The improvement of developed socialism requires expanding and deepening the development of theoretical problems of social sciences, including history and demography, and increasing their connection on the basis of the study of the practice of socialist creation. This fully applies to the analysis of such important issues of the modern development of Soviet society as changes in its socio-class structure, the state of demographic processes, the relationship and interdependence of the structure of society and its demographic factors. The theoretical and practical significance of the study of these problems is determined by the need to constantly have a clear idea of the degree of social maturity of Soviet society, to take into account data on population reproduction and its dynamics.

The practice of socialist construction confirms Lenin's idea that for a scientific analysis of the state of society, it is necessary to know and take into account the state and prospects for the development of its social structure, that without mastering its changes, "one cannot take a single step in any field of social activity."1 XXVI Congress of the CPSU, June (1983) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU among the most important areas on the study of which it is necessary to focus efforts in the field of social sciences, and called the development of problems of the social structure of developed socialism, the study of the laws of the formation of a classless structure of society 2 . At the same time, the party directs the attention of scientists to the development of problems of demography, issues of population reproduction .3 The methodological basis for their study is the Marxist position that "every historically specific mode of production in reality has its own special laws of population, which have a historical character"4 . Demographic processes, along with social and national ones, are the most important factors in the development of society, and they must be taken into account when developing economic plans. Given the current demographic situation, WHO-

1 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 20, p. 186.

2 See Materials of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, Moscow, 1981, pp. 145-146; Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, June 14-15, 1983. Stenogr. otch. M. 1983, pp. 190-191.

3 See Proceedings of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, pp. 54, 145; Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, June 14-15, 1983, p. 119.

4 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 23, p. 646.

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there is an urgent need for technical re-equipment of branches of the national economy, the introduction of the latest scientific achievements and best practices .5 This methodological position establishes the relationship between the fundamental tasks of Soviet society and the demographic policy of the CPSU.

When determining the directions of studying the socio-class structure and demographic processes, social scientists proceed from the position of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU that "the formation of the classless structure of society in the main and main will occur within the historical framework of mature socialism"6 . This proves the importance of studying the problem of overcoming differences that go beyond individual classes, solving issues that require the most careful consideration of the characteristics and interests of each group of our society .7 These provisions of the congress allow us to draw a conclusion about the close unity of socio-class and socio - demographic processes. The further convergence of classes, social groups, and strata of Soviet society is increasingly influencing the nature and course of demographic changes, and these, in turn, play an important role in reproducing and changing the social structure of society. After all, the vital activity of the population is characterized by a continuous change of generations, which differ from each other in educational, cultural and technical level, creative and creative opportunities.

The state and dynamics of these processes are directly related to the state and dynamics of the social and class structure of society. For example, the birth rate, the growth rate of the younger generation, the quantitative ratio of men and women, and the increase in the number of people of retirement age largely depend on the proportion of the working-age population, its professional and qualification structure, the degree of distribution of labor activities that differ in nature and content, the distribution of labor resources by industry and spheres of production, Consequently, by class, social group, and stratum, and vice versa, the quantitative and qualitative composition of the working class, collective farm peasantry, and popular intelligentsia has a significant impact on demographic trends: the rate of natural population growth, migration flows, urbanization, employment structure, family composition, and so on. These processes are dialectically interrelated and act as an integral phenomenon that requires a comprehensive study, primarily by sociologists, philosophers, historians, and economists.

Soviet scientific literature has recently been enriched by many serious works on these problems. A number of collective works, monographs, and methodological articles on the social structure of Soviet society also appeared in the 1980s .8 In these

5 Pravda, 30. IV. 1984.

6 Materials of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, p. 53.

7 Ibid., p. 54.

8 Sieniawski S. L. Social structure of Soviet society in the conditions of developed socialism (1961 -1980 years). M. 1982; Rutkevich M. N. The emergence of social homogeneity. 1982 M.; Harutyunyan, V., L. M. Drobizheva Social structure of the Soviet Nations at the present stage. Voprosy istorii, 1982, No. 7; Gorod i selo: Overcoming Essential Differences. Kiev, 1982; XXVI Congress of the CPSU on the development of the social and class structure of Soviet society under conditions of socialist and communist construction. Donetsk, 1982; Vdovin A. I. The role of the working class in the formation of social homogeneity of Soviet society (Issues of methodology and history of studying the problem). - Bulletin of Moscow University, series 8, history, 1983, N 5; Snub Y. A. Some problems of studying the process of formation of a classless structure of Soviet society. - Український історичний журнал, 1983, N 4; его же. Social and class structure of the population of the Ukrainian SSR at the stage of developed socialism. - Ibid., 1983, N 12.

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The works mainly analyze a two-pronged process in the development of the social structure of Soviet society: on the one hand, the strengthening of the place and role of existing and potential opportunities of each class, each social group in the development of society, and on the other-the formation of its social homogeneity, the leading role of the working class in this process. next questions: how to understand the leading role of the working class in the conditions of a nationwide state; what social boundaries should define the concept of "working class"; when it became socialist; what is the relationship between changes in the social nature of the working class and the social structure of society as a whole. M. N. Rutkevich justified the relationship between the concepts of "social group"and" social group", "socio-demographic structure "and" demographic structure", considered the situation in a socialist society of such population groups as women, youth and pensioners. S. L. Senyavsky analyzed the fundamental differences between capitalist and socialist urbanization, the ways of its implementation in a socialist society. However, in general, demographic issues are given an extremely insignificant place in works on the social structure of Soviet society.

At the same time, in the majority of works on demography published in recent years, in particular in Ukraine, the main focus is on developing methodological aspects of studying the peculiarities of population reproduction in the conditions of developed socialism, on highlighting the dynamics of population, its migration, issues of urbanization, family composition, and the influence of socio-economic factors on the formation of population composition its age structure and many other areas of demographic policy, its implementation in practice 9 . Only in some works of demographers are we talking about social, in particular socio - class structure. Thus, G. A. Slesarev's book examines demographic aspects of the reproduction and improvement of the social structure of Soviet society on the example of its individual components - the working class, collective farm peasantry, intelligentsia and employees, including data on the Ukrainian SSR10 . The relationship between the social structure and population dynamics of the republic is given a section in the collective monograph devoted to the period between the All-Union Population Censuses of 1959 and 1970 .11
Thus, in relation to the stage of developed socialism, the issues of the socio - class structure of Soviet society and the problems of demography are usually studied separately, although the socio-demographic structure is one of the components, one of the "slices" of the social structure of society. Moreover, the socio-demographic structure not only intersects with the socio-class structure, but is also determined by it. In this article, the author aims to study the relationship between the development of the socio-class structure and the demographic changes that occur in the Ukrainian SSR at the stage of developed socialism. For

9 Petrov V. A. Sotsial'no-demograficheskaya struktura gorodskogo naseleniya i ego zanyatosti [Socio-demographic structure of the urban population and its employment]. Kiev, 1981; Demographic policy: implementation and improvement in the conditions of developed socialism Kiev, 1982; Zagrobskaya A. F. Migration, reproduction and level of education of the population. Kiev, 1982; Korel L. V. Population movement between the city and the village in the conditions of urbanization. Novosibirsk. 1982; Urbanizatsiya i demograficheskie protsessy [Urbanization and Demographic processes], Moscow, 1982.

