Everyday life of soviet policemen 1940-1950s

The article analyzes the features of the daily life of police officers in the 1940-1950s. The author used many sources: office-work materials of the Main Police Department (State Archive of the Russian Federation), publications of the departmental press (newspapers of the regional departments of the internal affairs bodies and the Soviet Militia magazine), memoirs of the police officers. The author examined the various aspects of the daily life of Soviet policemen: the standard of living, the provision of housing and uniform, and leisure time activities. The article shows that the daily life of policemen reflected the life of all Soviet people in the postwar period. The life of the Soviet people was very poor after the war, they had to count every penny. The police lived poorly too, their wages were small, the workers of the factories were paid more. Police officers were forced to farm and borrow money. The problem of housing was another difficulty in the life of the police. Police officers and their families lived in poor conditions - in basements, corridors, bad hostels. The article shows the leisure of the police as part of everyday life. The author investigated the relationship of leisure with the solution of official problems. In the postwar period, there were few educated police officers. Most of them had only primary education. Militiamen spent their free time studying at a school or a technical school. Amateur and sports occupied an important place in the leisure of Soviet policemen. Police authorities paid great attention to the organization of amateur performances and the promotion of reading books. Police officers spent money to buy books, newspapers for departmental libraries, tools for amateur orchestras. Departmental newspapers promoted amateur art and sports. Competitions in running and shooting were regular. The police authorities used the organization of leisure activities to solve departmental tasks. It believed that sports and amateur activities educates police officers, strengthens the team, distracts from drunkenness. The author concluded that the daily life of the Soviet police was a reflection of the life of the entire Soviet people. The author believes that the militiamen of the postwar period can not be attributed to the elite group. They lived like the whole Soviet people and even worse. Everyday life reflected the problems of the functioning of the police in the years after the war: a low level of education. Leisure leadership was a form of solving departmental problems.

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