Preparing USSR Society for Participation in Possible Military Conflict Before Second World War
Authors: NIKITENKO Kostyantyn , BUT Oleksandr 
Published: October 2022

Soviet propaganda continually exploited the thesis of the inevitability of war with a “hostile” capitalist environment, formed the image of an enemy, who could be blamed for all "temporary" troubles, and constantly emphasized on the danger of armed conflict – that could enable justifying punitive-repressive measures. The purpose of the article is to investigate the impact of Soviet "class" propaganda on the country's defense capability. The task is to analyze the general tendencies and peculiarities of preparing the population of the USSR for a possible military conflict on the eve of World War II. The main idea of the article is that during five pre-war years, a great deal of work was done in the USSR to prepare the population for participation in a possible military conflict. The military training was all-encompassing. During first five years, when unrealistically inflated plans for industrialization had exhausted the economy of the country there was a deficit even for essentials, the card supply system was reintroduced, and the propaganda of the inevitable collision with the “hostile” capitalist world became hypertrophied. Such a policy allowed the Soviet administrative top to radically change the emphasis in addressing the problems of provision for population. The refrain “if only there was no war” became very advantageous for the leadership of the state, allowed to justify the neglect of human needs. Preparations for actions under the war circumstances were carried at all factories and plants, at all Soviet institutions. The article analyzes how the peoples of Soviet Ukraine were preparing for a possible conflict during the five peaceful pre-war years. First of all, the emphasis of the article is not on the professional training of the military − soldiers and officers, much more indicative and characteristic is the analysis of the experience of training civilians, workers of the branches far from military affairs – workers, employees, collective farmers, students and schoolchildren. After all, since the beginning of the war, the level of training of civilians who are drafted into the army in the context of mobilization measures became one of the decisive factors. The issue of the country's defense capability was under constant control of the party-state leadership. The article proves that lectures, mobilization training, various courses in which they were taught to provide first aid, bandage the wounded, use gas masks, hide in bomb shelters, and compulsory political information on the international situation and regular analysis of the fight against “enemies” inside the countries was getting more widespread year after year, reaching more and more workers and employees. Almost 100% of the population was covered by military training. Children and adults, employees and workers, scientists and collective farmers – everyone had to go through military training. There were almost no exceptions by gender, age, or health. Young children along with adults learned to throw grenades, mastered various weapons, the skills of air and chemical defense. In addition, the atmosphere of general hysteria led to the emergence of such fundamentally Soviet inventions as a parachutist-accountant or a book-keeper-machine gunner. Thus, society has consciously injected military hysteria. However, the bureaucratization and formalism, the inherent defects of command management led to the absolute unpreparedness of the Soviet economic mechanism for a real war. Despite the fact that during the five pre-war years, almost all the population (including schoolchildren and accountants or collective farmers) was covered by military training, 1941 – the year of the German attack – turned into a disaster for the Red Army. In fact, Stalin's methods of governing the state gave rise to a sad paradox: for many years the country persistently and purposefully prepared for war, but in the end it turned out not to be ready for a real war.