10 G. A. Slesarev Demographic processes and social structure of socialist society. M .1978.

11 Demographic development of the Ukrainian SSR (1959-1970). Kiev. 1977.

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definitions of what is common and special in the development of these processes in the republic, they are considered in connection with the corresponding phenomena occurring in the country as a whole, as well as in other union republics. In this formulation, this problem has not yet been developed in the historical literature.

The development of the social structure of society occurs through its continuous reproduction, which is determined primarily by natural population growth, and it is primarily determined by the birth rate. During the post-war period in the USSR, there was a decline in the birth rate. In the Ukrainian SSR, it was one of the lowest (even lower than in the BSSR, where a significant part of the population was also destroyed by the Nazi invaders), surpassing only the Latvian SSR at the turn of the 70s and 80s .12 However, in the 70s, the rate of decline in the birth rate in Ukraine slowed down, and in some years there was even an increase in the number of births, due to the entry into marriageable age of significant contingents of people born in the post - war years, which means an increase in the number of marriages and births of children in new families. In recent years, the birth rate in the Ukrainian SSR (as well as in the RSFSR, BSSR, and Baltic Republics) has begun to increase in rural families , 13 which indicates an improvement in social and living conditions in the countryside as a result of the measures taken by the party, in particular, in terms of implementing the Food Program. In the whole country in the 70s, first of all, due to the high birth rate in the Central Asian republics, its decline was not only suspended, but even there was a tendency to increase the number of births per 1 thousand people of the population. This did not happen in the Ukrainian SSR. The decrease in the difference in birth rate dynamics between the Ukrainian SSR and the country as a whole, which was outlined at the turn of the 60s and 70s, since the beginning of the 70s, again gave way to an increase, and in 1982 this indicator reached the level typical for 1940 and 1950.

The birth rate in different regions of Ukraine is not the same. In the regions where large industrial centers are concentrated (Kharkiv, Voroshilovgrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk) or characterized by a predominant development of agricultural production (Vinnytsia, Poltava, Sumy, Khmelnitsky, Cherkasy, Chernihiv), the number of births in the 60 - 80s was less than the national average. In the western regions (Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Chernivtsi), whose economy is also dominated by agriculture, this indicator was higher than the national average, which is traditionally a specific feature of the region, identical to the ratio that exists, for example, between Central Asia and the republics of the European part of the country.

The birth rate is determined by various factors, including the degree of women's participation in social production. At the turn of the 70s and 80s, in Ukraine, as in the RSFSR, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, women accounted for more than 50% of workers and employees; these republics had the lowest birth rates. Conversely, in the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus, where women accounted for less than 50% of workers and employees (for example, 39% in Tajikistan, 41% in Turkmenistan, 43% in Azerbaijan).-

12 Hereafter calculated according to the statistical yearbooks "National Economy of the Ukrainian SSR" and "National Economy of the USSR" for 1970-1982; RESULTS of the 1970 All-Union Population Census. YES. 1972-1974; Number and composition of the population of the USSR. According to the data of the All-Union Population Census of 1979. M. 1984.

13 See Proceedings of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, October 23, 1984, Moscow, 1984, p. 5.

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in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan), the number of births was the highest. But, despite the decline in the birth rate in the Ukrainian SSR, its level in the 80s, as in the country as a whole, remained higher than in England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Japan and other industrially developed capitalist countries.

Natural population growth is directly related to the dynamics of its mortality, which in our country, including in the Ukrainian SSR, is constantly decreasing. Child mortality and mortality in all age groups under 30 years of age at the stage of developed socialism have a persistent tendency to decrease. The increase occurred at the expense of age groups over 30 years old and was primarily due to the low birth rate in the Ukrainian SSR compared to other Union republics. The state of mortality is affected by a number of factors not only biological, but also social, in particular, conditions and lifestyle. This is what determines the lower mortality rate in the whole country and in Ukraine in comparison with a number of industrially developed capitalist countries (Germany, England, Austria, etc.).

The ratio of the dynamics of these processes has a direct impact on the quantitative and qualitative indicators of the social structure of society, on the state of its reproduction. These processes determine both the rate of natural population growth, which decreased slightly in the 70s and early 80s in Ukraine, and the population dynamics. The number of inhabitants of the Ukrainian SSR in 1960 - 1982 increased from 42.5 million to 50.5 million, or by 19% (in the 60s, this increase was 11.7%, in the 70s-only 6.4%). In the whole country, as a result of the factors mentioned above, the population increased by almost 30%, and the rate of its increase in the 60s and 70s was approximately the same.

The decline in population growth in the republic, including the labor force, dictated the need for an accelerated transition from extensive to intensive methods of economic development. Thus, the number of people employed in the national economy of the Ukrainian SSR in 1960 - 1982 increased from 17.1 million to 24.5 million people, or 43%, and the gross national product-almost 3 times. Consequently, the needs of the national economy for labor resources were met not so much by increasing the number of able-bodied people, but rather by increasing their labor activity, increasing labor productivity, and intensive factors (especially since the rate of increase in the employed population also tended to decrease: in the 60s, its number increased by 28%, in the 1990s, and in the 70s - by 11%).

The population increased unevenly by age. This indicator was highest among people of retirement age. Thus, in 1960 there were 4.5 million pensioners in the republic, in 1982-11 million people, i.e. 2.5 times more, while the total population in these years increased by only 19%, and the employed-by 43%. Accordingly, the share of pensioners in the total population of the Ukrainian SSR increased: 10.3% in 1960, and 22% in 1982. This has led to significant changes in the quantitative ratio of pensioners and working people. If in 1960 pensioners accounted for 24.5% of all persons employed in the national economy (ratio 1:4), then in 1982 - 42.5% (1:2.4). In the country as a whole, the number of pensioners has increased at a somewhat slower rate, which has led to a smaller share of them in the population to date.

