Which of the readers heard from their ancestors (and did not read in a book) that until 1940 there was a six-day working day with fixed days of rest falling on different days seven day week? Few people. But in 1940 everyone knew this. This article is about something that everyone has forgotten: the regulation of working time in the USSR...
Under the damned tsarism
The tsarist regulation of working time applied, with some exceptions, only to industrial workers (and then so-called qualified ones, that is, with the exception of the smallest enterprises) and miners.
The working day was limited to 11.5 hours, a standard seven-day work was assumed working week with one day of rest on Sunday, while before Sundays and holidays a 10-hour working day was provided (the so-called eve days).
There were 13 holidays falling on any day of the week, in addition, 4 more holidays always fell on weekdays. Paid leave was not provided. Thus, in an average non-leap year there were 52.14 Sundays, 4 holidays that always fell on weekdays, and another 11.14 holidays that did not fall on Sunday, for a total of 297.7 working days in the year.
Of these, 52.14 were Saturdays, and another 7.42 were created by mobile holidays that did not stick to Sunday. In total, 59.6 working days were short, and 238.1 were long, which gives us 3334 standard working hours per year.
In fact, no one in industry agreed to work so much anymore, and the factory owners understood that people would work more efficiently if they were given more time to rest.
On average, at the beginning of the First World War, factories worked 275–279 days a year, 10–10.5 hours (different studies gave different results), which gives us approximately 2750 - 2930 hours per year.
Provisional government. Early Soviet power: war communism and NEP
Since May 1917, the Provisional Government fell into the hands of the socialists, who had been promising the working people an eight-hour shift for decades. The Socialists did not change their course, that is, they continued to promise an eight-hour meeting in an uncertain future, which (for the Provisional Government and the Socialist Revolutionaries) never came.
All this mattered little, because the industry was collapsing, and the workers became insolent and did not listen to their superiors; by the end of the summer of 1917, in fact, no one worked more than 5–6 hours a day (well, the output was the same as if they worked 3–4 hours).
Already on October 29, 1917, the Bolsheviks fulfilled one of the main points of their pre-revolutionary program - by a special decree they proclaimed an eight-hour working day, that is, it turned out to be a seven-day week with one day off and an eight-hour working day. The Labor Code of 1918 further expanded these provisions.
A month's paid leave was introduced; and between the end of the working day on Saturday and the beginning on Monday there should have been 42 hours, which, with one-shift work with a lunch break, gave a five-hour working day on Saturday; Before the holidays, the working day was reduced to 6 hours.
The number of holidays was reduced to 6, all on a fixed date, these were familiar to us New Year, May 1 (day of the International) and November 7 (day of the Proletarian Revolution) and completely unfamiliar ones: January 22 (day of January 9, 1905 (sic!)), March 12 (day of the overthrow of the autocracy), March 18 (day of the Paris Commune).
Using the calculation method shown above, in an average year, taking into account vacations and shortened days, there were 2112 hours, 37% less than according to the Tsarist Charter on Industry, 25% less than they actually worked in Tsarist Russia. This was a big breakthrough, if not for one unpleasant circumstance: the real industry did not work at all, workers fled from the cities and died of hunger. Against the backdrop of such events, anything could be written in the law, just to please the supporting class a little.
Since the people of that era were still strongly committed to religious holidays, but it was unpleasant for the Bolsheviks to mention this in the law, they were renamed special days rest, of which there were supposed to be 6 per year. Days were assigned to any dates at your discretion local authorities; if these days turned out to be religious holidays (which invariably happened in reality), then they were not paid; therefore, we do not include additional holidays in our calculations.
In 1922, industry began to slowly revive, and the Bolsheviks slowly came to their senses. According to the Labor Code of 1922, vacation was reduced to 14 days; If the vacation included holidays, it was not extended. This increased the annual working hours to 2,212 hours per year.
With these norms, quite humane for the era, the country lived through the entire NEP.
