Stalin Changed Lives of Children and Women

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How far did Stalin’s social policies change the lives of children and women in the years up to 1939? (30) The lives of both women and children in Russia were changed dramatically as a result of Stalin’s social policies in the years up to 1939. However, the lives of women were changed more than the lives of children, as in general, the women were forced to do more, out of their comfort zone, whereas the policies put in place for the children, mainly had positive outcomes. Before Stalin’s social policies came into place, the Bolsheviks believed in a liberal way of educating children. This meant that no exams would take place, the children were not taught to respect their teachers, and no homework would be set. The Bolshevik government had also abolished most textbooks. While this was partly due to new educational theory, it also stemmed from a lack of appropriate textbooks written in a communist framework. The censorship that had been placed on most works by the government also heavily impacted on the education of the children, as most of the textbooks were deemed inappropriate. The Bolsheviks believed mainly in progressive methods for the children to learn by. Stalin’s policies reversed everything that had been put in place by the Bolsheviks. The reintroduction of textbooks, homework, and examinations was put into place. The Komsomol was a Soviet youth organisation. Its main goal was to turn Soviet children into hardworking and obedient citizens. This was due to Stalin’s opinion that all children should have respect for their elders. The youth newspaper at the time, the Komsomolskaia Pravda instructed children to love and obey their parents, and so there was a definite emphasis put upon the children, a vast change was evidently taking place. The changes continued and in 1935, Stalin introduced a brand new curriculum for the children to learn from, opposite to
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