Editing Soviet calendar

{{Short description|Calendar reforms in early 20th century Russia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
The '''Soviet calendar''' was a modified [[Gregorian calendar]] that was used in [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] between 1918 and 1940. Several variations were used during that time. 

The Gregorian calendar, under the name "Western European calendar", was implemented in Soviet Russia in February 1918 by dropping the [[Julian calendar|Julian]] dates of {{nowrap|1–13 February 1918}}. As many as nine national holidays (paid days of rest) were implemented in the following decade, but four were eliminated or merged on {{nowrap|24 September 1929}}, leaving only five national holidays: 22{{nbsp}}January, 1–2{{nbsp}}May, and 7–8{{nbsp}}November until 1951, when 22{{nbsp}}January reverted to a normal day.

During the summer of 1929, five-day continuous work weeks were implemented in factories, government offices, and commercial enterprises, but not collective farms. One of the five days was randomly assigned to each worker as their day of rest, without regard to the rest days assigned to their family members or friends.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} These five-day work weeks continued throughout the Gregorian year, interrupted only by the five national holidays. While the five-day week was used for scheduling work, the Gregorian calendar and its seven-day week were used for all other purposes.<ref name=kom/>

During the summer of 1931, six-day interrupted work weeks were implemented for most workers, with a common day of rest for all workers interrupting their work weeks. Five six-day work weeks were assigned to each Gregorian month, more or less, with the five national holidays converting normal work days into days of rest. On {{nowrap|27 June 1940}} five- and six-day work weeks were abandoned in favor of seven-day work weeks.

== History ==
=== Gregorian calendar ===
[[File:Sovnarkom-Gregorian-Calendar-Decree-izo39.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|1918 decree adopting the "Western European calendar" (click on image for translation)]]

The Gregorian calendar was implemented in Russia on {{nowrap|14 February 1918}} by dropping the [[Julian calendar|Julian]] dates of {{nowrap|1–13 February 1918}} pursuant to a [[Sovnarkom]] decree signed {{nowrap|24 January 1918}} (Julian) by [[Vladimir Lenin]]. The decree required that the Julian date was to be written in parentheses after the Gregorian date until {{nowrap|1 July 1918.<ref name=Grigorenko>[http://grigam.narod.ru/kalend/kalen19.htm История календаря в России и в СССР (Calendar history in Russia and the USSR)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017163723/http://grigam.narod.ru/kalend/kalen19.htm |date=17 October 2009 }}, chapter 19 in История календаря и хронология by Селешников (History of the calendar and chronology by Seleschnikov) {{in lang|ru}}. [http://www.niv.ru/library/006/001.htm ДЕКРЕТ "О ВВЕДЕНИИ ЗАПАДНО-ЕВРОПЕЙСКОГО КАЛЕНДАРЯ" (Decree "On the introduction of the Western European calendar")] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070121144021/http://www.niv.ru/library/006/001.htm |date=21 January 2007 }} contains the full text of the decree {{in lang|ru}}.</ref>}} All surviving examples of physical calendars from {{nowrap|1929–40}} show the irregular month lengths of the Gregorian calendar (such as those displayed here). Most calendars displayed all the days of a Gregorian year as a grid with seven rows or columns for the traditional seven-day week with Sunday (Воскресенье; "Resurrection") first.
[[File:Soviet calendar 1931 pocket.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1| Soviet pocket calendar, 1931 <br/> Numbered five-day work week, excluding five national holidays]]
The 1931 pocket calendar displayed here is a rare example that excluded the five [[#National holidays|national holidays]], enabling the remaining 360 days of the Gregorian year to be displayed as a grid with five rows labeled {{nowrap|I–V}} for each day of the five-day week.<ref name=Malyavin>[http://mkkkk.narod.ru/Fr313.htm ИЗ ИСТОРИИ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОГО КАРМАННОГО КАЛЕНДАРЯ by Дмитрий Малявин] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116003246/http://mkkkk.narod.ru/Fr313.htm |date=16 November 2022 }} ("Calendar stories from reforms in the USSR" by Dmitry Malyavin) {{in lang|ru}} Does not mention colors, only numbers.</ref> Even it had the full Gregorian calendar on the other side.

