Recent Population Trends in the Soviet Union

T HE RISE and progress of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has been conditioned by unique geographical, demographic and cultural circumstances. The Marxian thesis that socialism could not be established in one country, though based on acute observations, proved fallacious under these conditions. Most obvious is the factor of space, the territory of the Soviet Union being the largest in the world under one political administration. Associated with the factor of space are wealth and diversity of natural resources. The particular stage of economic and cultural development in the Russian Empire at the time of the Revolution was no less important. Fourfifths of the people were peasants; the middle class was small and scattered; the urban proletariat, though relatively small, was sufficiently numerous to become politically dominant under skillful leadership. At the time of the first Soviet Census in I926, when the occupational structure of the population was not radically different from that in the late pre-revolutionary period, there were 4 million workers and employees in manufacturing, mining, construction and transportation, and a somewhat larger number of employed persons in various other fields, including agriculture and crafts, trade and public services. The combination of great resources and incipient industrial progress set the stage for a phenomenal expansion of industry under centralized economic control. By January, I939, there were over 14 million workers and employees in manufacturing, mining, construction and transportation, and about I 5 million employed persons in other fields. The progress of edu

Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · Soviet union · Demography · Law · Russia and Soviet political economy