Soviet revolutionary calendar
Encyclopedia
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 in each work week. Many sources erroneously state that the weeks were organized into 30-day months.
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 in factories with continuous schedules (24-hours/day every day).
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 . 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. However, most sources replace blue with either or peach, 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.
From the summer of 1931 until , 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, was a uniform day off followed by four successive work days in the first week of . The partial last week of February had four work days in common years and five work days in leap years . But some enterprises treated as a regular work day, producing nine or ten successive work days between and , 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").
holidays were decreed during which work was prohibited.
In January 1925, the anniversary of Lenin's Death in 1924 was added on . Although other events were commemorated on other dates, they were not days of rest. Originally, the "May holidays" and "November holidays" were one day each ( and ), but both were extended from one to two days in 1928, making and public holidays as well.
Until 1929, regional labor union councils or local governments were authorized to set up additional public holidays, totaling to up to 10 days a year. Although people would not work on those days, they would not be paid holidays. Typically, at least some of these days were used for religious feast, typically those of the Russian Orthodox Church
, but in some localities possibly those of other religions as well.
On 24 September 1929, three holidays were eliminated, , , and . Lenin's Day on was merged with . The resulting five holidays continued to be celebrated until 1951, when ceased to be a holiday. See История праздников России (History of the festivals of Russia).
Two Journal of Calendar Reform articles (1938 and 1943) have two misunderstandings, specifying and , not realizing that both are Julian calendar
dates equivalent to the unspecified Gregorian dates and , so they specify , , , , and , plus a quadrennial leap day.
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 for each day of the five-day week. 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 masthead
s alongside the traditional seven-day week. Pravda dated individual issues with , , , , , , and , but never used during the period . 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.
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. In 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. Four Journal of Calendar Reform articles (1938, 1940, 1943, 1954) thought that five-day weeks actually were organized into months, as do several modern sources.
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. 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 , Parise (1982) shifted Lenin's Day to , left two Days of the Proletariat on , and shifted two Days of the Revolution to and , plus (all Gregorian dates). Stating that all months had 30 days between and , the Oxford Companion to the Year (1999) 'corrected' Parise's list by specifying that "Lenin Day" was after ( Gregorian), a two-day "Workers' First of May" was after ( Gregorian), two "Industry Days" were after ( Gregorian), and placed the leap day after ( Gregorian).
During the second half of May 1929, Yuri Larin (Юрий Ларин, 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 , Larin had won the approval of Joseph Stalin
, prompting all newspapers to praise the idea. On 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 , 15% of industry had converted to continuous production according to Larin, probably an overestimate. On 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 ". The lengths of continuous production weeks were not yet specified, and the conversion was only to begin during the year. Nevertheless, many sources state that the effective date of five-day weeks was which was the beginning of the economic year. But many other lengths of continuous work weeks were used, all of which were gradually introduced.
were exempted. It is often stated that the effective date of the interrupted six-day work week was but that is only the first whole month after the 'official conversion'. 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 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 , the traditional interrupted seven-day week with Sunday as the common day of rest was reintroduced on .
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
adopted by Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in 1918. Although the traditional seven-day week
Week
A week is a time unit equal to seven days.The English word week continues an Old English wice, ultimately from a Common Germanic , from a root "turn, move, change"...
was still recognized, a day of rest on Sunday was replaced by one day of rest in each work week. Many sources erroneously state that the weeks were organized into 30-day months.
Five-day weeks
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 in factories with continuous schedules (24-hours/day every day).
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 . 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. However, most sources replace blue with either or peach, 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 , 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, was a uniform day off followed by four successive work days in the first week of . The partial last week of February had four work days in common years and five work days in leap years . But some enterprises treated as a regular work day, producing nine or ten successive work days between and , 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 10 December 1918 six BolshevikBolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
holidays were decreed during which work was prohibited.
- 1 January – New Year's Day
- 22 January – Day of 9 January 1905
- Commemorates Bloody SundayBloody Sunday (1905)Bloody Sunday was a massacre on in St. Petersburg, Russia, where unarmed, peaceful demonstrators marching to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II were gunned down by the Imperial Guard while approaching the city center and the Winter Palace from several gathering points. The shooting did not...
on 9 January 1905 (Julian) or 22 January 1905 (Gregorian)
- Commemorates Bloody Sunday
- 12 March – Day of the Overthrow of the Autocracy
- Commemorates the mutiny of the Imperial Guards (about 60,000 soldiers) in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) on (Julian) or (Gregorian) during the February Revolution
- 18 March – Day of the Paris CommuneParis CommuneThe Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
- Commemorates the uprising of the National GuardNational Guard (France)The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
of ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on (Gregorian) which established the Paris Commune
- Commemorates the uprising of the National Guard
- 1 May – Day of the International
- Celebration within Russia and later the Soviet Union of International Workers' DayInternational Workers' DayInternational Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries...