Thus, there is an aging process of the population with all the ensuing consequences and problems of an economic, social and demographic nature, which (for example, more than

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active involvement of pensioners in feasible socially useful work; creation of the most favorable treatment regime for veterans who have gone on a well-deserved rest, but who seek to continue working) require prompt solutions both on a national scale and in the conditions of the Ukrainian SSR, where during the 11th and 12th five-year periods, the number of able - bodied population, as statistics show, will shrink 14 .

The dynamics of the socio-class structure of the population is also determined by migration processes, which contribute to the gradual convergence of classes, social groups, cities and villages, and the formation of social homogeneity. One of the most important areas of migration is moving from the countryside to the city. This is a natural process associated with the urbanization of society. From 1959 to 1982, the urban population of the Ukrainian SSR increased from 19.2 million to 31.8 million people (by 66%), and the rural population decreased from 22.7 million to 18.5 million people (by 19%) - As a result, the share of the urban population increased from 46 to 63%, and the rural population decreased accordingly. The same dynamics were observed in the proportion of urban and rural population in the country as a whole. Big cities grew rapidly. If in 1959 in the republic only one city had a population exceeding 1 million and in 23 cities-100 thousand inhabitants, then in 1982 there were already 5 millionaire cities (out of 25 in the Union), and with more than 100 thousand people - 38. The increase in the urban population occurred both due to natural growth and due to a significant influx of rural residents. The All-Union population census of 1970 shows that out of 1.6 million people, people who moved to cities and urban-type settlements in the Ukrainian SSR in the previous two years, 741,000 (42% of those who arrived) were residents of rural areas. The rest, as in the USSR as a whole, moved from other urban settlements.

Despite the fact that in the 60s - 70s, compared to the 50s, the rate of urbanization in Ukraine slowed down by more than 70s, it was one of those regions of the country where migration to cities occurred at such a high rate that it caused not always and not everywhere a justified intensive decrease in the rural population and violation of its age and gender structure 15 . The overwhelming majority of rural residents who moved to cities were people of working age, which could not but affect the state of agricultural production. The June (1982) Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine drew attention to this, linking the decline in the number of workers in collective and state farms and the shortage of rural labor resources, which is felt in a number of places in the republic, to the migration of the rural population to cities .16 Subsequently, the outflow of rural population to cities began to decrease in the country, and thus in Ukraine as well: during 1982-1984, it decreased by 8% in the country17 .

An important migration direction is associated with the formation of large territorial and industrial complexes in different regions of the country. The Ukrainian SSR, together with the RSFSR and the BSSR, is one of the Union republics that mainly contribute to the accelerated economic development of new territories of the country, especially in the Far East and Siberia. 18 From the republics of Central Asia (a region with a high birth rate), the outflow of population is noticeably lower. In some

14 Lukinov I. I. Structural shifts in social production and increasing its efficiency. - Kommunist Ukrainy, 1981, N 1, p. 17.

15 Slesarev G. A. Uk. soch., p. 65.

16 Pravda Ukrainy, 25. VI. 1982.

17 Proceedings of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, October 23, 1984, p. 5.

18 Slesarev G. A. Uk. soch., p. 72.

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According to the June 1983 Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, there are reserves of labor resources in the regions of the country, "but it is not yet possible to attract and direct them to the places where they are particularly needed today."19
A peculiar reserve of labor resources, and a considerable one, exists everywhere. These are parasites, idlers, flyers and drunkards-freeloaders of society, casting a shadow on our way of life, harming the production of 20 . Unfortunately, this reserve is not taken into account by statistical or demographic studies, local authorities do not always take them into account and influence them, although it is known that V. I. Lenin attached great importance to the ability to "register and control parasites, barichs, swindlers and similar "guardians of the traditions of capitalism". He not only attributed this accounting and control to "swift and serious punishment," but also considered it one of the important factors that would help open "the door wide to the transition from the first phase of communist society to its highest phase."21
The need for participation in socially useful work of the entire population makes it particularly urgent today to identify and employ people who avoid work - those who parasitize the humanism of our system, live at the expense of conscientious workers, at the expense of society. They are divided into registered in the police and "quiet", undetected, almost uncontrolled. As a result of an inspection conducted by the People's Control in places where there is a need for labor resources, it turned out that only the number of registered persons of this category can meet this need in excess. For example, in Voroshilovgrad, Stakhanov, and Kommunarsk, the number of registered parasites alone could cover 3/4 of the Voroshilovgrad Oblast's labor shortage, 22 and many of them avoid performing their civil duties and do not work for years. Parasitism is an ugly and intolerant phenomenon. In addition, its carriers have their own "morals", their own "style" of life and behavior, which can have a negative impact on others, especially on young people .23 Fostering a respectful attitude to work is the task of both government bodies, public organizations, and the family, which is one of the most important institutions of society.

In the Ukrainian SSR, with the overall growth in the number of families, there is a decrease in their average size: 3.5 people - in 1959 and 3.3-in 1979. At the same time, families among the rural population decreased more rapidly. This dynamic was due, firstly, to the fact that in these years there was an increase in the proportion of families without children or with one child, while the proportion of families with two, three or more children decreased; secondly, a significant increase in the number of divorces. If in 1950 there were 11.7 marriages per 1,000 people and only 0.3 divorces - the ratio of divorces to marriages is 1 : 39, then in 1960 it was already 1:9, in 1982 it was 1 : 2.8 (9.9 marriages and 3.6 divorces per 1,000 people). The average family size decreased in the country as a whole, but in 1979 it was higher than in the Ukrainian SSR - 3.5 people, which is explained both by the significant proportion of large families in the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus, and by a slightly lower proportion of divorces in relation to the number of marriages: in 1982, 10.3 marriages and 3.3 divorces per 1 thousand people.

19 Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, June 14-15, 1983, p. 37.

20 Kommunist, 1983, N 3, p. 16; Pravda, 6. X. 1984.

21 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 33, p. 102.

22 Pravda, 19. V. 1983.

23 Ibid., 18. II. 1983.

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The population censuses of 1970 and 1979 provide an opportunity to see the interdependence of the number of children in a family with the mother's belonging to a particular social group. So, among mothers in the Ukrainian SSR and in the country as a whole, the largest number of children were kolkhoz women, followed by workers, then employees. The greatest number of children was among women engaged in personal subsidiary agriculture, followed by those engaged mainly in physical labor, and the least among those engaged mainly in mental labor. The relationship between the birth rate and the level of education was as follows: women with higher, incomplete higher and secondary special education accounted for the smallest proportion of children; as the educational level of mothers decreased, the number of children increased.