In 1927–28, May 1 and November 7 received a second additional day off, reducing the working year to 2,198 hours.
By the way, the Bolsheviks did not stop there and promised the people more. Solemn anniversary "Manifesto to all workers, toiling peasants, Red Army soldiers of the USSR, to the proletarians of all countries and the oppressed peoples of the world" 1927 promised an early transition to a seven-hour working day without reducing wages.
The Great Turnaround and the First Five-Year Plans
In 1929, the Bolsheviks, against the backdrop of the Great Revolution, were seized by a passion for exotic experiments in the sphere of regulation of working time. In the 1929/30 business year, the country began to vigorously transfer to a continuous working week with one floating day off per five-day week and a seven-hour working day (NPD).
It was the strangest timetable reform that you can imagine. The connection between the seven-day week and the work schedule was completely interrupted. The year was divided into 72 five-day days and 5 permanent holidays (January 22, now called V.I. Lenin Day and January 9, two-day May 1, two-day November 7).
The day of the overthrow of the autocracy and the day of the Paris Commune were canceled and forgotten by the people forever. New Year became a working day, but remained in people's memory. Additional unpaid religious holidays were also permanently abolished.
Not a single day in the five-day week was a general day off; workers were divided into five groups, for each of which one of the five days was a day off in turn. The working day became seven-hour (this was promised earlier, but no one expected that the seven-hour clock would come along with such confusion).
The vacation was recorded as 12 working days, that is, the duration remained the same. The minimum duration of Sunday rest was reduced to 39 hours, i.e. eve days disappeared during single-shift work. All this led to the fact that there were now 276 7-hour working days in the year, giving 1932 working hours per year.
Soviet calendar for 1930. Different days of the five-day week are highlighted in color, but the traditional seven-day weeks and the number of days in months are preserved.
The five-day workday was hated both among the people and in production. If spouses had a day of rest on different days of the five-day week, they could not meet each other on the day off.
In factories, which were accustomed to assigning equipment to certain workers and teams, there were now 5 workers per 4 machines. On the one hand, the efficiency of equipment use theoretically increased, but in practice there was also a loss of responsibility. All this led to the fact that the five-day period did not last long.
Since 1931, the country began to move to a six-day working week with five fixed days of rest per month and a seven-hour working day. The connection between the working week and the seven-day period was still lost. In each month, the 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th and 30th were designated as days off (which means that some weeks were actually seven-day). The only holidays left were January 22, the two-day May Day and the two-day November.
With a six-day week, there were 288 working days of 7 hours a year, which gave 2016 working hours. The Bolsheviks admitted that the working day had been increased, but vowed to increase wages proportionately (by 4.3%); in practice this did not matter, since prices and wages rose very quickly in that era.
The six-day system was able to somewhat reduce the damned confusion with the timesheet and calendar and more or less (in fact, about half of the workers were transferred to it) took root. Thus, with a rather short nominal working day, the country lived through the first five-year period.
One must, of course, understand that in reality the picture was not so joyful - the assault typical of the era was ensured through continuous and lengthy overtime work, which from an unpleasant exception gradually became the norm.
Mature Stalinism
In 1940, the era of relatively liberal labor rights came to an end. The USSR was preparing to conquer Europe. Criminal penalties for being late, a ban on dismissal for at will- of course, these measures would look strange without the accompanying increase in workload.
June 26, 1940 transition to a seven-day work week. This call to all workers of the USSR was made at the IX Plenum of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. In addition to the seven-day workday, during the plenum it was also proposed to introduce an eight-hour working day.
Since 1940, a seven-day week with one day off and an eight-hour working day was introduced. Holidays became 6, the day of the Stalin Constitution, December 5, was added to the old holidays. Shortened pre-holiday days, which accompanied the seven-day period until 1929, did not appear.
