ABSTRACT
There is little need to recount the devastation which the Soviet Union suffered during World War II. By 1947-48 the Stalinist leadership had reasserted control over virtually all areas of politics and ideology, a process that was accompanied by an intensification of police repression, not just through renewed purges but through mass arrests of the civilian population—over half of which were for violations of labour discipline. In the longer term, however, the depth and severity of the hardship helped solidify that profound popular demoralisation which characterised so-called 'late Stalinism' and which rendered the Soviet system virtually impervious to subsequent attempts at political and social reform. In addition to encouraging the spread of epidemics, the famine made people prone to other diseases, such as tuberculosis, severe gastrointestinal ailments, and coronary artery disease. Health statistics from individual factories or branches of industry show that almost everywhere the number of days lost due to illness deteriorated in 1947.
