Soviets Scrap Weekends

Maximizing productivity was a top agenda item in the USSR in 1929.Yuri Larin came up with a revolutionary plan. He suggested switching to a continuous work week instead of closing factories on Sundays. Machines running every day let the Soviets meet Stalin's five-year plan goals.In the USSR, 1929 saw Stalin eliminate weekends to boost productivity.Yuri Larin came up with a revolutionary plan.Instead of closing factories on Sundays, switch to a continuous work week. Machines running daily let Soviets meet Stalin's five-year plan production goals.

Josef Stalin liked the idea. By August 1929, the Council of People's Commissars ordered a five-day work week, removing Saturdays and Sundays. The new calendar started just weeks later.

The Soviet Eternal Calendar also used new symbols for days of the week because Soviets stopped using old names like Monday or Tuesday. A red star and a military cap symbolized different days.nepreryvka, or "uninterrupted" work week, the new calendar changed life radically in the Soviet Union.Soviets complained about the five-day calendar from the start. Pravda, the official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party, published a letter from an anonymous worker who criticized the system., the USSR split the year into five-day weeks, giving six weeks per month. The government added five holidays yearly to reach 365 days.

With husbands, wives, and children on opposite schedules, Soviet families were torn apart. One worker asked, “How are we to work now, if mother is free on one day, father on another, brother on a third, and I myself on a fourth?”four-day shiftWorkers got one rotating day off each week. However, the plan did not plan for how these staggered rest days affected Soviet workers' lives.

To help workers adapt to the new system, the USSR introduced a color-coded system. Each day got a color: yellow, peach, red, purple, or green. Green workers took that day off; red workers took off red days.

The Soviet Eternal Calendar added new symbols for days of the week because Soviets dropped old names like Monday or Tuesday. A red star and a military cap now marked different days.

When the Soviet Eternal Calendar began, husbands and wives often had opposite schedules. One spouse might get the first day off; the other might get the fifth day off. Spouses barely shared any days off annually.

After several months using the Soviet Eternal Calendar, the government finally thought about allowing simultaneous breaksSpouses could ask the government for the same day off. Approval was not guaranteed.

Soviets complained about the five-day calendar from the start.Pravda, the official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party, published a letterfrom an anonymous worker who criticized the system.

In the letter, the worker complained:

What do we do at home if the wife is at the factory, the children at school, and no one can visit? What remains but going to the public tea room? What kind of life is that—holidays shift and don't happen for everyone together? That is not a holiday if you must celebrate alone.

With husbands, wives, and children on opposite schedules, Soviet families were torn apart. One worker complained, “How do we work now if the mother is free one day, the father another, the brother a third, and I am on a fourth?”

Some saw the calendar cost as a benefit for families. Before the new calendar took effect, Ivan Ivanovich Shitz wrote in his diary. He wrote that the constant work week made family meetings or joining groups impossible. He thought removing these groups would tie people closer to the state.

The USSR attempted to give the new calendar daysThe Soviets considered names like 'Trade Union,' 'Hammer,' and 'Sickle' for revolutionary days.They called one "Trade Union," another "Hammer," and a third "Sickle." They even considered names like "Lenin" and "Soviet."

However, these revolutionary names failed to take hold. Instead, Soviets just started using the numbers or colors for the days.

Colors linked to the five-day calendar became short codes for the days. Some evenmarked these colors in their address booksThese marked colors served as a code showing which day a friend had off work.

Soviets soon socialized by color. A worker with only the green day off could not easily keep friends with someone having the purple day off. Over a year, two workers on different schedules shared only five days off.

The five-day week did not last long in the Soviet Union. After worker protests, the government finally decided to introduce anotherThe new calendar failed. The Soviets added a sixth day to the week in 1931..

The 1931 calendar added Saturdays, making it a six-day week. Under this system, all workers took a rest day together on Saturdays, which always fell on the 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th, and 30th of the month.

The six-day work week remained in the USSR for nearly another decade.

Stalin thought the new five-day calendar would boost output. When looking at the Soviet Eternal Calendar, the USSR focused on factories that stopped working on the weekend. But one major part of the Soviet economy practicallyFarmers ignored the Soviet eternal calendar.: farmers.

In the countryside, farmers already worked every day. Farms had no purple days off, and there were no staggered shifts. Historian Malte Rolf reports that in 1931, “almost all officials were complaining about the still existing ties of rural people to 'traditional habits.'"

However, farmers did adopt parts of the Soviet Eternal Calendar. They took off the new state holidays, plus traditional religious holidays.

Soviet attempts to change the calendar and working day began in 1929. In 1928, the USSR announced areduction of working hours. Instead of an eight-hour day, workers worked only seven hours. This shorter workday came from Stalin's five-year plan. In 1929, the USSR announced all industries must include shorter hours and extra time off yearly. In return, industries had to raise production using a three-shift system. Factories ran day and night, boosting production—but workers had to take the night shift.

Stalin's five-year plan included a shorter working day. In 1929, the USSR mandated industries adopt shorter hours and extra time off yearly. Industries increased output using a three-shift system. Factories ran day and night, boosting production, but workers accepted the night shift.

The continuous work week served a purpose beyond boosting output. It also aimed to sever religious ties to the calendar.

A sociologist.Eviatar Zerubavel.Zerubavel argues the main goal of removing the seven-day week in the Soviet Union was to destroy religion. Without Saturday or Sunday, Jews and Christians had to completely shift their worship times. Only 20% of the workforce rested daily, making religious gatherings hard to keep going.

Stalin altered the Soviet calendar, but this was not the first time the USSR messed with calendars. Lenin also agreed toHe changed the Soviet calendar.This happened in 1917.

Lenin's change brought the USSR into sync with the rest of the world. Before 1917, Russia used the Julian calendar, which lagged 12 days behind the common Gregorian calendar.

Lenin ordered the Soviets to skip 12 days in February 1918, starting the month on February 14 to match the Gregorian calendar. This shift changed history. Under the new calendar, the Soviet October Revolution actually happened in November.

Stalin admitted defeat in 1940. On June 26, 1940, heStalin reinstated the seven-day week in 1940.. Sundays became holidays again.

However, the USSR passed strict punishments for workers who were late or absent to meet productivity targets. Workers missing a day or arriving over 20 minutes late faced misconduct charges and jail time. The return of weekends cost some Soviet workers a lot.