Now there are 2,366 working hours in a year, as much as 17% more than before. Unlike previous eras, the authorities did not apologize to the people about this and did not promise anything. With this simple and understandable calendar, which gave a historical maximum (for the USSR) of working time, the country lived until the complete collapse of Stalinism in 1956.
In 1947, amid a general return to national tradition, the holiday of January 22 was replaced by New Year.
Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras
In 1956, Khrushchev, having overcome the resistance of the elites, opened new page- labor law has again softened sharply. Since 1956, the country has moved to a seven-day working week with one day off and a seven-hour working day; in practice, the transition took 3–4 years, but it was complete.
In addition to the seven-day period, the country received a new relaxation - all pre-weekend and pre-holiday days were shortened by two hours. The holidays remain the same. This led to a sharp reduction in working hours; there were now 1,963 working hours per year, a 17% decrease. In 1966, the familiar March 8 and May 9 were added to the holidays, which shortened the working year to 1950 hours, that is, almost to the times of the half-forgotten five-day week.
And finally, in 1967, already under Brezhnev, the most fundamental of the reforms took place, which gave the form of the work schedule familiar to all of us today: a seven-day working week with two days off and an eight-hour working day was introduced.
Although the workweek had 5 working days of 8 hours, its duration was 41 hours. This extra hour took shape and formed 6–7 black (that is, workers) Saturdays hated by the people over the course of a year; Which days they fell on was decided by departments and local authorities.
The length of the working year increased slightly and now amounted to 2008 hours. But people still liked the reform; two days off are much better than one.
In 1971, a new Labor Code was adopted, which contained one pleasant innovation: vacation was increased to 15 working days. There were now 1,968 working hours per year. With this labor law, the Soviet Union reached its collapse.
For reference: today, thanks to the reduction of the working week to 40 hours, the increase in vacation to 20 working days, and holidays to 14 days, which always fall on non-weekends, we work 1819 hours in an average non-leap year.
History teaches us that a change in power often leads to a change in the countdown of time. Suffice it to recall the examples of July and August in Ancient Rome, the Jacobin calendar in revolutionary France at the end of the 18th century or the month of Turkmenbashi in independent Turkmenistan. In the Soviet country, the Bolsheviks first switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar - and after January 31, 1918, February 14 immediately came. But this was not the end of the experiments with revolutionary timekeeping.
"Colored" rest days
At the V Congress of Soviets of the USSR, held in Moscow on May 20-28, 1929, one of the leaders of the State Planning Committee, Yu. Larin, proposed introducing a continuous production week. But no attention was paid to the speech of the father-in-law of N. Bukharin, who had already fallen into disgrace, recorded in the protocols - so much so that it was not even discussed in the debate. The main task The congress was the adoption of the first five-year plan, corresponding to the “general course of Soviet power.”
I.V. Stalin, as you know, did not like initiatives that did not come from him. But after some time he could well voice them - already as his own fateful thoughts.
That's what happened this time too. On August 26, 1929, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, at the suggestion of Stalin, adopted a resolution on the transfer of enterprises and institutions to continuous production. And in the spring of 1930, a unified production timesheet and calendar was introduced.
From now on, each week consisted of five days, with the days divided into five groups named by color (yellow, pink, red, purple, green). The staff of any enterprise was divided into five parts of an equal number of workers - and for each part, one of the “colored” days assigned to it became a day off. That is, in general, enterprises worked without days off at all - after all, every day 80% of workers had to work, while 20% rested.
The year consisted of 72 five-day periods and 360 working days. Another five days were set aside for general holidays: Lenin Day (for some reason celebrated on January 22, the day after the death, not the birth of the leader), two Labor Days (May 1 and 2), as well as two Industrial Days - 7 and 8 November. These days were marked in calendars with red stars.
A side goal of introducing a new time system was anti-religious propaganda - after all, in this way Sundays disappeared among Christians, Saturdays among Jews, and Fridays among Muslims.
