Cancellation of benefits for orders and medals of the USSR after the end of World War II: economic reasons

Introduction. During the great Patriotic war (1941-1945) to encourage soldiers at the front and workers in the rear, the state established a large number of awards in addition to those available at the beginning of the war. Awarded persons by many orders and medals received a monthly material payment, differentiated depending on the significance of the award, as well as various benefits for travel, payment of taxes, etc. Only two years after the end of the war, all benefits and payments were abolished. The article attempts to consider the circumstances of cancellation of payments for state awards against the background of the difficult economic and political situation in which the USSR found itself after the war. Materials and Methods. Archival materials, published data of official statistics, as well as scientific literature were used to solve the research tasks. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study were the methods of socio-economic history. The study was conducted on the basis of the principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency. The need to process quantitative data led to the use of the statistical method. Results. On the basis of the study of archival and published sources, as well as available scientific literature, the conditions, factors and main parameters of the economic situation in the Soviet Union were considered. For the first time in the postwar years, the USSR was in a difficult economic situation. This was facilitated by the following factors: huge material costs during the war, comparable to the costs of the main allies combined; drought and crop failure 1946-1947 leading to starvation and a dramatic deterioration of the standard of life; economic and financial assistance to countries “people's democracies” of Central and Eastern Europe; the enormous costs of Armed forces and the “atomic project” in connection with the beginning of the cold war. Discussion and Conclusion. The amount of payments for orders and medals was simply huge, in 1945, amounting to 1.2 % of the total state budget of the country. Despite recognition of merits of veterans in a victory, the state in the hardest post-war economic situation was simply not able to provide material payments on awards. On the one hand, the redirection of significant financial resources, as well as a number of other measures, allowed to improve the economic situation relatively. Already in 1948, the card system was abolished and prices for many vital goods were reduced (for example, in the UK, cards were abolished only in 1954). On the other hand, the abolition of benefits undermined the prestige of state awards in the eyes of veterans.