The demographic issues discussed are most closely related to the dynamics of the socio-class structure of society, the processes that occur within the working class, collective farm peasantry and popular intelligentsia, as well as such social groups as youth and women, which are part of each of the main elements of the socio-class structure.

The guiding force of Soviet society at the stage of developed socialism continues to be the working class. One of the characteristic features of the dynamics of the working class of the Ukrainian SSR, as well as the country as a whole, is the constant growth of its absolute number, which is due to the intensive development of production capacities. In 1960 - 1982, the average annual number of workers in the republic increased by 6.4 million people, or by 80% (for the country as a whole - by 74%), and by the mid-60s, their number was already the absolute majority among those employed in the national economy of the Ukrainian SSR, and by the beginning of 1970, an important step in the qualitative development of This is a quantitative milestone: the working class has become the majority of the population of the republic, which happened in the country back in 1959.

At the same time, the share of the working class among those employed in the national economy of the Ukrainian SSR is increasing: in 1960 - 1982, the share of workers increased from 46.6% to 58.6%- the rate of quantitative growth of workers here was higher compared to the rate of increase in the number of the working class throughout the country, which allowed their proportions to approach (58.6 and 63%) although the share of workers employed in the national economy of the republic remained lower in 1982 than in the USSR as a whole. These processes are explained by the accelerated creation of large territorial production complexes in various regions of the RSFSR and other republics of the country, as well as the specifics of the economic development of the Ukrainian SSR. The constant quantitative increase of the working class, the growth of its specific weight, is a progressive phenomenon. It enhances the economic and political influence of the working class on all spheres of life of the society of developed socialism, causes positive changes in its social structure.

Due to the impact of such factors of modern development of the Soviet economy as high rates of scientific and technological progress, increased production efficiency, its transition to the path of intensive development, increased labor productivity, as well as demographic factors, a slowdown in the quantitative growth of the working class is observed. If in 1961-1965 the number of workers employed in the national economy of the Ukrainian SSR increased by 23%, then in 1975-1980-only by 8%. This trend, which is also related to the demographic situation (a decrease in the birth rate, a slowdown in the rate of urbanization), is typical for the country as a whole.

The majority of the working class is concentrated in the branches of material production, which is one of the regularities of the formation of the labor market.-

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analysis of the social structure of Soviet society at the previous stage of socialist construction. The largest number of workers in the Ukrainian SSR is employed in industry. Their number increased by 56% in 1960-1975, but the share of workers in the republic decreased from 43 to 41.3% (in the country - up to 38%), which is explained by a particularly noticeable increase in the level of mechanization and automation of production processes. The same reasons are mainly explained by the low rate of quantitative growth of construction workers - their number increased in the republic only by 1/3 (in the country-by 53%).

In the conditions of developed socialism, a significant proportion of the working class is made up of its agrarian group, mainly state farm workers. In 1960 - 1982, their number in the Ukrainian SSR increased by 87.7%, which is higher than the rate of increase in the working class of the republic as a whole. This led to a noticeable increase in the share of state farm workers among those engaged in agricultural production. The rate of increase in the number of state farm workers in the country during these years was lower.

In the 70s and early 80s, the development of inter-farm cooperation in agriculture and the agro - industrial integration of industrial and agricultural production significantly increased the number of workers at inter-farm and other agricultural production enterprises. In 1976-1982, the number of machine operators at these enterprises alone increased by more than 4 times in Ukraine, and by 6.7 times in the Union. The high rate of growth of the agrarian group of the working class is an important feature of the dynamics of the social structure of Soviet society in the conditions of developed socialism, which manifests itself despite the negative demographic factors noted above.

An increasingly important place in Soviet society is occupied by workers in the service sector, which is the result of the party's policy of accelerating the development of various branches of material, cultural and consumer services for the population in order to improve the standard of living of the Soviet people. In 1959-1970, the number of workers in this industry in Ukraine increased by 25%, including in trade and public catering - more than twice. In the future, the number of workers in the non-productive sector continued to grow, for example, in 1970 - 1980. in the whole country, it increased by 1.5 times, which reflects the current trend of redistribution of the employed population between branches of the national economy and corresponds to the Marxist position that " the country is richer the less, with the same number products, the productive population in relation to the unproductive " 24

In the conditions of scientific and technological progress, the nature and content of labor is radically changing, the professional composition of the working class is improving, new professions are emerging and old ones are undergoing changes, and increased requirements are being placed on the educational and cultural and technical level of workers. At the beginning of the stage of developed socialism in the Ukrainian SSR, there was a noticeable increase in the number of industrial workers with higher, specialized secondary and secondary education. So, in terms of 1 thousand workers employed in the national economy of the republic, the number of those who have higher, incomplete higher and secondary (full and incomplete) education in 1959-1979 increased from 472 to 804 people, or by 70%. In the country, this increase was 89%, although in general the educational level of the population remained lower. The difference in the growth rate of the educational level is due to the objective need to level it out and improve it.-

24 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 26, part 1, p. 215.

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research institutes in the whole country. Since it was traditionally higher in the Ukrainian SSR, its growth rate at the stage of developed socialism is inferior to the all-Union one.

Raising the educational level of the working class of the republic contributes to strengthening its influence on the nature and pace of economic development, on solving social problems, on the entire process of improving a developed socialist society, and ultimately on improving the demographic situation in the country. This also leads to changes in the professional and qualification structure of the working class, creates ample opportunities for increasing the share of knowledge work in its activities. The number of workers in those professions in which intellectual labor plays a significant role is increasing in each branch of the national economy of the republic at a higher rate than the total number of workers. Thus, in 1960 - 1982, the number of state farm workers increased by 87.7%, and the number of machine operators among them - by 3.7 times. Noticeable changes are taking place in the qualification structure of the working class. In 1965-1972, the share of industrial workers who had the 1st-2nd categories decreased by 20%, while the 4th-6th categories increased by 11.6%, 32.8%, and 78.6%, respectively. The average tariff category increased from 3 to 3.3.

