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Soviet Union [USSR] Other Assistance
Since the mid-1940s, the government has provided financial
subsidies to mothers with "many children," meaning two or more.
This program had three facets: mothers received a lump-sum grant
upon the birth of the third and each subsequent child; they
received a monthly subsidy upon the birth of the fourth and each
subsequent child; and, beginning with the Eleventh Five-Year-Plan
(1981-85), one-time maternity grants (50 rubles for the first child
and 100 for the second) were given to working women or female
students on a leave-of-absence basis. In 1986 the government paid
monthly subsidies to almost 2 million mothers having four or more
children.
In addition to pensions and financial subsidies, veterans,
invalids, and multichildren families received a number of
nonmonetary benefits, such as top consideration for housing,
telephones, and priority services in shops and restaurants. In 1985
and again in 1987, the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council
of Ministers, and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions
issued resolutions to improve living conditions of the
"underprovisioned," including pensioners, invalids, old people
living alone, and single-parent families with three or more
children under the age of eighteen and with an average monthly per
capita income of 50 rubles (75 rubles in certain regions, for
example, the Soviet Far East). This program provided free school,
sports, and youth organization uniforms and free breakfasts for
children up to the age of sixteen. The resolutions also called for
child-support payments by the absent parent of at least 20 rubles
per month per child up to the age of eighteen, as well as a
government subsidy of 12 rubles per month for each child up to the
age of eight. Underprovisioned families were provided free
sanatorium and rest-home stays; the children were sent to summer
youth camps, as well, at government expense.
Although no official calls for comprehensive restructuring of
welfare programs were made, by 1987 and 1988 the policy of
glasnost' embraced the topic of poverty in the Soviet Union.
Numerous articles appeared in the press reflecting a growing
concern--on the part of both Soviet officials and the general
public--about the number of poor in the Soviet Union, estimated in
1988 to include 20 percent of the population.
The leadership under Gorbachev fully acknowledged the pressing
need for improving the quality and availability of education,
health care, and welfare services nationwide and seemed genuinely
committed to achieving these objectives by the year 2000. But the
obstacles to reforms in these spheres were numerous and formidable.
The country had to significantly raise funding for these programs,
and to do so would require a shift in spending priorities.
Moreover, excessive centralization and overbureaucratization in the
administration of social services had to be overcome. And the
incompatibility of maintaining ideological purity in all aspects of
education, on the one hand, and developing in youth the ability to
think critically, comparatively, and creatively, on the other hand,
had to be reconciled.
* * *
Inside Soviet Schools by Susan Jacoby, an American
educator, offers a comprehensive view of the upbringing of Soviet
youth from infancy through secondary school. Kitty D. Weaver's
Russia's Future examines the role of the youth organizations
(Young Octobrists, Pioneers, and Komsomol) in the education
process. The Making of the Soviet Citizen, edited by George
Avis, covers school reforms of the 1980s, the dual concept of
character formation and formal education, the role of political
indoctrination, and vocational training. Soviet Politics and
Education by Frank M. Sorrentino and Frances R. Curcio,
includes several articles dealing with the role of ideology and
political indoctrination in Soviet education. Vadim Medish's The
Soviet Union provides an excellent chapter on the education
system, from the nursery school level through the university level.
Inside Russian Medicine by William A. Knaus, M.D., an
American physician who observed Soviet health care first hand,
covers polyclinic and hospital care, emergency services, and
psychiatric treatment. The Medical and Pharmaceutical Sectors of
the Soviet Economy by Christopher Davis discusses the
organization and financing of medical care, the medical industry,
pharmaceuticals, and foreign trade in medical products. Economic
Welfare in the Soviet Union by Alastair McAuley discusses the
historical background, organization, eligibility requirements, and
payments provided by Soviet welfare programs. Poverty in the
Soviet Union by Mervyn Matthews, includes some recent
information on old-age pensions and child support payment. Matthews
also discusses these topics in his article "Aspects of Poverty in
the Soviet Union." (For further information and complete citations,
see Soviet Union USSR -
Bibliography.)
Data as of May 1989
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