WOMEN’S LABOR IN THE INDUSTRY OF THE NATIONAL AUTONOMIES OF THE MIDDLE VOLGA REGION IN THE 1920s – 1930s: MANAGERIAL ASPECT

DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2022-3-3-25-37

УДК 331.5:316.356.2(470.41)

ББК 65.9(2)24:60.56

Klara S. IDIATULLINA

Key words

women’s labor, industrialization, state-party politics, involvement of women in industrial production, the Middle Volga region, national republics, women’s departments, women’s issue

Abstract

Involving women in social production during the years of industrialization became the core in solving the women’s issue in the Soviet Union. Examining this problem on the materials of three autonomous republics – the Tatar, the Chuvash and the Mari – gave the opportunity to identify common features and features of using women’s labor in the industry of the national region, to show the dynamics of the process and its problems. The main methodology of the study was the institutional and comparative-historical approaches. The process showing formation of institutions that ensured women’s involvement in industrial production in the region is investigated. Women’s participation in industrial production, on the one hand, testified to their achievement of an equal right status in society. On the other hand, women were considered by the state as a human resource when expanding production, as well as an insurance resource in the event of a war. The growth rates of women’s labor in the region were high: by 1937, the proportion of women in the industry of the TASSR was 49.9%, in the MASSR – 43%, in the ChASSR – 31%. In the USSR as a whole, by the mid-1930s, women made 35.8% of industrial workers.

