To study, work, and live in a communist way: the bonds of the social contract between the youth of the 1950s and 1960s and the Soviet government

Abstract

The historical and sociological analysis of the article provides an overview of theoretical and methodological research on this topic during the period under review. The article is based on the concept of a social contract between the Soviet government and young people. The analysis focuses on the following aspects: the number of young people, the government's demands, the situation of young people and their relationship with the government, issues related to secondary and higher education, and participation in various youth organizations. The data is supported by statistical reports. The article examines the positions of young people in terms of their adherence to the cult of work, education, and community. The article shows the forms of social activity of young people: labor (shock work, Stakhanov movement, movement for the title of brigades of communist labor, participation in Komsomol construction sites, virgin lands development, etc.), public (Komsomol, Amateur informal associations, voluntary societies), political (the case of Krasnopevtsev). The research is interested in what aspirations, interests, and orientations were characteristic of this group, what they consisted of, how they correlated with state interests, as well as the interests of the entire nation; whether the creative potential of young people was in demand. The trends in higher and secondary vocational education are shown, based on the research of V.N. Shubkin. A differentiated review of youth organizations of the Soviet era in the 1950s and 1960s (pro-social, asocial, and opposition-oriented) is presented, as well as the reasons for their emergence as a challenge to the social contract.