===Work weeks===
{{Multiple image
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 | image1    = Revolution kalendar.jpg|
 | width1    = 120
 | caption1  = Soviet calendar <br/> 12 December 1937 <br/> "Sixth day of the six-day week" (just below "12") <br/> ————————— <br/> "Election day for the Supreme Soviet of the USSR"
 | image2    = Sixday.jpg
 | width2    = 120
 | caption2  = Soviet calendar <br/> 22 October 1935 <br/> "Fourth day of the six-day week" (just below "ОКТЯБРЬ")
}}
During the second half of May 1929, [[Yuri Larin]] ([[:ru:Юрий Ларин|Юрий Ларин]], 1882–1932) proposed a continuous production week (''nepreryvnaya rabochaya nedelya'' = ''nepreryvka'') to the Fifth [[Congress of Soviets]] of the Union, but so little attention was paid to his suggestion that the president of the Congress did not even mention it in his final speech. By the beginning of {{nowrap|June 1929}}, Larin had won the approval of [[Joseph Stalin]], prompting all newspapers to praise the idea. The change was advantageous to the anti-religious movement, as Sundays and religious holidays became working days.<ref name="Siegelbaum1992">{{cite book|last= Siegelbaum|first=Lewis H.|title=Soviet State and Society Between Revolutions, 1918-1929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kog_NaF7J1YC&pg=PA213|year=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-36987-9|page=213}}</ref> On {{nowrap|8 June 1929}} the Supreme Economic Council of the [[RSFSR]] directed its efficiency experts to submit within two weeks a plan to introduce continuous production. Before any plan was available, during the first half of {{nowrap|June 1929}}, 15% of industry had converted to continuous production according to Larin, probably an overestimate. On {{nowrap|26 August 1929}} the [[Council of People's Commissars]] (CPC) of the [[Soviet Union]] (Sovnarkom) declared "it is essential that the systematically prepared transition of undertakings and institutions to continuous production should begin during the economic year {{nowrap|1929–1930}}".<ref name=Schwarz31/><ref name=Cross>Gary Cross, ''Worktime and industrialization'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988) 202–205.</ref> The lengths of continuous production weeks were not yet specified, and the conversion was only to ''begin during the year''. Nevertheless, many sources state that the effective date of five-day weeks was {{nowrap|1 October 1929,<ref name=Parry/><ref name=Holford/><ref name=Parise/><ref name=Richards/><ref name=Zerubavel/><ref name=Atholl>The Duchess of Atholl (Katherine Atholl), ''The conscription of a people'' (1931) 84–86, 107.</ref>}} which was the beginning of the economic year. But many other lengths of continuous work weeks were used, all of which were gradually introduced.

=== Implementation of continuous production weeks ===
Specific lengths for continuous production weeks were first mentioned when rules for the five-day continuous work week were issued on {{nowrap|24 September 1929}}. On {{nowrap|23 October 1929}} building construction and seasonal trades were put on a continuous six-day week, while factories that regularly halted production every month for maintenance were put on six- or seven-day continuous production weeks. In {{nowrap|December 1929}}, it was reported that about 50 different versions of the continuous work week were in use, the longest being a 'week' of 37 days (30 continuous days of work followed by seven days of rest). By the end of 1929, orders were issued that the continuous week was to be extended to 43% of industrial workers by {{nowrap|1 April 1930}} and to 67% by {{nowrap|1 October 1930}}. Actual conversion was more rapid, 63% by {{nowrap|1 April 1930}}. In {{nowrap|June 1930}} it was decreed that the conversion of all industries was to be completed during the economic year {{nowrap|1930–31}}, except for the textile industry. But on {{nowrap|1 October 1930}} peak usage was reached, with 72.9% of industrial workers on continuous schedules. Thereafter, usage decreased. All of these official figures were somewhat inflated because some factories said they adopted the continuous week without actually doing so. The continuous week was applied to retail and government workers as well, but no usage figures were ever published.<ref name=Schwarz31/><ref name=Davies/><ref name=Schwarz51>Solomon M. Schwarz, ''Labor in the Soviet Union'' (New York: Praegar, 1951) 258–277.</ref>

The continuous week began as a five-day cycle, with each day color-coded and marked with a symbol. The population would be carved up into as many groups, each with its own rest day. These circles indicated when you worked and when you rested.<ref>{{cite web |last1=FROST |first1=NATASHA |title=For 11 Years, the Soviet Union Had No Weekends |url=https://www.history.com/news/soviet-union-stalin-weekend-labor-policy |website=History.com |access-date=16 June 2020 |date=25 May 2018}}</ref>

