¹ On the development of Soviet social security see e.g. Dewar, Margaret, Labour Policy in the USSR 1917–1928, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London and New York, 1956Google Scholar; Madison, Bernice Q., Social Welfare in the Soviet Union, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1968, chapters 4 and 11Google Scholar; Rimlinger, Gaston V., Welfare Policy and Industrialization in Europe, America, and Russia, Wiley, New York, 1971, chapter 7.Google Scholar

² This figure refers to the European part of the Soviet Union in 1926–7. The life expectancy at birth of men as a group was 42 years and that of women as a group 47 years. (Narodnoe khoytaistvo SSSR, 1977, p. 90.)

³ Vestnik statistiki, 1974, no. 8, p. 95.

⁴ Lantsev, M. S., The Economic Aspects of Social Security in the USSR, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1979, p. 82, table 19.Google Scholar

⁵ For a Russian text of the law see Gosudarstvennoe sotsial' noe strakhouanie: Sbornik ofitsial' nykh materialov, Izdatel'stvo VCSPS Profizdat, 1963, pp. 169–185.

⁶ According to Soviet sources, prior to the 1956 Act pensions had been regulated by 960 normative acts.

⁷ Porket, J. L., Old age pension schemes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Social Policy and Administration, 13, 1 (1979), 22–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁸ In 1959, collective farmers and their dependants constituted 31.4 per cent of the Soviet population. (Narodnoe khozyaistvo SSSR, 1979, p. 8.)

⁹ Calculated from Narodnoe khoyaisivo SSSR, 1964, p. 602, and ibid. 1965, p. 607.

¹⁰ Between 1956 and 1964, collective farmers were entitled to a state pension in certain cases, e.g. if they became disabled in the course of military service; or if they were machinists, skilled workers, technicians or engineers who moved from employment in a state organisation to a collective farm; or if they became full-time state farm workers as a result of the conversion of a collective farm into a state farm.

¹¹ The scheme was established by a law adopted on 15 July 1964. For an English text see Matthews, Mervyn, Soviet Government: A Selection of Official Documents on Internal Policies, Jonathan Cape, London, 1974, pp. 370–375.Google Scholar

¹² Narodnoe khoyiaistvo SSSR, 1980, p. 411.

¹³ Originally, under the 1964 Act, the retirement age was set at 65 for male collective farmers and 60 for female collective farmers.

¹⁴ Previously, under the 1964 Act, the maximum old-age, invalidity and survivors’ pensions for collective farmers were fixed at the level of the maximum old-age, invalidity and survivors’ pensions stipulated in the 1956 Law on State Pensions for those white-collar and blue-collar workers who lived permanently in rural localities and were engaged in agriculture. In the case of old-age pensions it was IO2 roubles instead of 120 roubles.

¹⁵ Acharkan, V. A., Aktual'nye problemy pensionnogo obespecheniya, in Sarkisyan, G. S. (ed.), Dokhody trudyashchikhsya i sotsial'nye problemy urovnya zhizni naseleniya SSSR, Moskva, 1973, pp. 144–145.Google Scholar

¹⁶ The Model Charter of the Collective Farm, approved by the Third All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers, 25–27 November 1969, Article 40, in Sotsial'noe strakhovanie v SSSR: Sbornik ofitsial' nykh malerialov, Profizdat, 1971, p. 268.

¹⁷ Personal pensions (first introduced in July 1920) and long-service pensions (first introduced in the mid-twenties) are discussed by Osborn, Robert J., Soviet Social Policies: Welfare, Equality, and Community, The Dorsey Press, Homewood, Illinois, 1970, pp. 76–84Google Scholar, and Matthews, Mervyn, Privilege in the Soviet Union: A Study of Elite Life-Styles under Communism, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1978, pp. 37–38, 85–87 and 103–104.Google Scholar It goes without saying that the personal pensions which are awarded by the state and those which can be granted by collective farms are not identical.

¹⁸ Akademiya nauk SSSR, SotsiaFnoe razvitie rabochego klassa SSSR, Izdatel'stvo, ‘Nauka’, Moskva, 1977, p. 163.Google Scholar

¹⁹ By the end of 1980, there were 34 million old-age pensioners in the Soviet Union. (Narodnoe khozyaistvo SSSR, 1980, p. 411.) However, persons of retirement age were estimated to amount to 40.9 million. Consequently, nearly 7 million persons of retirement age were not receiving an old-age pension, although at least some of them were receiving another kind of state pension and others were drawing a wage, having postponed their retirement.