As a result of the growth of the cultural and technical level and changes in the professional and qualification level of the working class, a stratum of intellectual workers emerged in its environment at the stage of developed socialism. According to many researchers, they primarily include people who have higher or secondary specialized education, but are workers by occupation, although statistics do not take into account their specialty, the degree of need for such a level of education for this type of industrial activity, etc. those who, without a diploma of higher or secondary special education, have acquired high qualifications and serious technical knowledge and skills during their work and are close to the engineering and technical intelligentsia in terms of education. However, only a small part of workers with higher and secondary specialized education perform work that corresponds to the education (obtained, by the way, for free). It affects the imperfection in the system of organization and remuneration of workers and engineering and technical workers. It also contributes to the preservation of quite a significant number of so-called "natural resources". practitioners - persons without a corresponding higher or secondary education in positions that must be replaced by certified specialists.

Raising the educational level of the working class, changing its professional composition, and improving its qualifications are important ways to overcome the significant differences between mental and physical labor, to level the intra-class structure of the working class, and to improve the social structure of society. However, there are no sufficient grounds for an unambiguous positive assessment of all specialists with higher or secondary special education who are included in the stratum of intellectual workers, especially if we take into account the economic inexpediency of using graduates as workers, the degree of social maturity of a certain part of graduates working as workers, as well as the well-known glut of the national economy, including including industry, specialists with higher and secondary specialized education.

The working class is the most international class in its essence, in its ideals and aspirations, and in its high contribution to the creation of the state.

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material and spiritual values for the entire multinational Soviet society. Among the workers of the Ukrainian SSR there are representatives of all nations and nationalities of the USSR. In the two years before the 1970 All-Union Population Census alone, 590,000 people moved to Ukraine from other Union republics, including 420,000 from the Russian Federation, 60,000 from Kazakhstan, 22,000 from Belarus, and 18,000 each from Uzbekistan and Moldova. Most of them joined the ranks of the working class of Ukraine. At the same time, 553,000 people moved from the republic to other regions of the country, including 428,000 to the RSFSR, 48,000 to Kazakhstan, 24,000 to Belarus, and 18,000 to Moldova.

The process of internationalization of public life, noted a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party V. V. Shcherbitsky, is especially visible in large labor collectives, which, becoming more and more multinational, are turning into a real school of international education. This can be clearly seen on the example of both the oldest collectives-the Kochegarka mine, Zaporizhstal plants, and the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute. Dzerzhinsk, Kharkiv Tractor Plant, Kiev Arsenal, Leninskaya Forge, as well as young ones created in recent years-the Nikolaev alumina Plant, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Lutsk automobile Plant and many others. The core of these collectives are cadre workers. They contribute to the creation of a high culture of interethnic communication, overcoming certain manifestations of nationalist psychology, instilling internationalist norms of behavior in all workers .25
The revolutionary ideology and morals of the working class, its collectivist psychology, interests and ideals are now becoming the property of all Soviet people .26 The Communist Party, which at the stage of developed socialism became the vanguard of the entire people, remains a party of the working class in terms of its class essence, program goals, ideology and policy, and the role played by the workers in the CPSU. This is also evidenced by the constant increase in the proportion of workers in the CPSU, including the Communist Party of Ukraine: in 1966-1980. it increased from 38.4% to 44.1%. At the same time, among the candidates accepted for membership of the CPSU in the period between the XXIII and XXIV party congresses, the share of workers was 50.3%, between the XXIV and XXV congresses - 56.4%, between the XXV and XXVI congresses - 57.8%.

One of the most important forms of social and political activity of workers is their participation in the work of the Soviets of People's Deputies. In 1985, 207 workers were elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR, or 31.8% of the total number of deputies .27 The growing political activity of the working class leads to the strengthening of its leading role in improving developed socialism, in progressive changes in the social structure of society, and in improving the quality characteristics of the working class itself.

The dynamics of the social structure, cultural and technical level, labor and socio-political activity of the working class are significantly influenced by its demographic structure. One of the major demographic groups in Soviet society is young people. In 1970, in Ukraine, the age group of persons under 30 years of age accounted for 29.7% of the population, and among those engaged mainly in manual labor - 30.3%, including among workers in mechanical engineering and metalworking - 46.4%, and in those professional groups that-

25 Pravda Ukrainy, 26. III. 1983.

26 See Materials of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, p. 54.

27th combat detachment of the Leninist Party. Kiev, 1981, pp. 19, 39; Pravda, 28. II; 2. III. 1985.

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The proportion of young workers who dealt with modern machinery and technology was even higher. The share of young people among transport and construction workers was higher than the average level. In the following years, the share of young workers increased; by the end of the 1970s, they accounted for 50% of workers in industry and about 40% in construction [28] (these figures were slightly lower in the country).

The preparation of the work shift is of great socio-economic importance, including for strengthening the ranks of the working class. In the Ukrainian SSR, much attention is paid to this. If in 1966-1970 1175 thousand young skilled workers were trained through the system of vocational and technical education of the republic, in 1976-1980 -1800 thousand, then in the 11th five-year plan, the working class will be replenished with more than 2 million graduates of vocational schools who will join the labor collectives of Ukraine and other republics. The overwhelming majority of today's young people are active workers, worthy heirs and successors of their fathers ' work. But some young people show belated civic formation and political naivety, labor and social passivity, indiscipline, dependency, unwillingness to work where society needs it today. The dangerous signs of philistinism observed among young people can not but cause concern. The primary task of the party and Soviet organs, trade unions and the Komsomol, and labor collectives is to educate every young worker as a politically mature, spiritually rich, and morally pure person, an ardent patriot ,and a true internationalist. 29 The June (1983) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU in its resolution pointed out the need to pay constant attention to all social groups and age categories of young people, including the working 30 .

A large demographic group of the working class of the republic consists of women. The share of women workers among all employed in the national economy of the Ukrainian SSR in 1959-1970 increased from 31.5% to 46.1%, amounting to 5.4 million people in 1970. In subsequent years, the share of women workers and employees among all persons employed in the national economy in this category increased and in the 70s and early 80s stabilized, reaching 52%, which is slightly higher than the level in the whole country, which has also been steadily maintained over the past decade and a half. A large number of women workers in the field of material production are employed in mechanical engineering and metalworking, i.e., where, as a result of automation and complex mechanization of production processes, working conditions are created that free women from heavy and harmful production for their health. Traditionally, the share of women workers in the textile industry remains high; it has increased among garment workers and shoe makers; it has almost doubled among construction workers. The largest number of women workers are employed in the field of public utilities, household and consumer services, as well as in trade and public catering.

