Soviet calendar

The Soviet calendar added five- and six-day work weeks between 1929 and 1940 to the Gregorian calendar adopted by Russia in 1918. Although the traditional seven-day week was still recognized, a day of rest on Sunday was replaced by one day of rest sometime during each work week. Many sources mistakenly state that the weeks were organized into 30-day months.

Five-day weeks

From the autumn of 1929 until the summer of 1931, each Gregorian calendar "year" was usually divided into 72 five-day weeks (=360 days), three of which were split into two partial weeks by five national holidays. The two parts of each split week still totaled five days—the one or two national holidays that split it were not part of that week. Each day of the five-day week was labeled by either one of five colors or a Roman numeral from I to V. Each worker was assigned a color or number to identify his or her day of rest.

Eighty per cent of each factory's workforce was at work every day (except holidays) in an attempt to increase production while 20% were resting. But if a husband and wife, and their relatives and friends were assigned different colors or numbers, they would not have a common rest day for their family and social life. Furthermore, machines broke down more frequently both because they were used by workers not familiar with them, and because no maintenance could be performed on machines that were never idle.

The colors vary depending on the source consulted. The 1930 color calendar displayed here has days of purple, blue, yellow, red, and green, in that order beginning nowrap|1 January.Clive Foss, "Stalin's topsy-turvy work week", "History Today" 54/9 (September 2004) 46–47.] Blue was supported by an anonymous writer in 1936 as the second day of the week, but he stated that red was the first day of the week.The Riga correspondent of the London Times, "Russian experiments", "Journal of Calendar Reform" 6 (1936) 69–71.] However, most sources replace blue with either nowrap|pink,Erland Echlin, "Here all nations agree", "Journal of Calendar Reform" 8 (1938) 25–27.] Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", "Journal of Calendar Reform" 10 (1940) 65–69.] Carleton J. Ketchum, "Russia's changing tide", "Journal of Calendar Reform" 13 (1943) 147–155.] Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, "The Oxford companion to the year" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 99, 688–689.] [http://www.louisg.net/reforme_gregorienne.htm#russie La réforme grégorienne: La réforme en Russie] (The Gregorian reform: The reform in Russia) Fr icon] nowrap|orange,Susan M. Kingsbury and Mildred Fairchild, "Factory family and woman in the Soviet Union" (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1935) 245–248. Attributes the rest days of six-day weeks to five-day weeks.] Frank Parise, ed., "Soviet calendar", "The book of calendars", (New York: Facts on file, 1982) 377.] E. G. Richards, "Mapping time", (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 159–160, 277–279.] or peach,Eviatar Zerubavel, "The Soviet five-day "Nepreryvka", "The seven day circle" (New York: Free press, 1985) 35–43.] all of which specify the different order yellow, pink/orange/peach, red, purple, and green. The partial 1930 black and white calendar from Kingsbury and Fairchild (1935) displayed here does not conform to any of these because its red day is the fifth day of the week, which even disagrees with their own statement that red was the third day of the week.

Six-day weeks

From the summer of 1931 until nowrap|26 June 1940, each Gregorian "month" was usually divided into five six-day weeks, more and less, as shown by the 1933 calendar displayed here. The sixth day of each week was a uniform day off for all workers, that is days 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30 of each month. The last day of 31-day months was always an extra work day in factories, which, when combined with the first five days of the following month, made six successive work days. But some commercial and government offices treated the 31st day as an extra day off. To make up for the short fifth week of February, nowrap|1 March was a uniform day off followed by four successive work days in the first week of March (2–5). The partial last week of February had four work days in common years (25–28) and five work days in leap years (25–29). But some enterprises treated nowrap|1 March as a regular work day, producing nine or ten successive work days between nowrap|25 February and nowrap|5 March, inclusive. The dates of the five national holidays did not change, but they now converted five regular work days into holidays within three six-day weeks rather than splitting those weeks into two parts (none of these holidays was on a "sixth day").