²⁰ In more detail see Stiller, Pavel, Die sowjetische Rentenversicherung 1917–1977, Bundesinstitut für ostwissenschaftliche und internationale Studien, Küln, 1979, pp. 43–44.Google Scholar

²¹ Both in the mid-sixties and the mid-seventies, probably no more than 12 per cent of retired workers were receiving old-age pensions calculated at the privileged rate.

²² Since 1976, coal and shale miners, underground workers at enterprises of the ministries of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and workers in mine-construction organisations have been entitled to a maximum old-age pension award of 140 roubles a month after 15–20 years of work, or 160 roubles a month after more than 20 years of work.

²³ Slobozhanin, V. P., Pensiya — po trudovomu vkladu, Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, 1981, no. 9, p. 47.Google Scholar The first survey was conducted in the RSFSR and covered 100, 000 old-age pensioners. The second survey was conducted in three large industrial enterprises situated in the town of Minsk and covered all workers who had retired between 1971 and 1975.

²⁴ Stiller, Pavel, Probleme bei der Anwendung der sowjetischen Rentengesetze, Osteuropa-Wirtschaft, 23, no. 4, (1978), 272–273Google Scholar; Slobozhanin, V. P., op. cit. pp. 47–48Google Scholar; Blufard, V. G., K voprosu ob effektivnosti truda pensionerov, Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, no. 2 (1982), p. 168.Google Scholar

²⁵ On average, men draw a pension for over 16 years and women for over 24 years. (Lantsev, M., Razvitie sotsial'nogo obespecheniya i ego vozdeistvie na trudovuyu aktivnost’ zanyatykh v obshchestvennom proizvodstve, Sotsialisticheskii trud, 1981, no. 3, p. 51.)Google Scholar

²⁶ Slobozhanin, V. P., op. cit. pp. 49–52.Google Scholar The author is of the opinion that the change would enable consideration to be taken of the workers’ long-term performance, as well as reduce pre-retirement labour turnover induced by the workers’ striving to bloat their reference wage.

²⁷ Rimlinger, , Welfare Policy, p. 280Google Scholar, and Stiller, , Die sowjetische Rentenversicherung, p. 62, table 16.Google Scholar

²⁸ McAuley, Alistair, Economic Welfare in the Soviet Union. Poverty, Living Standards, and Inequality, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1979, p. 275.Google Scholar

²⁹ The estimate proceeds from the average old-age pension in 1974, takes into consideration year-by-year increases in the number of retired workers, and assumes that in each year between 1975 and 1980 the average old-age pension award amounted to 55 per cent of the average wage. After the estimate was made, the figure of 70 roubles for 1980 (constituting 41 per cent of the average wage in that year) was reported by Sternheimer, Stephen, The graying of the Soviet Union, Problems of Communism, 31, 5 (1982), 86.Google Scholar

³⁰ Porket, J. L., Sex-related differences in income under Soviet-type socialism, Osteuropa-Wirtschaft, 27, 3 (1982), 213–229.Google Scholar

³¹ Ryurikov, Yu. B., Deti i obshchestvo, Voprosy filosofa, no. 4 (1977), pp. 118–119.Google Scholar

³² In 1978, for instance, while the average monthly wage in the national economy was 159.9 roubles, collective farmers earned on average merely 109.9 roubles. (Vechkanov, G. S., Migratsiya trudovykh resursov v SSSR, Izdatel'stvo Leningradskogo Universiteta, Leningrad, 1981, p. 127, (table 5.)Google Scholar It should be recalled that until 1966 collective farmers received no wages, but a share of the net income of the collective farm. As from July 1966, guaranteed monthly payments in cash were introduced in collective farms and were to be based on the wage scales in force in state farms.

³³ McAuley, , op. cit. p. 275.Google Scholar

³⁴ After the estimate was made, the figure of 42 roubles was reported by Sternheimer, , op. cit. p. 86.Google Scholar

³⁵ Matthews, Mervyn, Class and Society in Soviet Russia, Allen Lane The Penguin Press, London, 1972, pp. 81–84.Google Scholar

³⁶ A higher coefficient could be possible, though, as follows from McAuley, , op. cit. pp. 18, 117, 207 and 357.Google Scholar

³⁷ This coefficient too is rather arbitrary. Soviet scholars recognise that the poverty line for a single retired worker lies below that for a single urban worker, but do not attempt to quantify the difference.

