Skip to main content

Leisure

  • Chapter

Abstract

The stereotypical view of the Soviet Union is that it is a society at work— in the workers’ state people labour and there is no play. From a distance the view is of a people who live grey lives in a ponderous, unrelentingly morose world with no time for laughter or real respite. When not working they hunt for food, and when not hunting for food they are beseiged with boring lectures and newspaper exhortations on the glories of fulfilling the current five year plan. Life is endless tedium. While there is more than a grain of truth in this picture, the portrait is more caricature than photographic realism. There is leisure in the workers’ state; not yet the workers’ paradise but time for play nevertheless.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Endnotes

  1. The Soviets use the terms ‘iskliuchitel’nost’ i chrezvychainost’’ See L.A. Muksinova, Problemy Regulirovaniia Rabochego Vremenii v SSSR (Moscow, 1969) p. 198.

    Google Scholar 

  2. A.A. Kliuev and A.V. Iarkho, Profaktivu o Kontrole za Rabochim Vremenem i Vremenem Otdykha (Moscow, 1975) p. 37.

    Google Scholar 

  3. P.D. Vladimirovich, Sverkhurochnye Raboty. Rabota v Vykhodnye i Prazdnichnye Dni. Dezhurstva (Moscow, 1961) p. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  4. The discussion on state agriculture is drawn from A.V. Iarkho, Sverkhurochnye Raboty. Rabota v Vykhodnye i Prazdnichnye Dni (Moscow, 1965) pp. 24–5 and Kliuev and Iarkho, pp. 104–5. The treatment of public catering and the fishing industry is from Iarkho, pp. 26–7 and 31.

    Google Scholar 

  5. G.A. Prudenskii, Problemy Rabochego i Vnerabochego Vremeni (Moscow, 1972) p. 304.

    Google Scholar 

  6. The discussion of PGS is taken from L. Ia. Gintsburg, Regulirovanie Rabochego Vremeni v SSSR (Moscow, 1966) pp. 285–9.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kliuev and Iarkho, p. 41; Alec Nove, An Economic History of the USSR. (Penguin, 1969) p. 81.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Alec Nove, An Economic History of the USSR (Penguin, 1969) p. 81.

    Google Scholar 

  9. A.V. Netsenko, Sotsial’no—Ekonomicheskie Problemy Svobodnogo Vremeni Pri Sotsializme (Leningrad, 1975) p. 75.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Gregory Grossman, ‘The “Second Economy” of the USSR’, Problems of Communism, (September, 1977) pp. 25–40.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Grossman, ‘Notes on the Illegal Private Economy and Corruption’, Soviet Economy in a Time of Change, 10 October 1979 (Joint Economic Committee, Washington, D.C.) pp. 834–55

    Google Scholar 

  12. A. Katsenelinboigen, ‘Coloured Markets in the Soviet Union’, Soviet Studies, vol. xxix, no. 1 (January, 1977) pp. 62–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. For example, see Alec Nove, The Soviet Economy (Praeger, 1961) p. 160. 5 LEISURE

    Google Scholar 

  14. B. Grushin, Svobodnoe Vremia: Aktual’nye Problemy (Moscow, 1967) pp. 76–7.

    Google Scholar 

  15. G.M. Podorov, Rabochee i Svobodnee Vremia (Moscow, 1975) pp. 136–9.

    Google Scholar 

  16. V.A. Artemov et. al., Statistika Biudzhetov Vremeni Trudiashchikhsia (Moscow, 1967) p. 119.

    Google Scholar 

  17. G.T. Zhuravlev, ‘Svodobnoe Vremia i Kul’turnaia Zhizn’ Rabotnikov Promyshlennogo Predpriiatiia’, G.V. Osipov and la. Shchepan’skii (eds), Sotsial’nye Problemy Truda i Proizvodstva (Moscow, 1969) pp. 373–4.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Literaturnaia Gazeta, 9 April 1975, p. 13; L.A. Gordon, E.V. Klopov, and L.A. Onikov, Cherty Sotsialisticheskogo Obraza Zhizni: Byt Gorodskikh Rabochikh Vchera, Segodnia, Zavtra (Moscow, 1977) p. 95.

    Google Scholar 

  19. B.T. Kolpakova and V.D. Patrusheva (eds), Biudzhet Vremeni Gorodskogo Naseleniia (Moscow, 1971) p. 179.

    Google Scholar 

  20. G.E. Zborovskii and G.P. Orlov, Dosugi: Deistvitel’nost i Illuzii (Sverdlovsk, 1970) p. 21.

    Google Scholar 

  21. M.A. Gurevich, ‘Voprosy Organizatsii Svobodnogo Vremeni v Plane Sotsial’nogo Razvitiia Kollektiva’, Tezisy Dokladov Nauchno—Prakticheskoi KonferentsiiVnerabochee Vremia i Sotsial’noe Planirovanie” (Sverdlovsk, 1975) p. 109.