=== Implementation of six-day weeks ===
As early as May 1930, while usage of the continuous week was still advancing, some factories reverted to an interrupted week. On {{nowrap|30 April 1931}}, one of the largest factories in the Soviet Union was put on an interrupted six-day week ([[:ru:Шестидневка|Шестидневка]] = ''shestidnevka''). On {{nowrap|23 June 1931}}, Stalin condemned the continuous work week as then practiced, supporting the temporary use of the interrupted six-day week (one common rest day for all workers) until the problems with the continuous work week could be resolved. During {{nowrap|August 1931}}, most factories were put on an interrupted six-day week as the result of an interview with the People's Commissar for Labor, who severely restricted the use of the continuous week. The official conversion to non-continuous schedules was decreed by the Sovnarkom of the [[USSR]] somewhat later, on {{nowrap|23 November 1931}}.<ref name=Zerubavel/><ref name=Schwarz51/><ref name=Friedman>Elisha M. Friedman, ''Russia in transition: a business man's appraisal'' (New York: Viking Press, 1932) 260–262.</ref> Institutions serving cultural and social needs and those enterprises engaged in continuous production such as ore [[smelting]] were exempted.<ref>''Handbook of the Soviet Union'' (New York: American-Russian Chamber of Commerce, 1936) 524, 526.</ref> It is often stated that the effective date of the interrupted six-day work week was {{nowrap|1 December 1931,<ref name=Echlin/><ref name=Ketchum/><ref name=Holford/><ref name=Richards/><ref name=Zerubavel/><ref name=Friedman/>}} but that is only the first whole month after the 'official conversion'. The massive summer 1931 conversion made this date after-the-fact and some industries continued to use continuous weeks. The last figures available indicate that on {{nowrap|1 July 1935}} 74.2% of all industrial workers were on non-continuous schedules (almost all six-day weeks) while 25.8% were still on continuous schedules. Due to a decree dated {{nowrap|26 June 1940}}, the traditional interrupted seven-day week with Sunday as the common day of rest was reintroduced on {{nowrap|27 June 1940}}.<ref name=Grigorenko/><ref name=Malyavin/><ref name=Schwarz51/><ref>[http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/uk-trud-e.html On the transfer to the seven-day work week, 26 June 1940] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116003237/http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/uk-trud-e.html |date=16 November 2022 }} (item 2)</ref>
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==Five-day weeks==
[[File:Soviet calendar 1930 color.jpg|thumb|right|Soviet calendar, 1930 <br/> Colored five-day work week. Days grouped into seven-day weeks. One national holiday in black, four with white numbers]]
Each day of the five-day week was labeled by either one of five colors or a [[Roman numeral]] from I to V. Each worker was assigned a color or number to identify his or her day of rest.<ref name=kom>[https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1331342 "Перешли на непрерывку слишком поспешно"], ''Коммерсантъ Власть'', March 12 210</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shulevitz |first1=Judith |title=Why You Never See Your Friends Anymore |journal=The Atlantic |date=November 2019 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/why-dont-i-see-you-anymore/598336/ |access-date=10 October 2019}}</ref>

Eighty percent of each factory's workforce was at work every day (except holidays) in an attempt to increase production while 20% were resting. But if spouses, and their relatives and friends, were assigned different colors or numbers, they would not have a common rest day for their family and social life. Furthermore, machines broke down more frequently both because they were used by workers not familiar with them, and because no maintenance could be performed on machines that were never idle in factories with continuous schedules (24 hours/day every day). Five-day weeks (and later six-day weeks) "made it impossible to observe Sunday as a day of rest.<ref name=kom/>