Officially, the calendar reform was introduced on January 1, 1930, but in fact many enterprises switched to a continuous five-day week ahead of schedule - from October 1, 1929.
The general chronology continued according to Gregorian calendar- but at the same time the date was indicated as “such and such a year of the revolution” with a starting point of November 7, 1917. Moreover, this phrase was present in all Soviet calendars until 1991 inclusive.
Revolutionary holiday for February 29?
Soviet newspapers glorified the new continuous labor system - after all, formally there were more days off in the USSR (one per five-day week instead of one per seven-day week). But in reality, the situation of the working people has not become so joyful.
Firstly, despite the daily absence of 20% of workers, the plan of any enterprise for that day remained the same - that is, the remaining ones had a constant additional burden. And secondly, the reform was unpopular due to massive complications in family life, because the weekends of members of the same family working at different enterprises usually did not coincide.
There were also production troubles - in particular, related to the repair of machines or machine tools. Continuous production with its rigid schedule led to a sharp increase in equipment wear and tear and more breakdowns. And there were usually not enough repairmen on the staff of enterprises to distribute them for the entire five-day period.
Having difficulty dividing labor collectives in parts when planning vacations and in cases of absence due to illness. In addition, it was not clear how to carry out reform in institutions such as schools, institutes or theaters (in the end, they never switched to a five-day week).
Another unresolved problem was the day of February 29, which was supposed to come in 1932, because it would destroy the harmony of the revolutionary five-day days. The Soviet calendars of 1930 and 1931 are almost identical: January 1 is the first day of the five-day period, and December 31 is its last day. But 1932, due to an extra day, should have ended not on the fifth, but on the first day of the five-day period - if February 29 was not made an additional general holiday. But how can we relate this day to revolutionary symbolism?
The 31st is for work only
All these numerous problems and the troubles led to the fact that on November 21, 1931, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR issued a decree “On an interrupted production week in institutions.” Since December 1, 1931 five day week was replaced by a six-day one with a general fixed day of rest falling on the 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th and 30th of each month.
The six-day system was well suited to 30-day months (five cycles consisting of five working days and one weekend). And the Soviet state solved the problem of the 31st numbers simply: they were not included in the six-day period and were additional working days.
But the question of February arose again. What to do when there are 28 or 29 days in a month? Initially, the last week of February was shortened - the day off (February 29, 1932) followed not five, but only four (February 25-28) working days. The following year, 1933, a day off was made on March 1 - that is, after four working days on February 25-28 and before the next, also shortened week with working days on March 2-5.
But the state no longer spared its workers. Beginning in 1934, the period between February 25 and March 5 consisted of nine or ten consecutive working days, depending on whether the year was a leap year or not.
The dates of five national holidays did not change - and if they coincided with working days, they were converted to weekends.
The tear-off calendar sheet of that time looked something like this: “Eighteenth year of the revolution, October 22, 1935, fourth day of the six-day period, Tuesday.”
A similar calculation is present in the credits famous film“Volga-Volga”: “the first day of the six-day period”, “the second day of the six-day period”, etc.
12 months from the Union of Atheists
After such innovations, the calendar became stable for some time. Nevertheless, attempts to somehow change it did not stop. In 1939, the Union of Militant Atheists proposed to rename the months of the year, replacing them with the following: January - the month of Lenin (after the day of death), February - the month of Marx (does not coincide with the dates of birth and death), March - the month of the revolution (a reminder of the Paris Commune) , April is the month of Sverdlov (does not coincide with the days of birth and death), May is the month of May (implying that this is the month of revolutionary labor), June is the month of the Soviet Constitution (adopted in December 1936), July is the month of harvest, August is the month peace (in memory of the First World War), September - the month of the Comintern (does not coincide with the founding date), October - the month of Engels (does not coincide with the dates of birth and death), November - the month great revolution, December is the month of Stalin (by date of birth).
