To what extent did living and working conditions improve under Brezhnev?

        Brezhnev’s administration improved (to an extent) the availability of consumer products in the USSR. Consumer goods had always been an issue in the Soviet Union: since Stalin began to focus on a centralized command economy in the 1930s, government spending on industry far exceeded consumer investment. Until the 1960s, promises to improve the flow of consumer products were never met, resulting in further shortages and consistently low quality. Under Brezhnev, the 1971 Ninth Five-year Plan aimed to expand consumer product spending over industrial spending, and for a period of around five years, a large quantity of consumer goods (including radios, furniture and watches) were produced. Brezhnev argued that living standards were more important than economic growth (and that the availability consumer products would stimulate growth anyway), and for some time there were successes. However, by 1975, the targets set by the plan were not being met. Economic ministries - influenced by party, military and industrial figures who opposed the plan - across the USSR were purposely blocking the reforms and refusing to divert resources. Deficiencies in technology and workplace efficiency also led to setbacks. Consumer product growth slowed far below industrial spending, and the same shortages began to continue once more. The consumer product issue was not solved.

        Working benefits, employment and wages also improved partially under Brezhnev. By 1967 the working week was reduced to a standardized five days, and workers were allowed fifteen days of holiday time each year. Minimum wages also rose, and ‘real wages’ meant that citizens were earning 50% more than they had under Khrushchev. This led to a rise in nutrition, with meat, fish and vegetable consumption rising 50% as well. However, though the general welfare of the Soviet population increased, there were large inequalities in wealth across different professions and regions. The rise in education standards, coupled with the scarcity of well-paid professions, led to a lack of opportunities for the qualified, and blue collar workers often earned more than skilled professionals. And whereas some workers could earn as little as 60 roubles a month (on the minimum wage), skilled workers or professionals only double that, owners of enterprises and government officials were earning hundreds more. Party figures had access to a range of privileges, services and goods unattainable to the rest of the population, and the black market allowed the wealthy to attain unavailable items freely. There were large inequalities across different regions also; some Republics experienced economic growth (and therefore increases in wages, employment and living standards) while others stagnated. With poor labour mobility, some areas suffered labour shortages while other regions had too many workers. Declining towns dominated by single industries led to almost entirely female workforces, and high rates of male unemployment. Poor living and working conditions, without the possibility of reform, pushed citizens to simply move to more prosperous areas, contributing to decline in their old towns and overcrowding in better areas - inequality only increased. So while social conditions improved, there were great imbalances across regions and social classes that seemed to contradict Brezhnev’s promise of ‘Developed Socialism,’ and certainly undermine any claims that living and working conditions improved completely.

        Across many areas, the general living and working conditions of Soviet citizens certainly improved under Brezhnev: accommodation levels advanced, as did education. The Ninth Five-year plan promised more availability for consumer goods (and in better quality), and for the first five years there was some success. Wages and working benefits, as well as job security, led to a rise in living conditions. However, when weighed up against other negative trends, these increases were too incomplete, and their results were too uneven (due to huge regional and societal imbalances) to show a complete reversal of previous policies. Improved living standards only highlighted widespread social problems including alcoholism, crime and divorce, as well as dangerously low levels of healthcare and rising environmental pollution - the birth rate and average life expectancy dropped significantly. A brief increase in consumer products gave way to further decline, and the plan’s targets were never met. And while working conditions improved, economic variations across the Republics and different professions led to great disparities in wealth; this contradicted Brezhnev’s idea of a fair ‘mature socialist society.’ For the wealthy or connected, the black market and Party privileges offered easy solutions, prolonging inequality in the USSR. Brezhnev’s attempts at social change were far from successful.