Soviet Baby Boomers and Their Lives

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In the modern world, the term baby boomers usually refer to people who were born in the period between 1947 and 1964. In this paper, the issues surrounding the notion of Soviet baby boomers are examined; it will be shown what makes that generation differ from the others: how the events of that time affected or changed the lives of people who grew up at that period, the start of transformations in the Soviet Union, and the pace of these transformations. In this paper, various factors that led to forming an existing generation of people who enjoyed the best era in the evolution of the Soviet Union will be covered.

The term baby boomers in the Soviet Union is usually referred to as the”sputnik generation”. The reason lays in the fact that the whole generation had gone to the first-grade school in the same year that the Soviet Union launched the first satellite in the world which was called Sputnik at the time. An event not only nicknamed the whole generation that was born that year but also changed the ideology of the Soviet people.

To make this statement more accurate, a brief explanation of the events of that period will definitely help to understand what led to that forming the term “sputnik generation”.

After the Second World War, during the period of the Cold War, the competition between the Soviet Union and the west influenced almost every aspect of modern life. The launch of the first artificial satellite in the world gave the Soviet Union an enormous technological advantage at this time. This event started the era which lasted to the peak of Soviet socialism and transitioned from the era of Stalinism to the era of social and scientific transformations. An example of the effect of those transformations can be traced in interviews of eight Soviet graduates of class 1967 which were presented in the book “Russia’s Sputnik Generation” (Raleigh, 2006). These eight baby boomers attended school No 42 in Saratov, a provincial city isolated from the outside world until 1991. The information provided by the interviewees is exemplary since the chosen group can be identified as a professionally educated urban class and represent a microcosm of the Soviet Union in general and Saratov in particular in terms of class and ethnicity.

One of the many factors that shaped the personalities of that generation is the mobile style of life which was representative of the whole nation after World War II. The war scattered the parents in search of opportunities, and since both parents were working at the time, we can say that the early baby boom generation was raised by the grandparents.

That factor along with the people’s physical closeness resulting from house shortage shaped a close relationship between all family members and stimulated respect towards authority.

Another factor is the school and the system of education. The Soviet educational system along with providing clubs of interest to the students in many aspects such as sports, music, dance to fill the students’ time, also offered a way of entering the Soviet ideology through the educational process.

The process of organizing the students into groups in which a member of young octobrists – Soviet students between six and nine can become pioneers –a replacement for the scouts’ movement in the pre-revolutionary time until the Komsomol – a group for students from fourteen to twenty-eight years of age, which was a training ground for the young adults to become members of the communist party.

In spite of the widespread out of the communist ideology that put emphasis on the country and the party values, it can be obvious that the Soviet way of life started to become more focused on individuality as a cell of the community, in contrast with the Stalin’s times.

One of the major changes of that time, during the Kruschev years which coincided with the baby boomers reaching young adulthood, is the focus on improving the living standards of the Soviet people. It must be mentioned that until that time most of the Soviet families lived in so-called communal apartments, where one family took one room and the bathroom and the kitchen were shared among the other families.

One communal flat can accommodate up to three or four families. As a result of Kruschev’s directions on expanding housing a lot of families moved into their own apartments. That new direction in the Soviet ideology helped to raise the overall mood of Soviet people most of whom admitted in surveys that their life has improved.

In years of competition with Western ideologies, it can be noticed that the Soviet people started to feel pride and total satisfaction with their lives and their moral values.

Let us look more specifically at one of the interviewees the book mentions, to trace the way of life of Soviet baby boomers, e.g. Natalia Valentinovna Altukhova. It can be noticed that the great impact of scientific progress forced the parents to put emphasis on the education of their children.

The search for the best school, the tough entrance tests show us that the parents wanted their kids to have the best education and to be competitive. The advanced level of learning of the English language shows us that in spite of that provincial cities mostly being closed ones, they prepare specialists to be international. Though, as Natalia admits, she never had a real use for that at the time. The patriotism and the blind faith in the Soviet perfection and idealism can be noticed in her thoughts when she mentions “I believe that it was simply impossible to be better than the Soviet Union” (Raleigh, 2006,p.67)

That kind of self-pride was the result of raising the kids, teaching the students to be the best and for a country like the Soviet Union, there is no way but to be the best.

The period which started with the baby boomers going to the first class to school practically ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 with people of the sputnik generation being in their mid-thirties. The sudden transformation to commercial relations resulted in the change in the value system and ideology of people: those who once believed in the system were betrayed by it.

The transformational period took different times and gave different results for the various layers of society. With the system of education for the baby boomers being one of the strongest, many found out that immigration is the easiest way.

The once closed country opened up her gates, and many Western countries welcomed the Soviet minds with opened arms. Another part of the baby boomers had to cope with the demand of the newly born commercial country and started their own business. To tell the truth, the collapse of a country and the birth of a new one presents both opportunities and threats to those wishing to start their own business. As a result, many fortunes were built at that time. The rest of the baby boomers, who found no salvation in immigration and the business, had to accept the period of adaptation to the changes in the value system. That transition shows that even the closed policy of the Soviet Union was more convenient for Soviet people than the opened one during the period of total chaos. The people once confident in a fully predictable future lost their confidence in tomorrow, multiple cases of bankruptcy of the financial institutions completely made them lose their faith, but despite that never made them regret anything in life.

The factors that shaped the generation distinguished among others are multiple: among them is the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. The scientific and technical competition for superiority could be added to the list of factors that helped to establish the ideology of that generation.

The changes in communist ideology and the moving away Stalin’s form of government started establishing the formula of the ideal world.

The hard switch from the Soviet Union communism to Russian capitalism, if showed anything was the ability to adapt to the new changing demands of the newly born country. It is clear that the main reason for the increasing birth rate is the result of the general stability in the country and the overall sense of optimism and satisfaction which led to confidence in the future for their selves and their families. It proved that a strong system of building a powerful education is the vital key in forming an intelligent society and this society was able to maintain productivity in different environments. Though the perestroika started the process of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the people were grateful for the fact that it started the process of free information for all. The excessive use of communist ideology and politics in the everyday life did not affect the people the way it shapes their system of values, needs, and motivations now.

One thing can be said for sure about the so-called baby boomers – the sputnik generation – their era was the start of the Soviet Union’s progress in every aspect of life. Sadly, but it is true that their generation also witnessed the end of what was once known as the world power, a country that believed in the ideal world.

Works Cited

Raleigh Donald J. Russia’s Sputnik Generation: Soviet Baby Boomers Talk about Their Lives, Indiana University Press, 2006.

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Soviet Baby Boomers and Their Lives

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