The Great Patriotic War ended in victory, which the Soviet people sought four years. Men fought on the fronts, women worked on collective farms, in military factories - in short, they provided the rear. However, the euphoria caused by the long-awaited victory was replaced by a sense of hopelessness. Continuous hard work, hunger, Stalinist repressions, renewed with renewed vigor - these phenomena overshadowed the post-war years.
In the history of the USSR, the term "cold war" is found. Used in relation to the period of military, ideological and economic confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States. It begins in 1946, that is, in the postwar years. The USSR emerged victorious from World War II, but, unlike the United States, it had a long way to go.
Construction
According to the plan of the fourth five-year plan, the implementation of which began in the USSR in the postwar years, it was necessary first of all to restore the cities destroyed by fascist troops. Over four thousand settlements suffered in four years. Young people quickly received various construction specialties. However, manpower was not enough - the war claimed the lives of more than 25 million Soviet citizens.
To restore the normal working regime, overtime work was canceled. Annual paid leave has been introduced. The working day lasted now eight hours. Peace building in the USSR in the post-war years was headed by the Council of Ministers.
Industry
Factories destroyed during WWII were actively restored in the post-war years. In the USSR, by the end of the forties, old enterprises had begun to operate. New ones were built. The post-war period in the USSR - 1945-1953, that is, it begins after the end of the Second World War. It ends with the death of Stalin.
The recovery of industry after the war was rapidly in part due to the high capacity for work of the Soviet people. Citizens of the USSR were convinced that they were living well, much better than the Americans who exist under conditions of decaying capitalism. This was facilitated by the Iron Curtain, which isolated the country culturally and ideologically from the whole world for forty years.
Soviet people worked hard, but their life did not become easier. In the USSR in 1945-1953 there was a rapid development of three industries: rocket, radar, nuclear. Most of the resources went to the construction of enterprises that belonged to these areas.
Agriculture
The first post-war years were terrible for the inhabitants of the Soviet Union . In 1946, the country was seized by famine caused by destruction and drought. A particularly difficult situation was observed in Ukraine, Moldova, in the right-bank regions of the lower Volga region and in the North Caucasus. New collective farm enterprises were created throughout the country.
In order to strengthen the spirit of Soviet citizens, filmmakers commissioned officials filmed a huge number of films telling about the happy life of collective farmers. These films were very popular; they were watched with admiration even by those who knew what the collective farm really was.
In the villages, people worked from dawn to dawn, while living in poverty. That is why later, in the fifties, young people left the villages, left for cities where life was at least a little easier.
Standard of living
In the postwar years, people suffered from hunger. In 1947, the card system was canceled, but most of the goods remained in short supply. The famine resumed. Prices for rations were raised. Nevertheless, over the course of five years, starting in 1948, products gradually became cheaper. This somewhat improved the standard of living of Soviet citizens. In 1952, the price of bread became 39% lower than in 1947, and milk - 70%.
The availability of essential goods did not make life much easier for ordinary people, but, being under the iron curtain, most of them easily believed in the illusory idea of a better country in the world.
Until 1955, Soviet citizens were convinced that they owed Stalin victory in the Great Patriotic War. But this situation was not observed throughout the USSR. In those regions that were annexed to the Soviet Union after the war, there were far fewer conscious citizens, for example, in the Baltic states and in Western Ukraine, where anti-Soviet organizations appeared in the 1940s.
Friendly states
After the war ended, in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, the GDR, the Communists came to power. The USSR developed diplomatic relations with these states. At the same time, the conflict with the West escalated.
According to the 1945 treaty, the USSR was transferred to Transcarpathia. The Soviet-Polish border has changed. After the war, many former citizens of other states, for example, Poland, lived on the territory of the Soviet Union . With this country, the Soviet Union concluded a population exchange agreement. The Poles living in the USSR now had the opportunity to return to their homeland. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians could leave Poland. It is noteworthy that in the late forties only about 500 thousand people returned to the USSR. Twice as much to Poland.
Criminal situation
In the postwar years in the USSR, law enforcement agencies launched a serious struggle with banditry. The 1946th peak of crime. About 30 thousand armed robberies were recorded this year.
To combat rampant crime, new officers, usually former front-line soldiers, were accepted into the ranks of the police. It was not so easy to restore peace to Soviet citizens, especially in Ukraine and the Baltic states, where the criminal situation was the most depressing. In the Stalin years, a fierce struggle was waged not only against “enemies of the people”, but also against ordinary robbers. From January 1945 to December 1946, more than three and a half thousand bandit organizations were liquidated.
Repression
Back in the early twenties, many intellectuals left the country. They knew about the fate of those who did not manage to escape from Soviet Russia. Nevertheless, at the end of the forties, some accepted the offer to return to their homeland. Russian nobles were returning home. But already in another country. Many were sent immediately upon their return to the Stalinist camps.
The Gulag system in its post-war years reached its zenith. Pests, dissenters and other "enemies of the people" were placed in camps. The fate of soldiers and officers who were surrounded during the war years was sad. At best, they spent several years in the camps, until Khrushchev came to power, which debunked the cult of Stalin. But many were shot. Moreover, the conditions in the camps were such that only young and healthy ones could endure them.
In the postwar years, one of the most respected people in the country was Marshal Georgy Zhukov. His popularity annoyed Stalin. However, he did not dare to imprison a national hero. Zhukov was known not only in the USSR, but also beyond its borders. The leader knew how to create uncomfortable conditions in other ways. In 1946, the “Aviator Case” was fabricated. Zhukov was removed from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces and sent to Odessa. Several generals close to the marshal were arrested.
Culture
In 1946, the struggle against Western influence began. It was expressed in the popularization of domestic culture and the ban on everything foreign. Soviet writers, artists, directors were persecuted.
In the forties, as already mentioned, a huge number of military films were shot. These paintings were severely censored. Heroes were created according to the template, the plot was built according to a clear scheme. Music was also under strict control. They sounded exclusively songs praising Stalin and a happy Soviet life. This did not affect the development of domestic culture in the best way.
The science
The development of genetics began in the thirties. In the post-war period, this science was in exile. Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet biologist and agronomist, became the main participant in the attack on geneticists. In August 1948, academics who made a significant contribution to the development of Russian science lost the opportunity to engage in research activities.