The colors vary depending on the source consulted. The 1930 color calendar displayed here has days of purple, blue, yellow, red, and green, in that order beginning {{nowrap|1 January}}.<ref name=Foss>Clive Foss, "Stalin's topsy-turvy work week", ''History Today'' '''54'''/9 (September 2004) 46–47.</ref> Blue was supported by an anonymous writer in 1936 as the second day of the week, but he stated that red was the first day of the week.<ref name=Riga>The Riga correspondent of the London Times, "Russian experiments", ''Journal of Calendar Reform'' '''6''' (1936) 69–71.</ref> However, most sources replace blue with either {{nowrap|pink,<ref name=Echlin>Erland Echlin, "Here all nations agree", ''Journal of Calendar Reform'' '''8''' (1938) 25–27.</ref><ref name=Parry>Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", ''Journal of Calendar Reform'' '''10''' (1940) 65–69.</ref><ref name=Ketchum>Carleton J. Ketchum, "Russia's changing tide", ''Journal of Calendar Reform'' '''13''' (1943) 147–155.</ref><ref name=Holford>Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, ''The Oxford companion to the year'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 99, 688–689.</ref><ref name=Saga>[http://icalendrier.fr/calendriers-saga/etudes-thematiques/reforme-gregorienne#russie La réforme grégorienne: La réforme en Russie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116003252/https://icalendrier.fr/calendriers-saga/etudes-thematiques/reforme-gregorienne#russie |date=16 November 2022 }} (The Gregorian reform: The reform in Russia) {{in lang|fr}}</ref>}} {{nowrap|orange,<ref name=Kingsbury>Susan M. Kingsbury and Mildred Fairchild, ''Factory family and woman in the Soviet Union'' (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1935) 245–248. Attributes the rest days of six-day weeks to five-day weeks.</ref><ref name=Parise>Frank Parise, ed., "Soviet calendar", ''The book of calendars'', (New York: Facts on file, 1982) 377.</ref><ref name=Richards>E. G. Richards, ''Mapping time'', (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 159–160, 277–279.</ref>}} or peach,<ref name="Zerubavel">[[Eviatar Zerubavel]], "The Soviet five-day ''Nepreryvka''", ''The seven-day circle'' (New York: Free press, 1985) 35–43.</ref> all of which specify the different order yellow, pink/orange/peach, red, purple, and green. 
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== Six-day weeks ==
[[File:Soviet calendar 1933 color.jpg|thumb|left|Soviet calendar, 1933 <br/> Days grouped into 7-day weeks (still starting with Sunday). Rest day of six-day work week in blue. Five national holidays in red]] 
[[File:Soviet kalendar 1939.jpg|thumb|upright|Soviet calendar, 1939 <br/> Reusable every (common) year: Six-day work weeks only, days denoted "First" to "Sixth". Each 31st is extra, February is short. ''Six'' holidays in red and listed below – added 5 December for [[Stalin Constitution]] of 1936; special box for [[21 January]] remembrance]]

From the summer of 1931 until Wednesday {{nowrap|26 June 1940}}, each ''Gregorian month'' was divided into five six-day weeks, more or less (as shown by the 1933 and 1939 calendars here).<ref name=Foss/> The sixth day of each week, that is days 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 of the month, was a uniform day off for all workers. The last day of 31-day months was always an extra work day in factories, which combined with the first five days of the following month made six successive work days. But some commercial and government offices treated the 31st day as an extra day off. To make up for the short fifth week of February, which had just four work days in common years {{nowrap|(25–28)}} and five in leap years {{nowrap|(25–29)}}, {{nowrap| 1 March }} was a uniform day off followed by only four work days in the first week of {{nowrap|March (2–5)}}. But some enterprises treated {{nowrap|1 March}} as a regular work day, producing nine or ten successive work days between {{nowrap|25 February}} and {{nowrap|5 March}}, inclusive. The national holidays did not change, but they now converted five regular work days into holidays within three six-day weeks (none of these was on a free day, with a date divisible by 6), so May and November had just three days of work after three consecutive days off, unlike the earlier five-day week when the holidays "delayed the rotation" of colors and were inserted as an extra day splitting the four-day working period into two parts (or creating a longer break between two four-days of work for people whose standard day off was just before or after the holiday).<ref name=Riga/><ref name=Parry/><ref name=Kingsbury/>