³⁸ Vinokur, Aaron and Ofer, Gur, Family income levels for Soviet industrial workers, 1965–1975, in Kahan, Arcadius and Ruble, Blair A. (eds), Industrial Labor in the U.S.S.R., Pergamon Press, New York, 1979, p. 191.Google Scholar In addition see Kvasha, A. Ya., Demograficheskaya politika v SSSR, ‘Finansy istatistika’, Moskva, 1981, pp. 162–163.Google Scholar

³⁹ Pravda, 31 March 1981.

⁴⁰ As shown elsewhere, a gap between the average old-age pension awarded earlier and the average old-age pension awarded later arises in Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe as well, with similar consequences for their social adequacy. (Porket, J. L., Inequalities in Eastern Europe: The case of Old-Age Pensioners, Oxford, St. Anthony's College, Papers in East European Economics, no. 64, 1980, pp. 35–36 and 57–58.)Google Scholar

⁴¹ Feshbach, Murray, Employment Trends and Policies in the U.S.S.R., CESES, l'Est, Quaderni, no. 10 (1978), p. 71, table 2.Google Scholar

⁴² Novitskii, A. and Babkina, M., Ratsional'nee ispol' zovat' trud pensionerov, Sotsialisticheskii trud, 20, 8 (1975), 119Google Scholar, and Sonin, M. Ya., Razuitie narodonaseleniya: Ekonomicheskii aspekt, Statistika, Moskva, 1980, p. 331.Google Scholar

⁴³ Lantsev, , Razvitie sotsial'nogo obespecheniya…, p. 52.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Kostakov, V. G. (ed.), Trudovye resursy: Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskii analiz, Izdatel'stvo ‘Ekonomika’, Moskva, 1976, p. 71 n.1.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ The remainder re-entered the labour force after a break lasting several months or several years. (Novitskii, and Babkina, , op. cit. p. 124.)Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Sonin, , op. cit. pp. 331–332.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Acharkan, , op. cit. p. 148Google Scholar, and Kostakov, (ed.), op. cit. p. 71.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Novitskii, and Babkina, , op. cit. p. 118.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Kotlyar, A., Sotsialisticheskii stroi i prodolzhitel'nost' perioda trudovoi deyatel'nosti, Nauchnye doklady uysshei shkoly: Ekonomicheskie nauki, 10, 6 (1967), 40.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Of these, 1.7 million were men and 2.8 million women. (Fedorova, N. V., Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskii sostav naseleniya SSSR, In Maksimov, G. M. (ed.), Vsesoyuzaya perepis' naseleniya 1970 goda, ‘Statistika’, Moskva, (1976, p. 219.)Google Scholar

⁵¹ See also Acharkan, V. A., Tekushchie i perspektivnye problemy sotsial'nogo obespecheniya, Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, no. 4 (1977), p. 25.Google Scholar

⁵² Retired workers entitled to the privileged rate were an exception: they received 50 per cent of their old-age pension regardless of their earnings. On the other hand, any retired worker could have his old-age pension recalculated if after retirement he worked no less than two years and during that period his earnings exceeded those from which his old-age pension award was calculated.

⁵³ Lantsev, , Economic Aspects of Social Security, p. 93, table 24.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ By that time a similar measure had long been in force in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

⁵⁵ In a survey conducted in 1977–8, 64 per cent of working and 26 per cent of non-working old-age pensioners supported their adult children materially. (Shapiro, V. D., Vzaimootnosheniya starshego i srednego pokolenii sem'i, Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, no. 1, 1981, p. 131, table 2.)Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Smirnov, S., The employment of old-age pensioners in the USSR, International Labour Review, 116, 1 (1977), 89.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Novitskii, A. and Babkina, M., Nepolnoe rabochee vremya i zanyatost’ naseleniya, Voprosy ekonimiki, no. 7 (1973), pp. 133–140Google Scholar, and Panina, N. V., Podgotovka k vykhodu na pensiyu kak uslovie adaptatsii k statusu pensionera, Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, no. 3, 1979, pp. 101–107.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Novitskii, and Babkina, , Ratsional'nee ispol'zovat’ trud pensionerov, pp. 123–124.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Smirnov, S., op. cit. p. 88, table 1, and 1.Google ScholarKalinyuk, V., Votrastnaya struktura naseleniya SSSR, ‘Statistika’, Moskva, 1975, p. 18, Table 1.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Polzik, E. V. and Kazantsev, V. S., Metody opredeleniya vliyaniya sotsial'nykh faktorov na prodolzhitel'nost’ trudovoi deyatel'nosti pozhilykh shakhterov, Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, no. 2 (1979), pp. 93–96.Google Scholar

