Soviet Society Under Stalin

The predominant feature of the Soviet society during the NEP years was its "du머" structure: coexistence of town and countryside, of public and private sectors, and of proletarian and peasant cultures. Although it may have provided a gradua1 and evolutionary model for socia1ist society in its own right, the NEP order showed its inherent contradictions stemming from its "dua1" nature in the development of the actua1 relations between the Soviet regime and society. Sta1in destroyed the NEP structure and built the new St려inist system through rapid industria1ization and forced collectivization. In the course of this state-led "revolution from above", Soviet society underwent an enormous stuctura1 transformation, and new socia1 relations and sentiments were shaped. A large number of peasants migrated to the cities and were absorbed into the urban industria1 workforce. These new workers brought about a big change in the composition of industria1 labor. Accordingly, heterogeneity among the workers increased with the development of the Stali띠st system. at the same time, they sowed individua1istic behaviour pursuing persona1 interests at the expense of both soci허ist orientation and collective solidarity in their interaction with the regime and factory managers. The peasants, who remained in the countryside, at first responded to the collectivization drive with a variety of resistant moves. However, once the collective farm system was irreversibly established across the country, they a1so got adapted to the new life on the farm in search for the opportunities to rea1ize their individua1 interests. Intellectua1s - professiona1s, specia1ists, and those employed in the govemment administration - were not the exception to this trend of individua1istic pursuit. Especia11y after the Sta1in regimes shift to anti-ega1itarian and conservative policies in the early 1930s, they showed a strong tendency toward the acquisition of materia1 wea1th and philistinistic kul tumost . The above revea1s a very important aspect of the Sta1inist system that is essenti머 to the understanding of the Soviet version of modemization under the officia1 slogan of socia1ist construction. However, the Sta1inist system gave birth to various socia1 groups which in re머ity pursued individua1 interests detracting from socia1ist ideology, while taking the regimes demands formally