But this proposal was rejected. According to eyewitnesses, firstly, because of the incomprehensible connection of many months with their new names, and secondly, because of Stalin’s reluctance to be on an equal footing not only with Marx, Engels and Lenin, but also with Sverdlov.
Who is exploited more?
The Soviet calendar with six-day weeks lasted until June 26, 1940 - the day the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was issued “On the transition to an eight-hour working day, to a seven-day working week and on the prohibition of the unauthorized departure of workers and employees from enterprises and institutions.”
The transition to a seven-day week was caused primarily by the need to attract additional labor resources - and did not in any way reflect the party’s concern for people, promoted by the state. The first paragraph of the text of the decree spoke about increasing the working day from seven to eight hours at ordinary enterprises and from six to seven hours at enterprises with hazardous labor conditions. The second paragraph of the decree spoke about the transition from a six-day to a seven-day week, considering every Sunday a day of rest.
In other words, the decree worsened the situation of workers in two directions at once: by increasing their working hours and reducing the number of days off (once every seven days instead of once every six). The working week was 48 hours. Official reasons such changes were called tense international situation and the outbreak of World War II.
Only in 1967, on the eve of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, did the leadership of the USSR finally realize the shameful fact for the country of victorious socialism: that Soviet workers work six days a week, while workers in countries with predatory capitalist exploitation - just five days. And on March 14, 1967, the familiar five-day work week with two days off was introduced in the USSR.
Nikolay MIKHAILOV
Working hours are the distribution of working hours during a certain calendar period. The regime may be the same for all employees of the company, or may vary for different categories of employees. There are regular working hours, which are established for all or the majority of workers in the company, and special working hours, which differ from the usual working hours or the distribution of working hours. These include, for example, shift work or a flexible schedule. Today we will talk about the standard five-day workweek: how many hours does a five-day work week last, how many days off are employees entitled to, etc.
- How many hours is a five-day work week?
The normal duration (standard hours) of a five-day working week is 40 hours. This norm does not depend on the following factors:
- organizational and legal form of the company;
- working hours (for example, flexible work or a standard five-day work week)
Since the number of working hours in a five-day work week is 40 hours, one working day is typically eight hours.
Payment for days off during a five-day work week
With a 5-day work week, workers are provided with two days off per week; the usual days off are Saturday and Sunday, and rarely Sunday and Monday. In some cases, the employer may establish a work schedule at the enterprise in which generally accepted weekends are working days. For example, during shift work, weekends are set by the shift schedule and are “floating”, that is, they can fall on different days of the week, taking into account the alternation of shifts. Sometimes the following situations occur: an employee works on a standard schedule of a five-day work week with two days off, but the employer needs the employee to go to work on his day off. To do this, the following conditions must be met.
- In order for employees to go to work on their day off, the employer must have a legal basis;
- the employee’s written consent will be required (exceptions are provided);
- it is necessary to take into account the opinion of the trade union (in some cases established by law);
- You will need a written order from the employer.
It is worth keeping in mind that the payment for “working” days off with a five-day work week will be increased, or you can compensate for them with a day of rest additionally provided to the employee. However, in in this case There are also exceptions: they apply to employees with whom an employment contract has been concluded for a period of up to 2 months. In this case, if you ask an employee to go to work on his day off, you can only compensate for his work in monetary terms and at least double the amount.
Order on the transition to a five-day working week
If you want to increase or decrease the length of the working week, you must adhere to the following procedure:
1. Issue an order to switch to a different work schedule (five-day working week). The order must be drawn up in free form.
The order must indicate:
- list of positions, professions or individual workers, for which it is installed new mode work, for example, a five-day work week;
- the procedure for introducing a five-day working week;
- a list of employees who are responsible for the introduction of a five-day working week;
- deadlines for order execution.
Employees, if they switch to a new work schedule, must be familiarized with the order.