References

1. Aralovets N.D. Zhenskii trud v promyshlennosti SSSR. [Women’s labor in the industry of the USSR]. Moscоw, Profizdat Publ., 1951,176 p.
2. Bilshai N.L. Reshenie zhenskogo voprosa v SSSR. [The solution of the women’s issue in the USSR]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat Publ., 1956, 247 p.
3. Bolshevik Tatarstana, 1937, no. 7, p. 31.
4. Belyalov U.B. Rukovodstvo Kommunisticheskoi partii sotsialisticheskoi industrializatsiei v natsional’nykh respublikakh Srednego Povolzh’ya [Leadership of the Communist Party by Socialist Industrialization in the National Republics of the Middle Volga Region]. Kazan, Kazan University Publ., 1978, 389 p.
5. Voronina O. Zhenshchina i sotsializm: opyt feministskogo analiza [Women and Socialism: the experience of women’s studies] In: Feminizm: Vostok, Zanad, Rossia [Women: East, West, in Russia]. Moscow, Nauka Publ.,1993, pp. 205–225.
6. Goldman V.Z. Zhenshchiny u prokhodnoy. Gendernyye otnosheniya v sovetskoy industrii (1917–1937) [Women at the entrance. Gender relations in the Soviet industry (1917–1937)] Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ., 2010, 357 p.
7. Gradskova Yu.V. «Obychnaya» sovetskaya zhenshchina – obzor opisanii identichnosti [An “ordinary” Soviet woman – a review of identity descriptions]. Moscow, Sputnik+ Publ., 1998, 158 p.
8. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii. Fond R-5451. Opis’ 12. Delo 173 [State Archive of the Russian Federation. Archives R 5451. Anagraph 12. Document 173].
9. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Respubliki Marii El. Fond R-1. Opis’ 1. Dokument 329 [State Archive of the Republic of Mari El. Archives R1. Anagraph 1. Document 329].
10. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Respubliki Marii El. Fond R-1. Opis’ 1. Dokument 464 [State Archive of the Republic of Mari El. Archives R1. Anagraph 1. Document 464].
11. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Respubliki Marii El. Fond R-11. Opis’ 1. Dokument 85 [State Archive of the Republic of Mari El. Archives R11. Anagraph 1. Document 85].
12. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Respubliki Marii El. Fond R-9. Opis’ 1. Dokument 189 [State Archive of the Republic of Mari El. Archives R9. Anagraph 1. Document 189].
13. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Respubliki Tatarstan. Fond R 16. Opis’ 2. Document 637 [State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan. Archives R16. Anagraph 1. Document 637].
14. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Respubliki Tatarstan. Fond R- 20. Opis’ 3. Document 1148 [State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan. Archives R20. Anagraph 3. Document 1148].
15. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Respubliki Tatarstan. Fond R- 4034. Opis’ 16. Document 130 [State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan. Archives R4034. Anagraph 16. Document 130].
16. Gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv Chuvashskoi Respubliki. Fond R-6. Opis’ 2. Dokument 168 [State Historical Archives of the Chuvash Republic. Archives R6. Anagraph 2. Document 168].
17. Gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv Chuvashskoi Respubliki. Fond R-1. Opis’ 18. Dokument Rossiiskii gendernyi 122 [State Historical Archives of the Chuvash Republic. Archives R1. Anagraph 18. Document 122].
18. Zdravomyslova E.A. Temkina A.A. Sovetskii etakraticheskii gendernyi poryadok [The Soviet gender order]. In: Rossiiskii gendernyi poryadok: sotsiologicheskii podkhod [The Russian gender order: a sociological approach]. St. Petersburg, 2007, pp. 96–137.
19. Idiatullina K.S. Vovlechenie zhenshchin v promyshlennoe proizvodstvo avtonomnykh respublik Srednego Povolzh’ya v period pervoi pyatiletki [Involvement of women in industrial production of the autonomous republics of the Middle Volga region during the first five-year plan] In: Aktualnye voprosy obshchestvennykh nauk: st. [Topical issues of social sciences]. Kazan, Kazan University Publ., 1980, Part 1, pp. 36–40.
20. Krasnaya Tatariya, 1929, Oct. 25.
21. Lyubina K. Dannye o kul’turnom roste i uchastii zhenshchin v glavneishikh otraslyakh narodnogo khozyaistva TR [Information on the cultural growth and participation of women in the main sectors of the national economy]. Sotsialisticheskoe khozyaistvo Tatarstana, 1933, no. 9-10, pp. 94–98.
22. Morozov A.V. Gendernye aspekty zanyatosti i bezrabotitsy v Tatarstane v pervoi treti ХХ veka [Gender aspects of employment and unemployment in Tatarstan in the first third of the twentieth century]. Vestnik Kazanskogo tekhnologicheskogo universiteta, 2010, no. 3, pp. 70–90.
23. Nikitin N.P. Deyatelnost’ Chuvashskoi oblastnoi partiinoi organizatsii po vovlecheniyu zhenshchin v promyshlennost’ v 1928–1937 gg. [Activities of the Chuvash Regional Party Organization for the involvement of women in industry in 1928–1937]. In: Istoriya i kultura Chuvashskoi ASSR. Vypusk 4 [History and culture of the Chuvash ASSR. Iss. 4]. Cheboksary, 1975, pp. 245–255.
24. Nikulin V. Kachestvennye pokazateli vnedreniya zhenskogo truda v promyshlennost [Qualitative indicators of the introduction of women’s labor into industry]. Sotsialisticheskoe khozyaistvo Tatarstana, 1934, no. 3-4, pp. 67–71.
25. Postanovlenie TSK VKP(b) ”Ob ocherednykh zadachakh partii po rabote sredi rabotnits I krest’yanok [Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) “On the next tasks of the party to work among workers and peasants” of June 15, 1929] In: KPSS v rezolyutsiyakh…[CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee (1898–1986)]. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1983, vol. 4, 526 p.
26. O meroprieatiykh po planovomu obespecheniy narodnogo khozyistva rabochei siloi I bor’boi s tekuchest’yu [On measures for the planned provision of the national economy with labor and the fight against turnover (Approved by the Politburo of the Central Committee on October 20, 1930]. Available at: https://istmat.org/node/49209 (Accessed Date: 2022, Sept. 2).
27. Serebrennikov G.N. Zhenskii trud v SSSR [Women’s labor in the USSR]. Moscow, Leningrad, Socegis Publ., 1934, 240 p.
28. Sidorkina E. Mariiskaya zhenshchina [Mari woman]. A.O., 1936, no. 5-6, pp. 36–41.
29. Chirkov P.M. Reshenie zhenskogo voprosa v SSSR (1917–1937 gg.) [The solution of the women’s issue in the USSR (1917–1937)]. Moscow, Mysl Publ., 1976, 255 p.
30. Kharitonova S.B. Sozdanie spetsial’nogo apparata dlya raboty sredi zhenskogo naseleniya v 1920–1930-e gody (regional’nyi opyt) [Creation of a special apparatus for working among the female population in the 1920s and 1930s (regional experience]. Vestnik Chuvashskogo universiteta, 2007, no. 3, pp. 70–79.
31. Kharitonova S.B. K voprosu o zhenskoi zanyatosti i bezrabotitse v Chuvashii v 1920-e gody [On the question of women`s employment and unemployment in Chuvashiay in 1920]. Vestnik Chuvashskogo universiteta, 2012, no. 4, pp. 67–72.
32. Kharitonova S.B., Kharitonov M.Yu. Opyt podgotovki kvalifitsirovannykh kadrov dlya promyshlennosti Chuvashii v period industrializatsii (gendernyi aspekt) [Experience in training qualified personnel for the Chuvashia`s industry in the period of industrialization (gender aspect)]. Vestnik Chuvashskogo universiteta, 2013, no. 4, pp. 81–84.

Information about the author

Klara S. Idiatullina – Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Department of Public Administration, History and Sociology, Kazan National Research Technological University, Russia, Kazan (idklara@yandex.ru).

For citations

Idiatullina K.S. WOMEN’S LABOR IN THE INDUSTRY OF THE NATIONAL AUTONOMIES OF THE MIDDLE VOLGA REGION IN THE 1920s – 1930s: MANAGERIAL ASPECT. Historical Search, 2022, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 25–37. DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2022-3-3-25-37 (in Russian).

Download the full article