== National holidays ==
On 10 December 1918 six [[Bolshevik]] holidays were decreed during which work was prohibited.<ref name=Shilova>Irina Shilova, [https://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/19/shilova19.shtml "Building the Bolshevik calendar through ''Pravda'' and ''Izvestiia''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140123010519/http://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/19/shilova19.shtml |date=23 January 2014 }}, ''[[Toronto Slavic Quarterly]]'' No. 19 (Winter 2007). She named the holidays associated with five- and six-day weeks the "Stalin calendar" to distinguish them from the holidays of the previous eleven years, which she called the "Bolshevik calendar".</ref><ref>[http://www.hist.msu.ru/Labour/Law/kodex_18.htm ПРАВИЛА ОБ ЕЖЕНЕДЕЛЬНОМ ОТДЫХЕ И О ПРАЗДНИЧНЫХ ДНЯХ (Rules concerning weekly rest days and holidays)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518094014/http://www.hist.msu.ru/Labour/Law/kodex_18.htm |date=18 May 2015 }} {{in lang|ru}} Last annex.</ref>
* 1 January – New Year's Day
* 22 January – Day of 9 January 1905
*: Commemorates [[Bloody Sunday (1905)|Bloody Sunday]] on 9 January 1905 (Julian) or 22 January 1905 (Gregorian)
* 12 March – Day of the Overthrow of the Autocracy
*: Commemorates the mutiny of the [[Imperial Guard (Russia)|Imperial Guard]]s (about 60,000 soldiers) in Petrograd (now [[Saint Petersburg]]) on {{nowrap|27 February 1917}} (Julian) or {{nowrap|12 March 1917}} (Gregorian) during the [[February Revolution#Tsar's return and abdication|February Revolution]]
* 18 March – Day of the [[Paris Commune]]
*: Commemorates the uprising of the [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]] of [[Paris]] on {{nowrap|18 March 1871}} (Gregorian) which established the Paris Commune
* 1 May – Day of the International<ref>The name of the holiday is uniformly given in Russian sources as "день Интернационала" (e.g., in А.И. Щербинин (A.I. Shcherbinin) [http://sun.tsu.ru/mminfo/000063105/phil/03/image/03-052.pdf «КРАСНЫЙ ДЕНЬ КАЛЕНДАРЯ»: ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ МАТРИЦЫ ВОСПРИЯТИЯ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОГО ВРЕМЕНИ В РОССИИ ("The red day in the calendar": the formation of the political time perception matrix in Russia)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116003248/https://www.lib.tsu.ru/mminfo/000063105/phil/03/image/03-052.pdf |date=16 November 2022 }}), and is somewhat quaintly translated by Shilova (2007) as "Day of International". The name could probably be translated literally as "Day of the International", where "the International" initially (1918) may not have directly referred to either the already defunct [[Second International]] or to the [[Third International]] (which was yet to be officially established), but to the general idea of an international Labor/Communist solidarity organization. Incidentally, the name of the international Communist anthem, [[The Internationale]], is spelled the same way in Russian.</ref>
*: Celebration within Russia and later the Soviet Union of [[International Workers' Day]]
* 7 November – Day of the [[October Revolution|Proletarian Revolution]]
*: Commemorates the [[Bolshevik]] uprising on 25 October 1917 (Julian) or 7 November 1917 (Gregorian)

In January 1925, the anniversary of Lenin's death in 1924 was added on {{nowrap|21 January}}. Although other events were commemorated on other dates, they were not days of rest. Originally, the "May holidays" and "November holidays" were one day each ({{nowrap|1 May}} and {{nowrap|7 November}}), but both were extended from one to two days in 1928, making {{nowrap|2 May}} and {{nowrap|8 November}} public holidays as well.<ref>Постановление ВЦИК, СНК РСФСР 30.07.1928 «Об изменении статей 111 и 112 Кодекса законов о труде РСФСР». (Order of the [[All-Russian Central Executive Committee]] and the [[Council of the People's Commissars]] of the [[RSFSR]], "Regarding changes of Articles 111 and 112 of the Labor Code of the RSFSR"). Presumably, other [[Republics of the Soviet Union|member republics]] of the USSR passed similar legislation as well.</ref>

