Social Conditions and Rations of Researchers and Educational Workers of the USSR in the 1920s of 20st Century

Abstract

Introduction. The article considers one of the topical trends in historical studies on the peculiarities of social and living conditions and rations of researchers and educational workers of the USSR in the 20-30s of the 20^st century. Purpose. The purpose of the work is to highlight the activities of Russian central and local authorities to improve the social, material and housing provision of researchers and educational workers, in particular, the establishment and activity of PetroKUBU and TseKUBU. The research methodology includes the principles of scientific objectivity, historicism, systematics, as well as analysis and synthetic, generalization, historical-comparative, historical-typological methods. Conclusion. Describing the position of scientists in the 20s of the 21^st century, it should be noted that the scientific intelligentsia, like the Soviet post-revolutionary society as a whole, was in a difficult socio-political and economic situation. The scientific intelligentsia belonged to those strata of society that were especially aware of the deterioration in the quality of life. The closure of a number of higher educational institutions and faculties, delays in the payment of wages, which were already depreciating due to rampant inflation, deprived scientists of a stable income. This difficult period in everyday life coincided with the painful transformation of the social structure of the country's population, which also affected the scientific intelligentsia. The financial situation of scientists was rather precarious, characterized by lack of housing, low wages, lack of conditions for conducting research work, workload of party-political work. The attitude towards scientists and their role in the life of society has also changed, there was an opinion about the inadmissibility of the leading role of the intelligentsia in any branch of the national economy and culture and the reduction of the position of intelligentsia to ordinary staff.

At the same time, the Soviet leadership understood that the country's scientific potential must be preserved for the construction of a socialist society. Therefore, one of the main tasks was to find opportunities to save scientists from extinction and extreme exhaustion. The authority began to build cooperation with the intellectual system, bringing academic staff around to its side, creating favorable conditions to live and work.