Attitudes of Soviet Citizens towards State Loans 1946-1957 after their Cancellation (Based on Personal Source Materials)
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-4-483-505
Abstract
The article explores the issue of public attitudes of Soviet citizens towards measures of state financial policy. It examines the sentiments of USSR citizens after the cessation of campaigns related to the issuance of government bonds from 1946 to 1957. The primary sources of information were letters from citizens addressed to Soviet government bodies, as well as diary entries. The study relies on methodological achievements in the “history of emotions.” It was revealed that after the abolition of compulsory subscription campaigns for domestic state loans, the key issue became the repayment of the state debt. It is shown that citizens placed high hopes on the revision of decisions by N. S. Khrushchev after his resignation in 1964. Their attempts to engage in dialogue with authoritative structures and leaders were made repeatedly before the official redemption began, but they did not contribute to a review of earlier decisions until 1974. The study demonstrates that the gradual redemption of bonds in the 1970s-1980s contributed to the establishment of a social compromise, and the practice of mass loans transformed from a measure of current financial and social policy into a subject for historical reflection, discussion, and nostalgia.
Keywords
state loans,
public consciousness,
history of the USSR,
historical memory,
social policy,
financial policy
Supporting agencies: The study is supported by Russian Science Foundation, project number 23-78-01100
About the Author
M. D. Novikov
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Maxim D. Novikov, PhD in History, Senior Lecturer, Higher School of Social Sciences
St. Petersburg
copus Author ID: 58554506600
References
1. Berdnikova, T. B. (2015). Stalin’s post-war loans: directives and life. In: The Soviet state and society in the period of late Stalinism. 1945—1953: Proceedings of the VII International Scientific Conference. Tver, December 4—6, 2014. Moscow: Russian Political Ency-clopedia (ROSSPEN). 451—463. ISBN 978-5-8243-1973-6. (In Russ.).
2. Berdnikova, T. B. (2016). Transit of securities culture: from Stalin to privatization. In: After Stalin. The Reforms of the 1950s in the context of Soviet and post–Soviet History: Pro-ceedings of the VIII International Scientific Conference. Yekaterinburg, October 15—17, 2015. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 392—404. ISBN 978-5-8243-2066-4. (In Russ.).
3. Brodsky, G. M. (2023). State loans of the population as a source of financing for the military-industrial complex: Soviet experience and the possibility of using it in modern condi-tions. Economic security, 6 (2): 555—568. DOI: 10.18334/ecsec.6.2.117954. (In Russ.).
4. Chekantseva, Z. A. (2019). Emotions as a prism of comprehension of history. In: Historians in search of new perspectives. Moscow: Aquilon. 339—352. ISBN 978-5-906578-47-1. (In Russ.).
5. Chudnov, I. A. (2018). Monetary reform of 1947. Moscow: Political Encyclopedia. 431 p. ISBN 978-5-8243-2286-6. (In Russ.).
6. Forestier-Peyrat, É., Ironside, K. (2020). The Communist World of Public Debt (1917—1991): The Failure of a Countermodel? A World of Public Debts. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. 317—345. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-48794-2_13.
7. Ironside, K. (2014a). Khruschev`s Cash–and–Goods Lotteries and the Turn Toward Positive Incentives. The Soviet and Post–Soviet Review, 41: 296—323. DOI: 10.1163/18763324-04103004.
8. Ironside, K. (2014b). The Value of Ruble: A Social History of Money in Postwar Soviet Russia, 1945—1964. Chicago: University of Chicago. 390 p.
9. Klinova, M. A. (2021a). Soviet domestic loans 1946—1957. In political discourse and the press. Economic history, 17 (3): 263—275. DOI: 10.15507/2409-630X.054.017.202103.263-275. (In Russ.).
10. Klinova, M. A. (2021b). Soviet mass loans 1946—1957: judgments of citizens (based on the materials of ego documents). Bulletin of the K. L. Khetagurov North Ossetian State University, 4: 38—48. DOI: 10.29025/1994-7720-2021-4-38-48. (In Russ.).
11. Klinova, M. A. (2023). “Today I’m playing with Finance Minister Zverev in the 1st edition of the 1st loan”: the problems of winning loans in ego documents 1946—1957. Bulletin of Tomsk State University, 486: 137—146. DOI: 10.17223/15617793/486/14. (In Russ.).
12. Kozlov, V. A. (2021). Coercion to voluntariness: svagovtsy and post-war loans. In: Little USSR and its inhabitants. Moscow: New Literary Review. 113—126. ISBN 978-5-4448-1560-1. (In Russ.).
13. Lebina, N. B. (2019). Lottery. In: Passengers of the sausage train: Sketches for the picture of the life of a Russian city: 1917—1991. Moscow: New Literary Review. 206—223. ISBN 978-5-4448-1951-7. (In Russ.).
14. Mamyachenkov, V. N., Ivanov, E. A., Shvedov, V. V. (2020). The 1957 Domestic Loan and the Completion of the Era of “Voluntary-Obligatory Loans” (Middle Ural). Nauchnyi dialog, 5: 435—449. DOI: 10.24224/2227-1295-2020-5-435-449. (In Russ.).
15. Novikov, M. D. (2020). Cancellation of internal mass loans in the USSR in 1957: decision-making, information campaign and attitude of society. Klio, 2 (158): 94—101. (In Russ.).
16. Novikov, M. D. (2019). The attitude of the population of the Soviet Union to the winnings on government loans 1946—1957. Bulletin of the Ryazan State University named after S. A. Yesenin, 2 (63): 41—52. (In Russ.).
17. Orlov, I. B. (2022). Letters to power in the system of power communications. Russian histo-ry, 1: 217—221. DOI: 10.31857/S0869568722010265. (In Russ.).
18. Petrova, T. M. (2022). Critical analysis of the discourse of Soviet diaries and “letters to pow-er” as a tool for studying public attitudes about N. S. Khrushchev (1953—1964). His-torical Courier, 6 (26): 135—145. DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2022-6-10. (In Russ.).
19. Plumper, Ya. (2018). The history of emotions. Moscow: New Literary Review. 561 p. ISBN 978-5-4448-2254-8. (In Russ.).
20. Popova, O. D. (2020). “Letters to power” as a source for studying the standard of living of Soviet citizens in the 1950s and 60s. Ryazan: Ippolitov Publishing House. 64—69. ISBN 978-5-93856-306-3. (In Russ.).
21. Sukharev, A. N. (2020). Post-war bonded loans of the USSR: financial design and application features. Finance, 7: 57-64. (In Russ.).
22. Vyshenkov, E. V. (2022). Named after the bratva. The origin of a gangster from an athlete, or 30 years since the death of the USSR. Moscow: AST Publishing House. 336 p. ISBN 978-5-17-148203-9. (In Russ.).
23. Zhmurko, I. M. (2018). Legal regulation of turnover of bonds of the state domestic winning loan in 1982. Law and the State: theory and practice, 6 (162): 55—58. (In Russ.).
24. Zhmurko, I. M. (2019). The legal basis for regulating relations related to the USSR state loan of 1982. Legal policy and legal life, 2: 44—51. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Novikov M.D. Attitudes of Soviet Citizens towards State Loans 1946-1957 after their Cancellation (Based on Personal Source Materials). Nauchnyi dialog. 2024;13(4):483-505. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-4-483-505
Views:
234
Email this article 