⁶¹ According to Korchagin, V. (Rol’ zdravookhraneniya v vosproizvodstve trudovykh resursov, Voprosy ekonomiki, no. 12, 1981, p. 72Google Scholar), for instance, the surveys conducted among persons of retirement age have shown that post-retirement participation in social production could be induced by a shorter working day (about 30 per cent of the respondents), pay for the time actually worked (24 per cent), better organisation and règime of work (15 per cent), work carried on at home (10 per cent), and so on.

⁶² One of the arguments used by them has been the finding that the hourly productivity of part-time workers (whether of working or retirement age) is higher than that of full-time workers.

⁶³ Rogovskii, N., Effektivnost’ truda v odinnadtsatoi pyatiletke, Voprosy ekonomiki, no. 1 (1982), p. 6.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ In the surveys conducted in 1973 among more than 5, 000 working persons of retirement age, merely 12 per cent of skilled workers wanted to be retrained. And among those interviewed non-working pensioners who desired to resume gainful employment, merely 30 per cent were disposed to change their occupation. (Novitskii, and Babkina, , Ratsional'nee ispol'zovat' trud pensionerov, p. 118.)Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Sheiko, V., Berko, V. and Dovgalyuk, T., Pensioner v kolkhoze, Sotsialisticheskii trud, no. 7 (1982), pp. 78–79.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Shmelev, G., Obshchestvennoe proizvodstvo i lichnoe podsobnoe khozyaistvo, Voprosy ekonomiki, no. 5 (1981), p. 68.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Another factor which might reduce interest in the institution of deferred old-age pensions is the level of the old-age pension supplement: many might regard a monthly old-age pension supplement of io roubles for each year of service after their reaching retirement age as an insufficient compensation for not claiming their old-age pension while working. Theoretically, the institution could appeal to two categories of persons of retirement age: to those who would have a low old-age pension if they retired upon reaching retirement age and at the same time have no spouse, children and relatives, and to those who after reaching retirement age would be able to continue to draw a wage approaching the pension-cum-earnings ceiling of 300 roubles per month.

⁶⁸ Archarkan, , Aktual'nye problemy pensionnogo obespecheniya, p. 150.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Bergson, Abram, Soviet economic slowdown and the 1981–85 plan, Problems of Communism, 30, 3 (1981), 33.Google Scholar At the official rates of exchange, according to another estimate, the monthly take-home pay of Soviet industrial (manufacturing) workers in December 1981 was less than one-quarter of the U.S. level and less than one-third of the British one. The purchasing power of these workers, measured in terms of a weekly family food basket, was about one-third of the U.S. level and about one-half of the British one. Bush, Keith, Retail Prices in Moscow and Four Western Cities in March, 1982, Radio Liberty Research Supplement, 4 06 1982, pp. 7 and 32.)Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Own estimate. Soviet statistical yearbooks enable one to calculate exclusively the share of national income spent on all pensions: it was 4.9 per cent in 1960, 5.6 per cent in 1970, and 7.3 per cent in 1980.

⁷¹ Currently, as already mentioned above in the text, while most aged receive an old-age pension and a minority another kind of state pension, some still appear to receive no kind of state pension at all.

⁷² Neither the health and social services nor the institutional care provided by the state seem to meet the needs of the aged. By the beginning of the 19805, for instance, homes for the elderly and disabled accommodated only about 353 thousand persons. (Lantsev, , Rasvitie sotsial'nogo ovespecheniya, p. 52.)Google Scholar

⁷³ However, there is a considerable number of the solitary aged in the Soviet Union. The same applies to Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe.

⁷⁴ Sonin, , op. cit. p. 284.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ This, of course, does not take into consideration open, hidden and repressed inflation. The official retail price index, which reflects open inflation, was 100 in 1970, 99.7 in 1975, and 104 in 1981. (Narodnoe khozyaistvo SSSR, 1922–1982, P. 479.)

⁷⁶ The ageing of the Soviet population is regionally differentiated, though. In more detail see Feshbach, Murray, Between the lines of the 1979 Soviet census, Problems of Communism, 31, 1 (1982), 27–37.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Lantsev, , Razvitie sotsial'nogo obespecheniya, p. 52.Google Scholar