National holidays

On 2 December 1918 several Bolshevik holidays, during which work was prohibited, were decreed. Shilova (2007) lists six (nowrap|2 May and nowrap|8 November are not listed), whereas Malevsky-Malevitch (1933) lists eight:Irina Shilova, [http://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/19/shilova19.shtml "Building the Bolshevik calendar through "Pravda" and "Izvestiia"] , "Toronto Slavic Quarterly" No. 19 (Winter 2007). She named the holidays associated with five- and six-day weeks the "Stalin calendar" to distinguish them from the holidays of the previous eleven years, which she called the "Bolshevik calendar".] P. Malevsky-Malevitch, "Russia U.S.S.R.: A complete handbook" (New York: William Farquhar Payson, 1933) 601–602.]
* 1 January – New Year
* 22 January – Day of "9 January 1905" (Old Style)
* 12 March – Overthrow of the Autocracy (1917)
* 18 March – Day of the Paris Commune (1871)
* 1–2 May – Day of International (1886)
* 7–8 November – Day of the Proletarian Revolution (1917)In January 1925, the anniversary of Lenin's Death in 1924 was added on nowrap|21 January. Although other events were commemorated on other dates, they were not days of rest.

On 24 September 1929, three holidays were eliminated, nowrap|1 January, nowrap|12 March, and nowrap|18 March. Lenin's Day on nowrap|21 January was merged with nowrap|22 January. Malevsky-Malevitch (1933) lists nowrap|21 January separately. Shilova (2007) states that nowrap|1 May and nowrap|7 November were expanded to two days each in 1929. The resulting five holidays continued to be celebrated until 1954. [Solomon M. Schwarz] , "The continuous working week in Soviet Russia", "International Labour Review" 23 (1931) 157–180.] Duncan Steel, "Marking Time" (New York: John Wiley, 2000) 293–294.]
* 22 January – Bloody Sunday (nowrap|9 January 1905 Old Style, nowrap|22 January 1905 New Style) and Lenin's Day (although he died nowrap|21 January)
* 1–2 May – International Workers' Day
* 7–8 November – October Revolution (nowrap|25–26 October 1917 Old Style, nowrap|7–8 November 1917 New Style)Two "Journal of Calendar Reform" articles (1938 and 1943) have two misunderstandings, specifying nowrap|9 January and nowrap|26 October, not realizing that both are Julian calendar dates equivalent to the unspecified Gregorian dates nowrap|22 January and nowrap|8 November, so they specify nowrap|9 January, nowrap|21 January, nowrap|1 May, nowrap|26 October, and nowrap|7 November, plus a quadrennial leap day.

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar was implemented in Russia on nowrap|14 February 1918 by dropping the Julian dates of nowrap|1–13 February 1918 pursuant to a decree signed nowrap|24 January 1918 (Julian) by Lenin. The decree required that the Julian date was to be written in parentheses after the Gregorian date until nowrap|1 July 1918. [http://grigam.hop.ru/kalend/kalen19.htm История календаря в России и в СССР by Анатолия Григоренко] (Calendar history in Russia and the USSR by Anatol Grigorenko) Ru icon] All surviving examples of physical calendars from 1929–40 show the irregular month lengths of the Gregorian calendar (such as those displayed here). Most calendars displayed all the days of a Gregorian year as a grid with seven rows or columns for the traditional seven-day week with Sunday first. The 1931 pocket calendar displayed here is a rare example that excluded the five national holidays, enabling the remaining 360 days of the Gregorian year to be displayed as a grid with five rows labeled I–V for each day of the five-day week. [http://mkkkk.narod.ru/Fr313.htm ИЗ ИСТОРИИ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОГО КАРМАННОГО КАЛЕНДАРЯ by Дмитрий Малявин] ("Calendar stories from reforms in the USSR" by Dmitry Malyavin) Ru icon Does not mention colors, only numbers.] Even it had the full Gregorian calendar on the other side. Throughout this period, "Pravda", the official newspaper of the Communist Party, and other newspapers continued to use Gregorian calendar dates in their mastheads alongside the traditional seven-day week. The traditional names of "Resurrection" (Воскресенье) for Sunday and "Sabbath" (Суббота) for Saturday continued to be used, despite the government's officially atheistic policy. In rural areas, the traditional seven-day week continued to be used despite official disfavor. Several sources from the 1930s state that the old Gregorian calendar was not changed. Two modern sources explicitly state that the structure of the Gregorian calendar was not touched.Lance Latham, "Standard C date/time library: Programming the world's calendars and clocks" (Lawrence, KS: R&D Books, 1998) 390–392.] Toke Nørby, [http://www.norbyhus.dk/calendar.html#Russia The Perpetual Calendar: A helpful tool to postal historians: What about Russia?] ]