Further progress in replenishing the working class with a highly qualified shift, in changing its quantitative and qualitative composition, will depend on the degree to which the demographic problems discussed above are solved. The quantitative dynamics of the working class, as well as other social groups in society, is primarily affected by the decline in the birth rate and natural population growth.-

28 Shcherbitsky V. V. Izbrannye rechi i stat'i [Selected speeches and articles]. Moscow, 1978, p. 501.

29 Pravda Ukrainy, 26. III. 1983.

30 See Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, June 14-15, 1983, pp. 33, 198-199; Pravda, " 16. VIII. 1983.

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This leads to a decrease in the proportion of young people of working age. The collective-farm peasantry, as well as those employed in domestic or personal subsidiary farming, remains a source of replenishment of the working class. The decrease in the rate of quantitative growth and the share of workers can be explained, among other reasons, by a decrease in the rate of numerical growth of the urban population - these two processes coincide in time and mutually condition each other.

The migration of the rural population to the cities and the replenishment of the ranks of the working class, along with the objective necessity and largely positive impact of this process, also causes certain problems, in particular, related to the growth of the general education and professional qualification level of workers and the entire urban population. First, according to sociological studies, the industrial adaptation of migrants from rural areas takes a very long time (approximately 10 years), and this factor hinders the rate of increasing labor activity and professional skills of production teams in the city. Secondly, due to their lower educational level, "novice citizens" are even more slowly introduced to the sources of spiritual culture, which cannot but affect their labor and socio-political activities. 31 .

These are some aspects of the general and specific quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the social structure of the working class of the Ukrainian SSR and its interdependence with demographic processes.

The demographic situation in the republic also influences the formation of the social image of the collective-farm peasantry, whose life is undergoing profound changes with the industrialization of agricultural production, and its social structure is undergoing quantitative and qualitative changes .32 It is also the result of those processes that, as a result of changes in the development of the productive forces, primarily the material and technical base, occur in the nature of the collective farm peasantry's labor, the level of socialization of production, the further social division of labor and its cooperation, the specialization and concentration of collective farm and all agricultural production. Thus, only in 1965-1981 the amount of undivided funds of collective farms of the Ukrainian SSR increased 3 times and reached 36.3 billion rubles, the number of tractors - by 53%, and in terms of one farm-by more than 2 times. In total, there were 266 thousand tractors, 65 thousand combine harvesters, and 160.9 thousand trucks on collective farms in 1981. The rate of increase in the level of socialization of means of production may be indicated by an increase in the number of households per collective farm in these years, from 555 to 632, the size of sown areas - from 2.7 thousand to 3.3 thousand hectares, the number of cattle-from 1.4 thousand to 2.3 thousand heads. Such processes took place in collective farms all over the country.

The convergence of state and collective-farm-cooperative ownership led to the emergence of a fundamentally new direction in the development of productive forces and production relations in the countryside in general, and in collective farms in particular. It was reflected in the creation of production associations, livestock and other complexes and poultry farms, field-breeding units and teams with industrial production technology, inter-farm and agricultural-industrial associations.

31 Pravda, 1. IX. 1983.

32 See Materials of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, pp. 52-53.

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As a result of these factors, as well as the migration of a very significant number of rural residents from the countryside to the city, there is a reduction in the number of collective farm peasants, a decrease in their share among the employed population. Thus, the average annual number of peasants of the Ukrainian SSR who participated in the work of farms decreased from 6418.9 thousand in 1960 to 3978.8 thousand in 1981 (by 38%). As a result, their share among people employed in the national economy of the republic has decreased from 37.6% to 16.4% over these years, and even more so in the country as a whole. However, this does not mean that the role of the collective farm peasantry in the life of Soviet society is declining. Raising agricultural production, in which collective farms play a leading role, and creating a well - developed and highly productive agriculture along with a powerful industry is the program task of the Communist Party. The collective farm peasantry contributes to its implementation by producing food for the population and raw materials for industry. The role of the collective farm peasantry in the life of Soviet society is growing even more in connection with the solution of the tasks defined by the Food Program.

The collective farm peasantry of the Ukrainian SSR, as well as the entire country, is a socially differentiated community of people, whose various categories differ from each other in the nature and content of work, qualifications, profession, educational level, income, etc.

The leading professional group engaged in all branches of collective farm and all agricultural production are machine operators. As the total number of collective-farm peasants decreases, the cadres of machine operators on collective farms are constantly growing. Their number in 1960 - 1982 increased from 407.2 thousand to 694.5 thousand people, or by 71% (across the country-only by 24%). This difference is related to higher rates of equipment deliveries to the collective farm production of the republic. At the same time, the share of machine operators among all those employed in collective farm production increased: in 1960 -6.4%, in 1982-16.5%, which corresponds to the share of machine operators among the collective farm peasantry of the whole country. One group of machine operators consists of tractor drivers, tractor drivers, and combine harvesters, while the other group consists of drivers. In 1960-1981, the number of the first group increased from 292.9 thousand to 478.4 thousand (by 63%), and the second - from 114.3 thousand to 220.7 thousand people (by 92%).

Along with these professions, the professions of machine operators for servicing livestock farms, locksmiths for repairing machines, electricians, machinists of control panels on automatic incubators, etc. are becoming increasingly widespread in collective farms. By the nature of work, collective farmers-machine operators approach workers, and those who have the appropriate special education often act as workers who combine physical labor with elements of mental labor in their production activities. Thus, the machine operator represents the process of forming a new type of worker in the village. The overwhelming majority of the collective farm peasantry of the Ukrainian SSR, as well as the country as a whole, work in crop and animal husbandry. The quantitative composition of these groups of rural workers is characterized by a decreasing trend, although the number of their individual professional groups has increased.

Migration of the population from the countryside has led to a relatively small proportion of young people among the collective farm peasantry. In 1970, in Ukraine, there were only 204 young people under the age of 30 per 1,000 people engaged mainly in manual labor in agriculture, and in the country as a whole - 239. The largest number of them is ra-

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It worked as trailer drivers and agricultural machinery workers (in the republic-553 people per 1 thousand), as well as tractor drivers and other machine operators (379 people per 1 thousand); the smallest number was employed in jobs that did not require special training. In the second half of the 70s, young people accounted for almost 30% of all employees in agriculture in the Ukrainian SSR . In order to properly orient the collective farm youth and take full account of their peculiarities, the June (1983) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU required party organizations to pay constant attention, along with all social groups and age categories of Soviet youth in general, to the young cadres of the collective farm peasantry .34
During the 60s and 80s, the number of women collective farmers decreased along with the decline in the number of collective farm peasants, but their share remained virtually unchanged. Thus, the share of women engaged mainly in manual labor in agriculture in the Ukrainian SSR (the overwhelming majority of them were collective farmers) in 1959 was 63% of the total number of persons in this category, and in 1970-62% (in the country as a whole - 55%). At the same time, women accounted for 99% of all milkmaids in those years, and their share among the foremen of complex, field, tractor, livestock and other brigades increased from 6 to 13%.

