'There Is Yet Powder in the Flasks!': Older Men and the Building of Communism

• In Event: Men and Masculinity in Late Soviet Society

Abstract

Between 1956 and 1964 Nikita Khrushchev introduced a universal the first mass generation of Soviet retirees. The paper will explore how the pension reform
shaped the understanding of life course for Soviet men. If in previous decades, one was expected
to remain in the line of duty until decrepitude and death, now older citizens were granted “well-
deserved rest.” Yet, if women’s return to the domestic sphere seemed natural in a society in
which the home was viewed as a women’s domain, older men’s place was less clear. In response
to the pension reform, multiple actors – party and government officials, medical professionals
and journalists, and a small but vocal group of elderly activists – developed a new vision of a
Soviet retiree as a “restless” citizen who continues to serve his country through volunteerism.

Author

• Alissa R Klots, U of Pittsburgh