities of the Soviet Union were still able to achieve a noticeable increase in the income of the population.

According to the Goskomstat, from 1960 to 1980 the indicator increased almost two and a half times.

“Moreover, great success has been achieved in providing housing, social infrastructure has been actively developing - education, healthcare and other areas.

Thus, both the standard and the quality of life of the majority of Soviet people improved - especially those living in large cities.

Nevertheless, nothing even remotely reminiscent of the growth rates promised in 1961 was not and could not be, ”stressed Sergei Bespalov.

As the specialist noted, as we approached 1980, the Soviet leadership tried to make the population forget about building communism.

Instead, the slogan was introduced to create "developed socialism".

“The deliberately impracticable promise of building a communist society, which the party leadership preferred to forget, also played a role in the growth of people's alienation from power, the growth of mistrust in it and, in general, in the development of the crisis, into which Soviet society gradually began to plunge already in the 1980s. x years, ”the expert explained.

Time check

According to Georgy Ostapkovich, the tasks that the Soviet government undertook to solve remain practically impracticable even now.

For example, the expert considers the cancellation of payments for housing and public utilities services and public transport extremely unlikely.

“These are activities with low profit margins and low profitability.

If we now significantly reduce utility rates and the cost of travel, or remove these payments altogether, enterprises will not be able to pay off.

Then the entire burden will fall on the state, and it will already be forced to fully subsidize both transport and housing and communal services.

As a result, taxes will have to be raised, ”the expert explained.

The economist also considers it difficult to achieve an increase in real incomes of the population by more than three times in twenty years.

Meanwhile, as noted by Ostapkovich, it could be feasible to reduce the working week to four days.

Thus, the number of working hours of Russians would be reduced to 32 - less than planned by the leadership of the CPSU in 1961.

“Many states are now thinking about reducing the working week to four days. To do this, it is necessary to increase labor productivity mainly through the introduction of new technologies and modernization of equipment. I think in Russia it will be possible to seriously discuss this initiative in five years. So far, as a pilot project, you can try to transfer certain industries and activities to a four-day working week. For example, civil servants, I think, there will be no loss for the economy for this, ”concluded Ostapkovich.