Under the conditions of developed socialism, the culture and well-being of the rural population are rapidly growing, and their way of life is improving. Thus, in Ukraine, 244 people per 1,000 employed collective farmers had higher and secondary (full and incomplete) education in 1959, 397 in 1970, and 580 in 1979. The growth rate of the educational level of collective farmers significantly exceeds the corresponding indicators for the urban population. Especially noticeable is the outpacing of the growth rate in rural areas of persons with higher education - in these years, their number increased 4 times, in the city-2.2 times. The real incomes of the peasants from the social economy are increasing. The average monthly salary of collective farmers in the republic is close to the salary of workers and employees. If in 1970 - 1982 it increased by 41% for workers and employees, then for collective farmers-by 70%. Significant changes are taking place in the everyday life of the rural population, the majority of which is the collective farm peasantry.

Raising the cultural level of the peasants, improving the welfare and living conditions, and the whole way of life radically changed the social consciousness of the collective farm peasantry and its social appearance. The peasants have more and more in common with the workers. Despite the reduction in the number of peasants, the number of collective-farm communists in the Republic increased from 296.9 thousand to 354.4 thousand in 1966-1981; the share of collective-farm peasants in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union remains significant: 15.8% in 1981. Their share was approximately the same among those accepted by candidates for membership of the CPSU in the period between the XXV and XXVI party congresses. The high social and political activity of the kolkhoz peasantry of Ukraine is evidenced by its representation in the Soviets. Among the deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic elected in 1985, 122 collective farmers (18.8% of all elected), in local councils-38.3%35 .

Quantitative and qualitative changes in the social structure of the collective - farm peasantry are primarily the result of the growth and strengthening of the material and technical base of agriculture, the industrialization of agricultural labor, but a certain role is played by the development of the agricultural economy.

33 Shcherbitsky V. V. Selected speeches and articles, p. 501.

34 Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, June 14-15, 1983, p. 199.

35th combat detachment of the Leninist Party, p. 19, 39, 55, 149, 151; Pravda, 28. I, 2. III. 1985.

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Demographic factors also play a role, primarily the migration of the rural population, mainly young people, to cities. Migration has the most significant impact on the progressive decline in the number of collective farm peasantry, primarily its most capable part. The rate of natural growth of the rural population is restrained by the level of employment of women in public production, which is noticeably higher than among workers and employees, as well as the relatively high age level of rural residents, mainly peasants.

The rapid growth of the educational level of the rural population and the proportion of people with higher education in it is a positive phenomenon. It is largely determined by the provision of benefits and advantages for rural and collective farm youth when entering higher educational institutions. However, a large number of young men and women from rural areas, having received the opportunity to acquire higher or secondary specialized education on preferential terms with the help of the state, do not return to the labor collectives that sent them to study. The directions received during the distribution of graduates of higher education institutions or technical schools do not always help. All this, in turn, has a negative impact on demographic problems, as it contributes to a significant reduction in the number of young rural residents. That is why it is becoming more and more urgent to ensure not only legal, but also de facto equality of" starting opportunities " of a person, regardless of where he lives - in a big city or a remote village, regardless of the professional or social status of his parents, etc. 36 .

Further improvement of the social and living conditions of rural life, in particular working and living conditions for women and young people, will help to consolidate personnel and increase the birth rate, will be able to determine the process of remigration from the city to the village, the formation of appropriate life plans for the younger generation in rural families and schools, professional orientation of young men and and not only in purely "male", but also" female " specialties. These are some of the main socio - demographic factors that can significantly stabilize the size of the rural population, all its age and professional groups and strata.

Demographic processes taking place in the Ukrainian SSR also have a certain impact on such a large social group as the national intelligentsia, which is one of the components of the social structure of Soviet society. Defining its place and role in our life, the XXVI Congress of the CPSU noted that the intelligentsia makes a significant contribution to building up the intellectual and cultural potential of the country, plays an increasingly significant role not only in science, education, culture, but also in material production, in the entire life of society .37
Since its formation, the Soviet intelligentsia has transformed from a narrow stratum of educated people into a powerful stratum of working people. The nature of the tasks facing the society opens up wide opportunities for the application of creative forces and energy of all its departments. The intelligentsia has a great influence on the public consciousness and spiritual life of society. In modern conditions, when a higher level of public consciousness is needed to solve fundamentally new problems, the intelligentsia has an important role to play.

36 Pravda, 11. XI. 1983.

37 See Materials of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, p. 53,

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its role in a certain reorientation of public consciousness, so that society can more quickly assimilate the new ideas put forward by the party, and resolutely get rid of outdated, backward views. All this applies to the intelligentsia of the Ukrainian SSR.

At the beginning of the stage of developed socialism, in the conditions of scientific and technological progress, the rate of quantitative growth of the intelligentsia is faster than that of other social groups. Thus, in 1960-1982, the number of specialists with higher and secondary special education who were employed in the national economy of the republic increased from 1661 thousand to 5872 thousand people, i.e., as in the country as a whole, by 3.5 times. The share of intellectuals among the employed population of the republic has increased from 9.8% to 23.3%. The share of intellectuals in the whole country was the same.

. Among the branches of material production, the largest number of certified specialists in the republic work in industry (in 1960 - 1980, their share among all employed specialists increased from 18.2% to 27.5%), about half of them - in mechanical engineering and metalworking - industries that have a decisive impact on the technical re-equipment of production. The number of certified specialists in communication, construction and transport enterprises, trade and public catering, procurement organizations, logistics and sales agencies has increased.

The number of rural industrial intelligentsia in these years increased in the Ukrainian SSR from 93.3 thousand to 396.2 thousand people, or 4.2 times (in the country-4 times), i.e. it grew faster than the number of the entire intelligentsia. The number of people with agricultural specialties, such as agronomists, animal technicians, and wind workers, as well as engineers, technicians, and economists, without whose participation modern agricultural production is impossible, increased even more rapidly. The improvement of industrial relations, the development of inter-farm cooperation and agro-industrial integration led to a predominant increase in the number of industrial intelligentsia in rural areas: in Ukraine it increased by 7 times, in the country as a whole - by 5.1 times.

