Soviet Census (1937) - Preparation

Preparation

The official commission for the preparation of the census was formed on 16 September 1935. It included:

  • Vyacheslav Molotov, the Chairman of Sovnarkom
  • Lazar Kaganovich, Narkom for transport
  • Anastas Mikoyan, Narkom for the food industry
  • N.K. Antipov, Vice Chairman of Sovnarkom;
  • Nikolai Bulganin, Chairman of Mossovet
  • Emmanuil Kviring, Vice Chairman of Gosplan
  • I.A. Kraval, the chief of TsUNKhU
  • A.S. Popov, deputy to the chief of TsUNKhU.

Later the commission was joined by

  • Valery Mezhlauk, the Chairman of Gosplan, who chaired the commission.

All the documents related to the census were prepared by TsUNKhU and edited personally by Joseph Stalin. A.G. Volkov speculates that never in modern history was such a routine technical matter as a census so micromanaged by such high officials.

A comparison between the two variants is shown in the table below:

Comparison between the TsUNKhU proposal and the final (by Stalin) census forms
TsUNKhU proposal Stalin's edit
Order Question Order Question
1 Relations with the person that provides the main income (wife, son, aunt, foster child, etc.) removed
2

If temporarily absent than:
 a) mention "temporarily absent"
 b) state the reason (vacations, business trip, visiting, etc.
 c) for how long (days, months) absent

 removed
3 If lives temporarily state "lives temporarily" removed
4 Sex (male - 1, female - 2) 1 Sex (male, female)
5 How many years since birth? For children younger than one year - months? Younger than one month - days? 2 How many years or months since birthday
6 Ethnicity 3 Nationality
7 Mother tongue 4 Mother tongue
5 Religion
8 If foreign citizen then of what state? 7 Citizen of what state?
9 Was born here? removed
10
If was not born here, then state:
A) Where was born?
a) Republic or oblast
b) Uyezd?
c) Raion?
d) Name of the town, settlement?
B. For how long lives here (in this town or settlement)
removed
11
a) Whether able to read and write, or only read, or completely illiterate?
b) If literate then in what languages?
8 Whether literate?
12 Where do you study? Name of school, courses, etc. For the children going to a nursery, kindergarten, etc. state "kindergarten", "nursery", etc. 9 In what school do you study - primary, secondary or tertiary?
10 What grade are you in?
13 Where have you studied? Name of the highest school (those graduated state grad., those who have not graduated state the grade or class they dropped) 11 Have you graduated from secondary or tertiary school?
14
Main occupation
a) Type of the occupation or job, position, profession, specialization
b) Award category (for workers)
c) Position in the main occupation: worker, white collar, apprentice, member of a collective farm, commune, co-operative, small business owner, etc.
d) Name of the office or enterprise (kolkhoz, sovkhoz, factory, plant, shop, etc.)
12

Type of occupation in present
14 What social group do you belong: workers, white collars, kolkhozniks, individual farmers, artisans, people of free professions, priests of a cult or nonworking elements?
13 Place of work (name of the enterprise, kolkhoz, office)
15
Secondary occupation
a) Type
b) Award category (for the workers)
c) Position
d) Name of the enterprise and its address
removed
16 If you have income not from the occupation state what type of income (pension, scholarship, from rent, etc.) removed
17 If have no own income then who provides for you (Number of the person on the list and if not present state occupation, position and type of the enterprise) removed
18 If married then for how many years? 6 Are you married?

  • Form for the census, project TsUNKhU, common data on the family

  • Form for the census, project TsUNKhU, data on family members

  • Final variant for the form

While his Soviet contemporaries praised Stalin's clarity and brevity in the design of these forms, modern scholars have observed a significant dumbing-down of the original proposals. A lot of information, e.g., about the social structures and income, and migration, could not be deduced from the new forms. Some questions (like the social category) were extremely vague and allowed different interpretations. Volkov argues it was done deliberately. Stalin removed the double accounting (of those present at the time of census and of those permanently living at an address), thus significantly reducing the accuracy of the calculations. It was coupled with a very maladroit time for the census: the night of January 5–6 – that is, the eve of Russian Orthodox Christmas, when people are extremely mobile.

The main new question introduced by Stalin was the question about religion. According to Volkov, Stalin expected the great majority of people to self-identify as atheists.

Read more about this topic:  Soviet Census (1937)

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