30-day months

A 1929 Time magazine article announcing Soviet five-day work weeks, which it called an Eternal calendar, associated them with the French Republican Calendar, which had months containing three ten-day weeks. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752070,00.html?iid=chix-sphere Oneday, Twoday] (Time: 7 October 1929)] In nowrap|February 1930 a government commission proposed a Soviet revolutionary calendar containing twelve 30-day months plus five national holidays that were not part of any month, but it was rejected because it would differ from the Gregorian calendar used by the rest of Europe.R. W. Davies, "The Soviet economy in turmoil, 1929–1930" (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, 1989) 84–86, 143–144, 252–256, 469, 544.] Four "Journal of Calendar Reform" articles (1938, 1940, 1943, 1954) thought that five-day weeks actually were organized into 30-day months,Elisabeth Achelis, "Calendar marches on: [http://personal.ecu.edu/MCCARTYR/Russia.html Russia's difficulties] ", "Journal of Calendar Reform" 24 (1954) 91–93.] as do several modern sources. [ [http://www.friesian.com/russia.htm#calendar The Orthodox and Soviet Calendar Reforms] ] [ [http://pweb.jps.net/~gangale/opsa/ir/Time_Bandits.htm Time Bandits: Soviet calendars and the quest for industrial efficiency] ]

A 1931 Time magazine article announcing six-day weeks stated that they too were organized into 30-day months, with the five national holidays between those months. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,930406,00.html Staggers Unstaggers] (Time: 7 December 1931)] Two of the "Journal of Calendar Reform" articles (1938 and 1943) thought that six-day as well as five-day weeks were organized into 30-day months. A couple of modern sources state that five-day weeks plus the first two years of six-day weeks were organized into 30-day months.

Apparently to place the five national holidays between 30-day months since nowrap|1 October 1929, Parise (1982) shifted Lenin's Day to nowrap|31 January, left two Days of the Proletariat on nowrap|1–2 May, and shifted two Days of the Revolution to nowrap|31 October and nowrap|1 November, plus nowrap|1 January (all Gregorian dates). Stating that all months had 30 days between nowrap|1 October 1929 and nowrap|1 December 1931, the "Oxford Companion to the Year" (1999) 'corrected' Parise's list by specifying that "Lenin Day" was after nowrap|30 January (nowrap|31 January Gregorian), a two-day "Workers' First of May" was after nowrap|30 April (nowrap|2–3 May Gregorian), two "Industry Days" were after nowrap|7 November (nowrap|7–8 November Gregorian), and placed the leap day after nowrap|30 February (nowrap|2 March Gregorian).