A significant part of the intelligentsia was employed in the non-productive sphere, but here, in particular in health care, education and cultural institutions, the number of specialists with higher and secondary specialized education increased at a slower pace, which is explained by the relatively high proportion of certified specialists achieved earlier in these industries. Thus, the higher rates of increase in the number of the latter in those sectors of the national economy where their share was previously relatively low, determine the equalization of the level of provision of all sectors of the national economy and culture with workers who are professionally engaged in intellectual labor.

At the beginning of the stage of developed socialism, certain changes took place in the professional structure of the intelligentsia of the Ukrainian SSR. Of the five largest professional groups that make up the vast majority of the intelligentsia employed in the national economy, engineering and technical workers were and still are in the first place in terms of quantity, followed by teachers, librarians and cultural educators. The medical intelligentsia, which occupied the third place in terms of numbers at the beginning of the 60s, by the beginning of the 80s lost it to economists, planners and statisticians, who had previously been in fifth place. Agricultural specialists moved from the fourth to the fifth. Thus, within two decades, the share of agro-veterinary and medical workers has been growing.

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the total number of employed intellectuals has decreased. These processes are determined by the need to accelerate scientific and technological progress. However, the decline in the share of intellectuals who have agricultural specialties, the decreasing share of admission and graduation by universities and technical schools of specialists in the agricultural group of specialties in conditions when the efforts of society are focused on the implementation of the Food Program, do not seem justified.

Various processes take place in the qualification structure of the intelligentsia. On this basis, it can be divided into four groups: researchers with academic degrees and academic titles; specialists with higher education; specialists with secondary special education; practitioners. The most highly qualified part of the intelligentsia are doctors and candidates of sciences, professors and associate professors, i.e. highly qualified scientific personnel. In 1960-1982, the number of all researchers in Ukraine increased from 46.7 thousand to 205.4 thousand (4.4 times), doctors and candidates of sciences - from 15 thousand to 67.6 thousand (4.5 times), in the country as a whole - 4.4 and 4.2 times, respectively. The number of the second group of intellectuals increased from 685.9 thousand to 2456 thousand people (3.6 times), the third - from 975.1 thousand to 3416 thousand people (3.5 times). The rates of quantitative growth of these two qualification groups of intellectuals in the republic and in the country as a whole were identical. However, they do not allow achieving such a ratio of these categories of employees, which creates conditions for their most effective functioning. As for the group of practitioners, due to the fact that most of them lack sufficient scientific and technical training, and this reduces their ability to perform their functions at an appropriate level, the fact of gradual reduction of this group in the national economy of the republic is positive.

A separate group of intellectuals can be considered leading, administrative and managerial workers. They are subject to particularly high moral, educational, and professional qualification requirements. The need to increase the responsibility of leaders, not in words, but in deeds, was discussed at the March and April (1985) Plenums of the Central Committee and at a meeting in the Central Committee of the Party with senior workers in industry, agriculture and science on April 8, 198538 .

The majority of specialists with higher and secondary specialized education (58% in the Republic and 59% in the country as a whole) are women. During the 1960s and 1980s, the number of people employed in the national economy of the Ukrainian SSR increased from 965,000 to 3,157. 6,000 (as in the USSR as a whole - by 3.3 times). A characteristic feature of the participation of women specialists in socially useful activities is an increase in their share among traditionally "male" professions-engineers and technicians, as well as economists, planners and statisticians, i.e. among those professions that significantly affect the acceleration of scientific and technological progress. Conversely, among traditionally "female" professions, the share of female specialists has decreased, for example, among doctors. The number and proportion of women continued to increase among highly qualified scientists - doctors of sciences, corresponding members, and academicians. At the same time, the share of women among candidates of science and junior researchers, as well as among assistant researchers of secondary and lower qualifications, decreased.

38 Proceedings of the Extraordinary Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, March 11, 1985, Moscow, 1985, p. 13; Pravda, 12. III; 12, 24. IV. 1985.

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A significant part of specialists in various branches of the national economy is young people. At the turn of the 60s - 70s, engineers under the age of 30 accounted for 1/4 of the total number of people employed in the national economy of the republic, economists and planners, agricultural specialists-about 1/3, and technicians - more than half. In the late 70s, young people accounted for almost 50% of the entire intelligentsia of the republic .39 This combination of young and experienced employees guarantees continuity and consistency in work.

The active role of the intelligentsia in the life of the country is evidenced by its constant quantitative growth in the CPSU. In 1966-1981 alone, the number of Communist specialists with higher and secondary special education increased 2.3 times (from 716.2 thousand to 1632.8 thousand people). Their share in the total number of Communists in the republic increased from 36.5 to 55.7%. The number of Communists among scientists of the Ukrainian SSR increased even more rapidly. In these years, the number of Communist doctors and candidates of sciences increased by 3.2 times 40 .

The predominant rate of quantitative growth of the intelligentsia in comparison with other social groups and strata of Soviet society is due to the fact that its composition is replenished primarily by people from working-class and peasant families. At the same time, for example, despite the decline in the rural population as a whole, the number of industrial intelligentsia in rural areas is increasing more rapidly than the entire rural intelligentsia. The latter is evidence that, given the appropriate conditions and needs of society, a purposeful social policy of the party, which is also manifested in changes in the socio-class structure, can cover the costs of the demographic situation.

The analysis of the processes taking place in Ukraine, their comparison with the all-Union and partially with those that took place in some other union republics, indicates the identity of the ways of development of the socio-class structure of society and a certain identity of demographic changes, and also allows us to identify in these phenomena the specifics inherent in the Ukrainian SSR. Thus, there was an increase in the difference in the dynamics of the birth rate, natural growth and population in Ukraine and in the country as a whole, in the direction of decreasing them in the Ukrainian SSR. At the same time, the number of pensioners in the republic increased at a higher rate. The family size in the Ukrainian SSR was smaller than in the USSR as a whole, but during the eleventh five-year plan, this difference decreased due to an increase in the birth rate in rural families. Demographic factors, along with the needs of the national economy, largely determined, for example, the higher growth rates of the working class in the republic, a larger proportion of young people in its environment and a lower share, lower growth rates of the educational level of workers, and influenced the fact that in the republic the transformation of the working class into the majority of the population took place later than in the whole country. In the Ukrainian SSR, the number of machine-operator cadres in collective farms increased at a faster rate, the detachment of industrial intelligentsia in agriculture grew somewhat faster, and so on.

39 See Shcherbitsky V. V. Selected speeches and articles, p. 501.

40 Combat detachment of the Leninist Party, pp. 25, 27.

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