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History of the Calendar Under the Soviets | History of the Calendar Under the Soviets | ||
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When the Tsar was in power, there were several discussions and petitions involving changing the calendar; however, it was not until the Bolsheviks came into power that a change was made. Lenin decided that Russia should join the world in switching from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. To fix the date, February 1st 1918 was changed into February 14th 1918. This means that the dates of the first thirteen days in February 1918 do not exist in Russian history. Naturally, the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar would have caused some confusion, but this was the least confusing change that | When the Tsar was in power, there were several discussions and petitions involving changing the calendar; however, it was not until the Bolsheviks came into power that a change was made. Lenin decided that Russia should join the world in switching from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. To fix the date, February 1st 1918 was changed into February 14th 1918. This means that the dates of the first thirteen days in February 1918 do not exist in Russian history. Naturally, the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar would have caused some confusion, but this was the least confusing change that would be made to the calendar by the Soviets. | ||
<br> With the autumn of 1929 | <br>With the autumn of 1929 came the most drastic change in the calendar. The Soviets called it the ‘Soviet Eternal Calendar’. The weeks were changed from seven to only five days long, and the months became six weeks long. Because of the religious associations with Saturday and Sunday, those two days were removed. The remaining five days, which by our reckoning are Monday through Friday, had their names changed. Each one was given a color. The first day was yellow, the second orange, the third red, the fourth purple, and the fifth green. Each person had one day a week on which he did not work. Five national holidays were also declared on which work was prohibited. | ||
<br>Besides the natural confusion of the drastic changes in the calendar, there were several other problems with the new system. The first one was that not everyone had the same days off anymore. In the past, people would have the weekend off, but under the new system, people would be assigned a day during the week. This meant that not all families and friends would have the same day off. This created problems for when people wanted to get together and do activities together. | <br>Besides the natural confusion of the drastic changes in the calendar, there were several other problems with the new system. The first one was that not everyone had the same days off anymore. In the past, people would have the weekend off, but under the new system, people would be assigned a day during the week. This meant that not all families and friends would have the same day off. This created problems for when people wanted to get together and do activities together. | ||
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<br>They stuck with the six-day week until 1940. But the confusion and the opposition simply became too much, so in June of 1940, the Soviets decided to change back to the Gregorian calendar. The change back really pleased many groups of people: the religious folk now officially had their Sabbath days back, the workers had longer weekends to spend time with their families, and the factory owners were happy because the machines were no longer running continuously so there was appropriate time to fix problems, which helped to increase production. The changes made were ridiculous and unneeded in the first place though. They did not end up achieving one of their initial goals: to increase production. Despite all of the changes made, production did not increase dramatically, as was hoped. The change back to the Gregorian calendar was the right move for Russia. | <br>They stuck with the six-day week until 1940. But the confusion and the opposition simply became too much, so in June of 1940, the Soviets decided to change back to the Gregorian calendar. The change back really pleased many groups of people: the religious folk now officially had their Sabbath days back, the workers had longer weekends to spend time with their families, and the factory owners were happy because the machines were no longer running continuously so there was appropriate time to fix problems, which helped to increase production. The changes made were ridiculous and unneeded in the first place though. They did not end up achieving one of their initial goals: to increase production. Despite all of the changes made, production did not increase dramatically, as was hoped. The change back to the Gregorian calendar was the right move for Russia. | ||
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Click here for an article on [https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Germans_from_Russia_History Germans from Russia]. | Click here for an article on [https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Germans_from_Russia_History Germans from Russia]. | ||
<br>Works Consulted:<br>Bourgoing, Jacqueline. ''The Calendar- History, Lore, and Legend''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, <br> Inc., 2001<br>Parise, Frank. ''The Book of Calendars''. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1982.<br>Rosenburg, Jennifer. "Soviets Change The Calendar”. ''20th Century History''. Web accessed. 8 Oct. 2010. <br>Ross, Kelly L. “The Orthodox and Soviet Calendar Reforms”. Successors of Rome: Russia 862- <br> Present. Web accessed. 8 Oct. 2010.<br> “Soviet Calendar Encyclopedia of Plants”. Encyclopedia of Plants. Web accessed. 8 Oct. 2010. <br> | <br>Works Consulted:<br>Bourgoing, Jacqueline. ''The Calendar- History, Lore, and Legend''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, <br>Inc., 2001<br>Parise, Frank. ''The Book of Calendars''. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1982.<br>Rosenburg, Jennifer. "Soviets Change The Calendar”. ''20th Century History''. Web accessed. 8 Oct. 2010. <br>Ross, Kelly L. “The Orthodox and Soviet Calendar Reforms”. Successors of Rome: Russia 862- <br>Present. Web accessed. 8 Oct. 2010.<br>“Soviet Calendar Encyclopedia of Plants”. Encyclopedia of Plants. Web accessed. 8 Oct. 2010. <br> | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Eastern_Europe]] | ||