Until 1929, regional labor union councils or local governments were authorized to set up additional public holidays, totaling to up to 10 days a year. Although people would not work on those days, they would not be ''paid'' holidays.<ref>[http://www.hist.msu.ru/Labour/Law/kodex_18.htm RSFSR Labor Code (1918)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518094014/http://www.hist.msu.ru/Labour/Law/kodex_18.htm |date=18 May 2015 }}, Article 8. {{in lang|ru}} Also quoted in Shcherbinin, p. 57.</ref><ref>Декрет СНК РСФСР от 17.06.1920 «Общее положение о тарифе (Правила об условиях найма и оплаты труда рабочих и служащих всех предприятий, учреждений и хозяйств в РСФСР).» (Decree of the [[Council of the People's Commissars]] of the [[RSFSR]], "General [wage] rate regulations (Regulations of the conditions of hire and paying of wages of the employees of all enterprises, organizations, and farm estates in the RSFSR)".</ref> Typically, at least some of these days were used for religious feast, typically those of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], but in some localities possibly those of other religions as well.<ref>Shcherbinin, p. 57</ref>

On 24 September 1929, three holidays were eliminated, {{nowrap|1 January}}, {{nowrap|12 March}}, and {{nowrap|18 March}}. Lenin's Day on {{nowrap|21 January}} was merged with {{nowrap|22 January}}. The resulting five holidays continued to be celebrated until 1951, when {{nowrap|22 January}} ceased to be a holiday. See [[:ru:История праздников России|История праздников России]] (History of the festivals of Russia).<ref name=Riga/><ref name=Parry/><ref name=Kingsbury/><ref Name=Shilova/><ref name=Schwarz31>[Solomon M. Schwarz], "The continuous working week in Soviet Russia", ''[[International Labour Review]]'' '''23''' (1931) 157–180.</ref><ref name=Steel>Duncan Steel, ''Marking Time'' (New York: John Wiley, 2000) 293–294.</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20120904182928/http://www.knukim-edu.kiev.ua/download/ZakonySSSR/data04/tex16625.htm ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЕ от 24 сентября 1929 года: О РАБОЧЕМ ВРЕМЕНИ И ВРЕМЕНИ ОТДЫХА В ПРЕДПРИЯТИЯХ И УЧРЕЖДЕНИЯХ, ПЕРЕХОДЯЩИХ НА НЕПРЕРЫВНУЮ ПРОИЗВОДСТВЕННУЮ НЕДЕЛЮ (Decree of 24 September 1929: Hours of work and leisure time in the enterprises and institutions switching to the continuous production week) {{in lang|ru}}]</ref>
* 22 January – Day of Remembrance of 9 January 1905 and of the Memory of V.I. Lenin
*: Commemorates Bloody Sunday on 9 January 1905 (Julian) or 22 January 1905 (Gregorian) and the death of [[Vladimir Lenin]] on {{nowrap|21 January 1925}} (Gregorian)
* 1–2 May – [[International Workers' Day|Days of the International]]
* 7–8 November – Days of the Anniversary of the [[October Revolution]]

Two ''Journal of Calendar Reform'' articles (1938 and 1943) have two misunderstandings, specifying {{nowrap|9 January}} and {{nowrap|26 October}}, not realizing that both are [[Julian calendar]] dates equivalent to the unspecified Gregorian dates {{nowrap|22 January}} and {{nowrap|8 November}}, so they specify {{nowrap|9 January}}, {{nowrap|21 January}}, {{nowrap|1 May}}, {{nowrap|26 October}}, and {{nowrap|7 November}}, plus a quadrennial leap day.<ref name=Echlin/><ref name=Ketchum/>

== Erroneous reporting of "30-day months" ==
Many sources erroneously state that both five- and six-day work weeks were collected into 30-day months.

A 1929 [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] article reporting Soviet five-day work weeks, which it called an "Eternal calendar", associated them with the [[French Republican Calendar]], which had months containing three ten-day weeks.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121025064345/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752070,00.html?iid=chix-sphere Oneday, Twoday] (Time: 7 October 1929) {{dead link|date=January 2020}}</ref> In {{nowrap|February 1930}} a government commission proposed a "Soviet revolutionary calendar" containing twelve 30-day months plus five national holidays that were not part of any month, but it was rejected because it would differ from the Gregorian calendar used by the rest of Europe.<ref name=Davies>[[R. W. Davies]], ''The Soviet economy in turmoil, 1929–1930'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, 1989) 84–86, 143–144, 252–256, 469, 544.</ref> Four ''Journal of Calendar Reform'' articles (1938, 1940, 1943, 1954) thought that five-day weeks actually were collected into {{nowrap|30-day}} months,<ref name=Echlin/><ref name=Parry/><ref name=Ketchum/><ref name=Achelis>Elisabeth Achelis, "Calendar marches on: [http://personal.ecu.edu/MCCARTYR/Russia.html Russia's difficulties] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120712090601/http://personal.ecu.edu/mccartyr/Russia.html |date=12 July 2012 }}", ''Journal of Calendar Reform'' '''24''' (1954) 91–93.</ref> as do several modern sources.<ref name=Holford/><ref name=Saga/><ref name=Richards/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.friesian.com/russia.htm#calendar |title=The Orthodox and Soviet Calendar Reforms |access-date=24 July 2008 |archive-date=31 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531005930/https://www.friesian.com/russia.htm#calendar |url-status=live }}</ref>