An example of an order to switch to a five-day work week:
2. Establish a different length of the working week (for example, five days or six days) in the internal labor regulations (collective agreement). Changes to the Internal Labor Regulations are formalized by order of the head of the enterprise or a person authorized by him, and in a collective agreement - by an additional agreement to it. All employees must be familiarized with all changes made to the Internal Labor Regulations or their new edition by signature.
3. Reflect the transition to another length of the working week in employment contracts with the employees for whom it is established by drawing up additional agreements to employment contracts.
The program is hosted by Andrey Shary. Doctor involved historical sciences Alexander Bezborodov and deputy editor-in-chief of the Delo newspaper Dmitry Travin .
Andrey Shary : 40 years ago, the Soviet leadership decided to abolish the six-day working week that had existed in the country since Stalin’s times. Workers received the right to a second day off. In the year of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, this measure was supposed to indicate the real successes of developed socialism. I am talking with Doctor of Historical Sciences, Rector of the Moscow Historical and Archival Institute Alexander Bezborodov.
The end of the 60s is the end of the Thaw era. Secretary General Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev is in power. In that frame of reference, what was the significance of the abolition of the six-day work week?
Alexander Bezborodov : At the end of the 60s, very serious changes began to occur in the country related to the political way of life. Great value began, in particular, to be given to the pompous, quite celebration of various anniversary dates. 1967 is a celebration of a round date, the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. On March 7, the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions adopted a resolution on the transfer of workers and employees of enterprises, institutions and organizations to a five-day work week with two days off. Before March 8 and in the future in the year of the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, this had a strong political resonance. Kosygin was already the head of the Council of Ministers. By the way, he is one of those who, along with Brezhnev and Grishin, signed this resolution. The Five-Year Plan was the eighth, very successful, one of our most successful. There was a lot of calculations going on there – both by Kosygin personally and by his staff.
The social component, the task of strengthening Brezhnev and his group in power, was very seriously correlated with all political anniversary affairs. This was very important socially both for the new regime and in general for labor productivity to increase. After all, even if you follow Marxist dogmas - free time, which now took place among workers and employees, they had to help ensure that labor productivity, in any case, did not stand still.
Andrey Shary : The introduction of a five-day working week was not caused by the actual successes of the Soviet economy. Main role political and social factors. So says St. Petersburg economist, deputy editor-in-chief of the Delo newspaper Dmitry Travin.
Dmitry Travin : In those years, in general, the nature of the Soviet economy changed greatly. From the outside, from the West, to Sovietologists, this economy often seemed to be a command economy in all its fundamentals, as our Russian economists, say, Vitaly Naishel, Petr Aven and some others found out. A command economy could be called somewhere in the Stalin years, and then it gradually began to turn into the so-called economy of approvals or bureaucratic bargaining. Every boss had to take into account the opinion of his subordinate, down to the simple worker. In this sense, since it was necessary to bargain with society, to bargain with ordinary hard workers, it was necessary to give something to people. A hard six-day work week, of course, could not be liked by many. It was a kind of relic of the quasi-GULAG. This was one of the elements of providing this freedom, when a person could do something for himself on a free day, drink a bottle of vodka or take a walk in nature.
Andrey Shary : The amount of working time that workers Soviet Union carried out in production. This is a huge economic loss. How did they make up for it?
Dmitry Travin : In general, if you look at Soviet economic statistics, even from them we see that the Brezhnev period was far from the most effective. In fact, both these losses and many other losses associated with the relative liberalization of the economy, in fact, were not renewed. As soon as the rigid Gulag system collapses, such a socialist economy cannot exist at all effectively. Therefore, people worked worse and rested more. Over time, this led to worsening shortages. In a sense, compensation was the increase in oil prices, which occurred, however, not in the 60s, but later - after 1973. And this really supported the Soviet economy.
Andrey Shary : Can we consider this decision to reduce the hours people spent at work as one of the elements of Alexei Kosygin’s economic reform?