- Celebration within Russia and later the Soviet Union of International Workers' Day
- 7 November – Day of the Proletarian RevolutionOctober RevolutionThe October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
- Commemorates the BolshevikBolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
uprising on 25 October 1917 (Julian) or 7 November 1917 (Gregorian)
- Commemorates the Bolshevik
In January 1925, the anniversary of Lenin's Death in 1924 was added on . Although other events were commemorated on other dates, they were not days of rest. Originally, the "May holidays" and "November holidays" were one day each ( and ), but both were extended from one to two days in 1928, making and public holidays as well.
Until 1929, regional labor union councils or local governments were authorized to set up additional public holidays, totaling to up to 10 days a year. Although people would not work on those days, they would not be paid holidays. Typically, at least some of these days were used for religious feast, typically those of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, but in some localities possibly those of other religions as well.
On 24 September 1929, three holidays were eliminated, , , and . Lenin's Day on was merged with . The resulting five holidays continued to be celebrated until 1951, when ceased to be a holiday. See История праздников России (History of the festivals of Russia).
- 22 January – Day of Remembrance of 9 January 1905 and of the Memory of V.I. Lenin
- Commemorates Bloody Sunday on 9 January 1905 (Julian) or 22 January 1905 (Gregorian) and the death of Lenin on (Gregorian)
- 1–2 May – Days of the InternationalInternational Workers' DayInternational Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries...
- 7–8 November – Days of the Anniversary of the October RevolutionOctober RevolutionThe October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
Two Journal of Calendar Reform articles (1938 and 1943) have two misunderstandings, specifying and , not realizing that both are Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
dates equivalent to the unspecified Gregorian dates and , so they specify , , , , and , plus a quadrennial leap day.
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar was implemented in Russia on by dropping the Julian dates of pursuant to a Sovnarkom decree signed (Julian) by Lenin. The decree required that the Julian date was to be written in parentheses after the Gregorian date until All surviving examples of physical calendars from 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.Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
, the official newspaper of the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, and other newspapers continued to use Gregorian calendar dates in their masthead
Masthead (publishing)
The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...
s alongside the traditional seven-day week. Pravda dated individual issues with , , , , , , and , but never used during the period . 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.
Erroneous 30-day months
A 1929 Time magazineTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
article announcing Soviet five-day work weeks, which it called an Eternal calendar, associated them with the French Republican Calendar
French Republican Calendar
The French Republican Calendar or French Revolutionary Calendar was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871...
, which had months containing three ten-day weeks. In 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. Four Journal of Calendar Reform articles (1938, 1940, 1943, 1954) thought that five-day weeks actually were organized into months, as do several modern sources.
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. 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 , Parise (1982) shifted Lenin's Day to , left two Days of the Proletariat on , and shifted two Days of the Revolution to and , plus (all Gregorian dates). Stating that all months had 30 days between and , the Oxford Companion to the Year (1999) 'corrected' Parise's list by specifying that "Lenin Day" was after ( Gregorian), a two-day "Workers' First of May" was after ( Gregorian), two "Industry Days" were after ( Gregorian), and placed the leap day after ( Gregorian).
History
Congress of Soviets
The Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and several other Soviet republics from 1917–36 and again from 1989-91. After the creation of the Soviet Union, the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union functioned as its legislative branch...
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 , Larin had won the approval of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, prompting all newspapers to praise the idea. On 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 , 15% of industry had converted to continuous production according to Larin, probably an overestimate. On the Council of People's Commissars (CPC) of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(Sovnarkom) declared "it essential that the systematically prepared transition of undertakings and institutions to continuous production should begin during the economic year ". The lengths of continuous production weeks were not yet specified, and the conversion was only to begin during the year. Nevertheless, many sources state that the effective date of five-day weeks was 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 . On building construction and seasonal trades were put on a continuous six-day week, while factories that regularly halted production every month for maintenance were put on six- or seven-day continuous production weeks. In , 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 and to 67% by . Actual conversion was more rapid, 63% by . In it was decreed that the conversion of all industries was to be completed during the economic year , except for the textile industry. But on 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.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 , one of the largest factories in the Soviet Union was put on an interrupted six-day week (Шестидневка = shestidnevka). On , 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 , 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 Sovnarkom of the USSR somewhat later, on . Institutions serving cultural and social needs and those enterprises engaged in continuous production such as ore smeltingSmelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
were exempted. It is often stated that the effective date of the interrupted six-day work week was but that is only the first whole month after the 'official conversion'. 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 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 , the traditional interrupted seven-day week with Sunday as the common day of rest was reintroduced on .