When There Was No Weekends In Russia

Imagine a time when the institutional machinery (read: governments & other agents that mass-organise people and resources) successfully pulls off something beyond belief.

I am not talking about the run-of-the-mill political propaganda. I am talking about upheaving lives and livelihoods in a single decision. (Think the 2016 demonetisation).

For 11 years starting 1929, the Soviet Union did not have Sundays. The last Sunday for that period was September 29, 1929.

Improving productivity was a key priority right around the Great Depression. Yuri Larin had a revolutionary idea. Why not continue working on Sundays too, instead of shutting down factories one day every week. Josef Stalin loved this.

Thus, 'The Soviet Eternal Calendar' came to be.

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Under the new Soviet Eternal Calendar, the USSR divided the year into five-day weeks, with six weeks in each month. The government added five holidays throughout the year to equal 365 days.

Every Soviet worker clocked in for a four-day shift each week, with one rotating day off.
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Everything drastic determined by atomised power centres, apparently done in the best interest of the people, has an outsized impact on the social fabric of the very same people.

One worker complained, “How are we to work now, if mother is free on one day, father on another, brother on a third, and I myself on a fourth?”

It also directly attacked religious organisation in the Communist State. Without Saturday or Sunday, Jews and Christians had to completely rearrange their worship times. And with only 20% of the workforce off work on any day of the week, it was difficult to maintain religious congregations.

This was reversed in 1940, but not without giving up its productivity focus. It came with massive fines and penalties for tardiness and absenteeism.

History is fascinating.