A 1931 ''Time'' magazine article reporting six-day weeks stated that they too were collected into 30-day months, with the five national holidays between those months.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071223005657/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,930406,00.html Staggers Unstaggers] (Time: 7 December 1931)</ref> Two of the ''Journal of Calendar Reform'' articles (1938 and 1943) thought that six-day as well as five-day weeks were collected into 30-day months.<ref name=Echlin/><ref name=Ketchum/> A couple of modern sources state that five-day weeks plus the first two years of six-day weeks were collected into 30-day months.<ref name=Parise/><ref name=Steel/>

Apparently to place the five national holidays between 30-day months since {{nowrap|1 October 1929}}, Parise (1982) shifted Lenin's Day to {{nowrap|31 January}}, left two Days of the Proletariat on {{nowrap|1–2 May}}, and shifted two Days of the Revolution to {{nowrap|31 October}} and {{nowrap|1 November}}, plus {{nowrap|1 January}} (all Gregorian dates).<ref name=Parise/> Stating that all months had 30 days between {{nowrap|1 October 1929}} and {{nowrap|1 December 1931}}, the ''Oxford Companion to the Year'' (1999) 'corrected' Parise's list by specifying that "Lenin Day" was after {{nowrap|30 January}} ({{nowrap|31 January}} Gregorian), a two-day "Workers' First of May" was after {{nowrap|30 April}} ({{nowrap|1–2 May}} Gregorian), two "Industry Days" were after {{nowrap|7 November}} ({{nowrap|8–9 November}} Gregorian), and placed the leap day after {{nowrap|30 February}} ({{nowrap|2 March}} Gregorian).<ref name=Holford/><ref name=Saga/>

Throughout this period, ''[[Pravda]]'', the official newspaper of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]], and other newspapers continued to use Gregorian calendar dates in their [[Nameplate (publishing)|masthead]]s alongside the traditional seven-day week.<ref name=Riga/><ref name=Parry/> Pravda dated individual issues with {{nowrap|31 January}}, {{nowrap|31 March}}, {{nowrap|31 May}}, {{nowrap|31 July}}, {{nowrap|31 August}}, {{nowrap|31 October}}, and {{nowrap|31 December}}, but never used {{nowrap|30 February}} during the period {{nowrap|1929–1940}}. The traditional names of "Resurrection" ({{linktext|воскресенье|lang=ru}}) for Sunday and "Sabbath" ({{linktext|суббота|lang=ru}}) for Saturday continued to be used, despite the government's officially anti-religious atheistic policy. In rural areas, the traditional seven-day week continued to be used despite official disfavor.<ref name=Riga/><ref name=Parry/><ref name=Richards/> Several sources from the 1930s state that the old Gregorian calendar was not changed.<ref name=Riga/><ref name=Kingsbury/><ref>P. Malevsky-Malevitch, ''Russia U.S.S.R.: A complete handbook'' (New York: William Farquhar Payson, 1933) 601–602.</ref> Two modern sources explicitly state that the structure of the Gregorian calendar was not touched.<ref name=Latham>Lance Latham, ''Standard C date/time library: Programming the world's calendars and clocks'' (Lawrence, KS: R&D Books, 1998) 390–392.</ref><ref name=Norby>Toke Nørby, [http://norbyhus.dk/calendar.php#Russia The Perpetual Calendar: A helpful tool to postal historians: What about Russia?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112032636/http://norbyhus.dk/calendar.php#Russia |date=12 November 2019 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|25em}}

{{calendars}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soviet Calendar}}
[[Category:Society of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Obsolete calendars]]
[[Category:1929 introductions]]
[[Category:1929 establishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1940 disestablishments in the Soviet Union]]