History

During the second half of May 1929, Yurii M. Larin (1882–1932) proposed a continuous production week ("nepreryvnaya rabochaya nedelya" = "nepreryvka") to the Fifth Congress of Soviets of the Union, but so little attention was paid to his suggestion that the president of the Congress did not even mention it in his final speech. By the beginning of nowrap|June 1929, Larin had won the approval of Stalin, prompting all newspapers to praise the idea. On nowrap|8 June 1929 the Supreme Economic Council of the RSFSR directed its efficiency experts to submit within two weeks a plan to introduce continuous production. Before any plan was available, during the first half of nowrap|June 1929, 15% of industry had converted to continuous production according to Larin, probably an overestimate. On nowrap|26 August 1929 the Council of People's Commissars (CPC) of the Soviet Union (Sovnarkom) declared "it essential that the systematically prepared transition of undertakings and institutions to continuous production should begin during the economic year 1929–1930".Gary Cross, "Worktime and industrialization" (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988) 202–205.] The lengths of continuous production weeks were not yet specified, and the conversion was only to "begin during the year". Many sources state that the effective date of five-day weeks was nowrap|1 October 1929,The Duchess of Atholl (Katherine Atholl), "The conscription of a people" (1931) 84–86, 107.] which was the beginning of the economic year. But many other lengths of continuous work weeks were used, all of which were gradually introduced.

Implementation of continuous production weeks

Specific lengths for continuous production weeks were first mentioned when rules for the five-day continuous work week were issued on nowrap|24 September 1929. On nowrap|23 October 1929 building construction and seasonal trades were put on a continuous six-day week, while factories which regularly halted production every month for maintenance were put on six- or seven-day continuous production weeks. In nowrap|December 1929, it was reported that about 50 different versions of the continuous work week were in use, the longest being a 'week' of 37 days (30 continuous days of work followed by seven days of rest). By the end of 1929, orders were issued that the continuous week was to be extended to 43% of industrial workers by nowrap|1 April 1930 and to 67% by nowrap|1 October 1930. Actual conversion was more rapid, 63% by nowrap|1 April 1930. In nowrap|June 1930 it was decreed that the conversion of all industries was to be completed during the economic year 1930–31, except for the textile industry. But on nowrap|1 October 1930 peak usage was reached, with 72.9% of industrial workers on continuous schedules. Thereafter, usage decreased. All of these official figures were somewhat inflated because some factories said they adopted the continuous week without actually doing so. The continuous week was applied to retail and government workers as well, but no usage figures were ever published.Solomon M. Schwarz, "Labor in the Soviet Union" (New York: Praegar, 1951) 258–277.]

Implementation of six-day weeks

As early as May 1930, while usage of the continuous week was still advancing, some factories reverted to an interrupted week. On nowrap|30 April 1931, one of the largest factories in the Soviet Union was put on an interrupted six-day week (Шестидневка = "shestidnevka"). On nowrap|23 June 1931, Stalin condemned the continuous work week as then practiced, supporting the temporary use of the interrupted six-day week (one common rest day for all workers) until the problems with the continuous work week could be resolved. During nowrap|August 1931, most factories were put on an interrupted six-day week as the result of an interview with the People's Commissar for Labor, who severely restricted the use of the continuous week. The official conversion to non-continuous schedules was decreed by the CPC of the USSR somewhat later, on nowrap|23 November 1931.Elisha M. Friedman, "Russia in transition: a business man's appraisal" (New York: Viking Press, 1932) 260–262.] Institutions serving cultural and social needs and those enterprises engaged in continuous production such as ore smelting were exempted. ["Handbook of the Soviet Union" (New York: American-Russian Chamber of Commerce, 1936) 524, 526.] It is often stated that the effective date of the interrupted six-day work week was nowrap|1 December 1931. But the massive summer 1931 conversion made this date after-the-fact and some industries continued to use continuous weeks. The last figures available indicate that on nowrap|1 July 1935 74.2% of all industrial workers were on non-continuous schedules (almost all six-day weeks) while 25.8% were still on continuous schedules. Due to a decree dated nowrap|26 June 1940, the traditional interrupted seven-day week with Sunday as the common day of rest was reintroduced on nowrap|27 June 1940. [ [http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/uk-trud-e.html On the transfer to … the seven-day work week, …, 26 June 1940] (item 2)]

References