Dmitry Travin : I wouldn’t call it a reform. The essence of the reform, which was conceived back in the last Khrushchev years and, indeed, began to be implemented when Kosygin entered higher authority and was to give enterprises a little more independence, to allow them to use at least some small funds for their own needs, to reward workers who work better than others. What we are talking about now is not a stimulating element. I think that this rather indicates not a desire to transform the regime, but a weakening of the capabilities of the regime as a whole.
UPDATE: Apparently, the photo of the grave is most likely a photoshopped fake and February 30th never actually existed in the USSR. Personally, I have not yet been able to find a single confirmation in the form of any calendar or newspaper for 1930 or 1931. But calendars are known that indicate the opposite.
Original taken from masterok in the Soviet revolutionary...
It would seem why I am showing you this photo. Do you notice anything strange on her? Exactly exactly? Well, take a closer look! Found it? Ok, let's go to the cut and read the details...
- a calendar, an attempt to introduce which was made starting from October 1, 1929 in the USSR. However, on December 1, 1931, this calendar was partially abolished. The final return to the traditional calendar was made on June 26, 1940.
During the operation of the Soviet revolutionary calendar, in parallel, in some cases, the Gregorian calendar was used.
The Soviet revolutionary calendar with a five-day week was introduced on October 1, 1929. Its main goal was to destroy the Christian seven-day weekly cycle, making Sundays working days. However, despite the fact that there were more days off (6 per month instead of 4-5), such an artificial rhythm of life turned out to be unsustainable, it contradicted both everyday habits and all established folk culture. Therefore, the revolutionary calendar, under the pressure of life, gradually changed towards the traditional one, which was restored in 1940. This calendar reform took place as follows.
26 August 1929 Council People's Commissars The USSR, in its decree “On the transition to continuous production in enterprises and institutions of the USSR,” recognized it as necessary, starting from the 1929-1930 business year (from October 1), to begin a systematic and consistent transfer of enterprises and institutions to continuous production. The transition to “continuous work”, which began in the fall of 1929, was consolidated in the spring of 1930 by a resolution of a special government commission under the Council of Labor and Defense, which introduced a unified production timesheet-calendar.
IN calendar year 360 days were provided, and accordingly 72 five-day periods. Each of the 12 months consisted of exactly 30 days, including February. The remaining 5 or 6 days (in a leap year) were declared “monthless holidays” and were not included in any month or week, but had their own names:
A week in the USSR in 1929-1930. consisted of 5 days, while they were divided into five groups named by color (yellow, pink, red, purple, green), and each group had its own day off per week.
The five-day period took root with exceptional difficulty - in fact, it was a constant violation of the usual biological rhythm of people’s lives. Therefore, the Bolsheviks decided to retreat slightly.
By the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of November 21, 1931 “On the interrupted production week in institutions”, from December 1, 1931, the five-day week was replaced by a six-day week with a fixed day of rest falling on the 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th and 30th of each month ( March 1 was used instead of February 30, every 31st was considered an additional working day). Traces of this are visible, for example, in the credits of the film “Volga-Volga” (“the first day of the six-day period”, “the second day of the six-day period”...).
Since 1931, the number of days in a month has been returned to its previous form. But these concessions did not change the main goal of the calendar reform: the eradication of Sunday. And they also could not normalize the rhythm of life. Therefore, with the first signs of rehabilitation of Russian patriotism on the eve of the war, Stalin also decided to stop the fight against traditional structure calculation of time.
The return to the 7-day week occurred on June 26, 1940 in accordance with the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the transition to an eight-hour working day, to a seven-day working week and on the prohibition of unauthorized departure of workers and employees from enterprises and institutions.” However, the week in the USSR began on Sunday, only in more later years- from Monday.
Despite the fact that chronology continued according to the Gregorian calendar, in some cases the date was indicated as “NN year of the socialist revolution,” with a starting point of November 7, 1917. The phrase “NN year of the socialist revolution” was present in tear-off and flip calendars up to and including 1991 - until the end of the Communist Party’s power.