To What Extent Did Life Improve Under Stalin?

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From 1928 Stalin dominated the USSR physically as well as politically. Life under Stalin was improved in some ways to Lenin’s rule. There were improvements to working life, education, and family life and rights of women. However, there are ways in which these parts of Society did not improve from under Lenin’s rule. Culture was suppressed and did not improve notably. For the majority of Soviet citizens, life under Stalin did not improve a lot. Rights of women and family life were improved under Stalin’s rule. During the 1920, under Lenin the Soviet government had tried to weaken the family as a unit of society because it believed it exploited women. Government propaganda, as early as the 1920’s emphasised the role of woman workers as well as homemakers. Abortion became available on demand. Marriages were performed in brief ceremonies only in register offices and wedding rings were abolished. Divorce could be done easily by one partner in the marriage requesting it. Even though this was to help women get out of a bad marriage, Women would not have anywhere to go when divorced except to rely on another man, as most were not independent. By 1934 there were 37 divorces for every 100 marriages, while there were 154,000 abortions for every 57,000 live births in Moscow. This meant families and marriages were unstable. Under Stalin’s rule in 1936, the face of growing statistics in unstable families led the government to introduce new measures to strengthen family life. Divorce was made more difficult, abortion became a criminal offence except when it was necessary on medical grounds, and wedding rings were restored. To try to increase the birth rate, less taxes were given to families with large numbers of children. Families received a range of new benefits under Stalin. There was a free health service for all. To encourage women to go back to work after giving birth,
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