    Google Scholar 

  22. M.T. Iovchuk and L.N. Kogan (eds), Dukhovnyi Mir Sovetskogo Rabochego (Moscow, 1972) p. 334.

    Google Scholar 

  23. V.N. Pimenova, Svobodnoe Vremia v Sotsialisticheskom Obshchestve. Moscow, 1974) p. 257.

    Google Scholar 

  24. G.P. Orlov, Svobodnoe Vremia Kak Sotsiologicheskaia Kategoriia (Sverdlovsk, 1973) p. 125.

    Google Scholar 

  25. For example, see Ekonomicheskaia Gazeta, no. 17 (1967) trans. in CD, vol. xix, no. 20, p. 12; Literaturnaia Gazeta, 21 June 1972, p. 12; A.I. Ivan’kov, ‘Biudzhet Vremeni Trudiashchikhsia i Plan Sotsial’nogo Razvitiia Predpriiatiia’, Sotsial’nye Problemy Novykh Gorodov Vostochnoi Sibiri, vol. 2 (Irkutsk, 1974) p. 87.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Iu. V. Arutiunian, Sotsial’aia Struktura Sel’skogo Naseleniia SSSR (Moscow, 1971) p. 63.

    Google Scholar 

  27. M.T. Iovchuk and A.S. Kulagin, ‘Nekotorye Aktual’nye Problemy Razvitiia Sotsialisticheskoi Kultury na Sele’, Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia, no. 4 (1975) p. 37.

    Google Scholar 

  28. N.M. Blinov, ‘Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia Truda i Vospitaniia Sovetskoi Molodezhi 20-Kh Godov’, Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia, no. 1, 1975, p. 149.

    Google Scholar 

  29. A.G. Kharchev and S.I. Golod, Professional’naia Rabota Zhenshchin i Sem’ia, Leningrad, 1971, p. 108.

    Google Scholar 

  30. B.M. Firsov and K. Muzdybaev, ‘K Postroeniiu Systemy Pokazatelei Ispol’zovaniia Sredstv Massovoi Kommunikatsii’, Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia, no. 1, 1975, p. 115.

    Google Scholar 

  31. V.G. Baikova, A.S. Duchal and A.A. Zemtsov, Svobodnoe Vremia i Vsestoronnee Razvitie Lichnosti (Moscow 1965), pp. 88 and 90.

    Google Scholar 

  32. I.P. Trufanov, Problemy Byta Gorodskogo Naseleniia SSSR (Leningrad, 1973) p. 100.

    Google Scholar 

  33. A.G. Levitskaia, ‘Sotsial’nye Sfery Novogo Goroda’, Sotsial’nye Problemy Novykh Gorodov Vostochnoi Sibiri, vol. 2 (Irkutsk, 1974) p. 17.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Keith Bush, ‘Books in the Second Economy’ (Papers from the Conference on the Second Economy of the USSR, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, January 1980).

    Google Scholar 

  35. L.I. Petrovicheva, Sovetskii Rabochii—Chitatel’ (Minsk, 1978) p. 81.

    Google Scholar 

  36. E.K. Vasil’eva, Sotsial’no—Professional’nyi Uroven’ Gorodskoi Molodezhi (Leningrad, 1973) p. 23.

    Google Scholar 

  37. G.I. Mel’nikov, V.N. Sudakov, ‘Nekotorye Voprosy Adaptatsii Molodykh Rabochikh’, Sotsial’nye Problemy Novykh Gorodov Vostochnoi Sibiri (Irkutsk, 1971) p. 63.

    Google Scholar 

  38. V.N. Kudriavtsev, Prichiny Pravonarushenii (Moscow, 1976) p. 170.

    Google Scholar 

  39. G.P. Orlov, Svobodnoe Vremia Kak Sotsiologicheskaia Kategoriia (Sverdlovsk, 1973) pp. 125 and 127.

    Google Scholar 

  40. G.E. Zborovskii and G.P. Orlov, Dosugi: Deisvitel’nost’ i Illuzii (Sverdlovsk, 1970) p. 233.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Copyright information

© 1984 William Moskoff

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Moskoff, W. (1984). Leisure. In: Labour and Leisure in the Soviet Union. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06946-0_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics