The Gregorian calendar was implemented in Russia on 14 February 1918 by dropping the Julian dates of 1–13 February 1918 pursuant to a Sovnarkom decree signed 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 1 July 1918. All surviving examples of physical calendars from 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.
The 1931 pocket calendar displayed here is a rare example that excluded the five national holidays, enabling the remaining 360 days of the Gregorian year to be displayed as a grid with five rows labeled I–V for each day of the five-day week. Even it had the full Gregorian calendar on the other side.
Specific lengths for continuous production weeks were first mentioned when rules for the five-day continuous work week were issued on 24 September 1929. On 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 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 1 April 1930 and to 67% by 1 October 1930. Actual conversion was more rapid, 63% by 1 April 1930. In June 1930 it was decreed that the conversion of all industries was to be completed during the economic year 1930–31, except for the textile industry. But on 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.
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.
As early as May 1930, while usage of the continuous week was still advancing, some factories reverted to an interrupted week. On 30 April 1931, one of the largest factories in the Soviet Union was put on an interrupted six-day week (Шестидневка = shestidnevka). On 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 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 23 November 1931. Institutions serving cultural and social needs and those enterprises engaged in continuous production such as ore smelting were exempted. It is often stated that the effective date of the interrupted six-day work week was 1 December 1931, 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 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 26 June 1940, the traditional interrupted seven-day week with Sunday as the common day of rest was reintroduced on 27 June 1940.
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.
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 1 January. 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. However, most sources replace blue with either pink, orange, or peach, all of which specify the different order yellow, pink/orange/peach, red, purple, and green.
In January 1925, the anniversary of Lenin's death in 1924 was added on 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 (1 May and 7 November), but both were extended from one to two days in 1928, making 2 May and 8 November public holidays as well.
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. 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.
On 24 September 1929, three holidays were eliminated, 1 January, 12 March, and 18 March. Lenin's Day on 21 January was merged with 22 January. The resulting five holidays continued to be celebrated until 1951, when 22 January ceased to be a holiday. See История праздников России (History of the festivals of Russia).
Many sources erroneously state that both five- and six-day work weeks were collected into 30-day months.
Apparently to place the five national holidays between 30-day months since 1 October 1929, Parise (1982) shifted Lenin's Day to 31 January, left two Days of the Proletariat on 1–2 May, and shifted two Days of the Revolution to 31 October and 1 November, plus 1 January (all Gregorian dates). Stating that all months had 30 days between 1 October 1929 and 1 December 1931, the Oxford Companion to the Year (1999) 'corrected' Parise's list by specifying that "Lenin Day" was after 30 January (31 January Gregorian), a two-day "Workers' First of May" was after 30 April (1–2 May Gregorian), two "Industry Days" were after 7 November (8–9 November Gregorian), and placed the leap day after 30 February (2 March Gregorian).
"Перешли на непрерывку слишком поспешно", Коммерсантъ Власть, March 12 210 https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1331342
История календаря в России и в СССР (Calendar history in Russia and the USSR) Archived 17 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, chapter 19 in История календаря и хронология by Селешников (History of the calendar and chronology by Seleschnikov) (in Russian). ДЕКРЕТ "О ВВЕДЕНИИ ЗАПАДНО-ЕВРОПЕЙСКОГО КАЛЕНДАРЯ" (Decree "On the introduction of the Western European calendar") Archived 21 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine contains the full text of the decree (in Russian). http://grigam.narod.ru/kalend/kalen19.htm
ИЗ ИСТОРИИ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОГО КАРМАННОГО КАЛЕНДАРЯ by Дмитрий Малявин Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine ("Calendar stories from reforms in the USSR" by Dmitry Malyavin) (in Russian) Does not mention colors, only numbers. http://mkkkk.narod.ru/Fr313.htm
Siegelbaum, Lewis H. (1992). Soviet State and Society Between Revolutions, 1918-1929. Cambridge University Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-521-36987-9. 978-0-521-36987-9
[Solomon M. Schwarz], "The continuous working week in Soviet Russia", International Labour Review 23 (1931) 157–180. /wiki/International_Labour_Review
Gary Cross, Worktime and industrialization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988) 202–205.
Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10 (1940) 65–69.
Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, The Oxford companion to the year (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 99, 688–689.
Frank Parise, ed., "Soviet calendar", The book of calendars, (New York: Facts on file, 1982) 377.
E. G. Richards, Mapping time, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 159–160, 277–279.
Eviatar Zerubavel, "The Soviet five-day Nepreryvka", The seven-day circle (New York: Free press, 1985) 35–43. /wiki/Eviatar_Zerubavel
The Duchess of Atholl (Katherine Atholl), The conscription of a people (1931) 84–86, 107.
[Solomon M. Schwarz], "The continuous working week in Soviet Russia", International Labour Review 23 (1931) 157–180. /wiki/International_Labour_Review
R. W. Davies, The Soviet economy in turmoil, 1929–1930 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, 1989) 84–86, 143–144, 252–256, 469, 544. /wiki/R._W._Davies
Solomon M. Schwarz, Labor in the Soviet Union (New York: Praegar, 1951) 258–277.
FROST, NATASHA (25 May 2018). "For 11 Years, the Soviet Union Had No Weekends". History.com. Retrieved 16 June 2020. https://www.history.com/news/soviet-union-stalin-weekend-labor-policy
Eviatar Zerubavel, "The Soviet five-day Nepreryvka", The seven-day circle (New York: Free press, 1985) 35–43. /wiki/Eviatar_Zerubavel
Solomon M. Schwarz, Labor in the Soviet Union (New York: Praegar, 1951) 258–277.
Elisha M. Friedman, Russia in transition: a business man's appraisal (New York: Viking Press, 1932) 260–262.
Handbook of the Soviet Union (New York: American-Russian Chamber of Commerce, 1936) 524, 526.
Erland Echlin, "Here all nations agree", Journal of Calendar Reform 8 (1938) 25–27.
Carleton J. Ketchum, "Russia's changing tide", Journal of Calendar Reform 13 (1943) 147–155.
Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, The Oxford companion to the year (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 99, 688–689.
E. G. Richards, Mapping time, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 159–160, 277–279.
Eviatar Zerubavel, "The Soviet five-day Nepreryvka", The seven-day circle (New York: Free press, 1985) 35–43. /wiki/Eviatar_Zerubavel
Elisha M. Friedman, Russia in transition: a business man's appraisal (New York: Viking Press, 1932) 260–262.
История календаря в России и в СССР (Calendar history in Russia and the USSR) Archived 17 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, chapter 19 in История календаря и хронология by Селешников (History of the calendar and chronology by Seleschnikov) (in Russian). ДЕКРЕТ "О ВВЕДЕНИИ ЗАПАДНО-ЕВРОПЕЙСКОГО КАЛЕНДАРЯ" (Decree "On the introduction of the Western European calendar") Archived 21 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine contains the full text of the decree (in Russian). http://grigam.narod.ru/kalend/kalen19.htm
ИЗ ИСТОРИИ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОГО КАРМАННОГО КАЛЕНДАРЯ by Дмитрий Малявин Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine ("Calendar stories from reforms in the USSR" by Dmitry Malyavin) (in Russian) Does not mention colors, only numbers. http://mkkkk.narod.ru/Fr313.htm
Solomon M. Schwarz, Labor in the Soviet Union (New York: Praegar, 1951) 258–277.
On the transfer to the seven-day work week, 26 June 1940 Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine (item 2) http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/uk-trud-e.html
"Перешли на непрерывку слишком поспешно", Коммерсантъ Власть, March 12 210 https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1331342
Shulevitz, Judith (November 2019). "Why You Never See Your Friends Anymore". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 October 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/why-dont-i-see-you-anymore/598336/
"Перешли на непрерывку слишком поспешно", Коммерсантъ Власть, March 12 210 https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1331342
Clive Foss, "Stalin's topsy-turvy work week", History Today 54/9 (September 2004) 46–47.
The Riga correspondent of the London Times, "Russian experiments", Journal of Calendar Reform 6 (1936) 69–71.
Erland Echlin, "Here all nations agree", Journal of Calendar Reform 8 (1938) 25–27.
Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10 (1940) 65–69.
Carleton J. Ketchum, "Russia's changing tide", Journal of Calendar Reform 13 (1943) 147–155.
Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, The Oxford companion to the year (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 99, 688–689.
La réforme grégorienne: La réforme en Russie Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine (The Gregorian reform: The reform in Russia) (in French) http://icalendrier.fr/calendriers-saga/etudes-thematiques/reforme-gregorienne#russie
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.
Frank Parise, ed., "Soviet calendar", The book of calendars, (New York: Facts on file, 1982) 377.
E. G. Richards, Mapping time, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 159–160, 277–279.
Eviatar Zerubavel, "The Soviet five-day Nepreryvka", The seven-day circle (New York: Free press, 1985) 35–43. /wiki/Eviatar_Zerubavel
Clive Foss, "Stalin's topsy-turvy work week", History Today 54/9 (September 2004) 46–47.
The Riga correspondent of the London Times, "Russian experiments", Journal of Calendar Reform 6 (1936) 69–71.
Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10 (1940) 65–69.
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.
Irina Shilova, "Building the Bolshevik calendar through Pravda and Izvestiia" Archived 23 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, 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". https://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/19/shilova19.shtml
ПРАВИЛА ОБ ЕЖЕНЕДЕЛЬНОМ ОТДЫХЕ И О ПРАЗДНИЧНЫХ ДНЯХ (Rules concerning weekly rest days and holidays) Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian) Last annex. http://www.hist.msu.ru/Labour/Law/kodex_18.htm
The name of the holiday is uniformly given in Russian sources as "день Интернационала" (e.g., in А.И. Щербинин (A.I. Shcherbinin) «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) Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine), 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. http://sun.tsu.ru/mminfo/000063105/phil/03/image/03-052.pdf
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 member republics of the USSR passed similar legislation as well. /wiki/All-Russian_Central_Executive_Committee
RSFSR Labor Code (1918) Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Article 8. (in Russian) Also quoted in Shcherbinin, p. 57. http://www.hist.msu.ru/Labour/Law/kodex_18.htm
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)". /wiki/Council_of_the_People%27s_Commissars
Shcherbinin, p. 57
The Riga correspondent of the London Times, "Russian experiments", Journal of Calendar Reform 6 (1936) 69–71.
Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10 (1940) 65–69.
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.
Irina Shilova, "Building the Bolshevik calendar through Pravda and Izvestiia" Archived 23 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, 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". https://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/19/shilova19.shtml
[Solomon M. Schwarz], "The continuous working week in Soviet Russia", International Labour Review 23 (1931) 157–180. /wiki/International_Labour_Review
Duncan Steel, Marking Time (New York: John Wiley, 2000) 293–294.
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 Russian) https://archive.today/20120904182928/http://www.knukim-edu.kiev.ua/download/ZakonySSSR/data04/tex16625.htm
Erland Echlin, "Here all nations agree", Journal of Calendar Reform 8 (1938) 25–27.
Carleton J. Ketchum, "Russia's changing tide", Journal of Calendar Reform 13 (1943) 147–155.
Oneday, Twoday (Time: 7 October 1929) [dead link] https://web.archive.org/web/20121025064345/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752070,00.html?iid=chix-sphere
R. W. Davies, The Soviet economy in turmoil, 1929–1930 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, 1989) 84–86, 143–144, 252–256, 469, 544. /wiki/R._W._Davies
Erland Echlin, "Here all nations agree", Journal of Calendar Reform 8 (1938) 25–27.
Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10 (1940) 65–69.
Carleton J. Ketchum, "Russia's changing tide", Journal of Calendar Reform 13 (1943) 147–155.
Elisabeth Achelis, "Calendar marches on: Russia's difficulties Archived 12 July 2012 at archive.today", Journal of Calendar Reform 24 (1954) 91–93. http://personal.ecu.edu/MCCARTYR/Russia.html
Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, The Oxford companion to the year (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 99, 688–689.
La réforme grégorienne: La réforme en Russie Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine (The Gregorian reform: The reform in Russia) (in French) http://icalendrier.fr/calendriers-saga/etudes-thematiques/reforme-gregorienne#russie
E. G. Richards, Mapping time, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 159–160, 277–279.
"The Orthodox and Soviet Calendar Reforms". Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2008. http://www.friesian.com/russia.htm#calendar
Staggers Unstaggers (Time: 7 December 1931) https://web.archive.org/web/20071223005657/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,930406,00.html
Erland Echlin, "Here all nations agree", Journal of Calendar Reform 8 (1938) 25–27.
Carleton J. Ketchum, "Russia's changing tide", Journal of Calendar Reform 13 (1943) 147–155.
Frank Parise, ed., "Soviet calendar", The book of calendars, (New York: Facts on file, 1982) 377.
Duncan Steel, Marking Time (New York: John Wiley, 2000) 293–294.
Frank Parise, ed., "Soviet calendar", The book of calendars, (New York: Facts on file, 1982) 377.
Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, The Oxford companion to the year (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 99, 688–689.
La réforme grégorienne: La réforme en Russie Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine (The Gregorian reform: The reform in Russia) (in French) http://icalendrier.fr/calendriers-saga/etudes-thematiques/reforme-gregorienne#russie
The Riga correspondent of the London Times, "Russian experiments", Journal of Calendar Reform 6 (1936) 69–71.
Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10 (1940) 65–69.
The Riga correspondent of the London Times, "Russian experiments", Journal of Calendar Reform 6 (1936) 69–71.
Albert Parry, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10 (1940) 65–69.
E. G. Richards, Mapping time, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 159–160, 277–279.
The Riga correspondent of the London Times, "Russian experiments", Journal of Calendar Reform 6 (1936) 69–71.
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.
P. Malevsky-Malevitch, Russia U.S.S.R.: A complete handbook (New York: William Farquhar Payson, 1933) 601–602.
Lance Latham, Standard C date/time library: Programming the world's calendars and clocks (Lawrence, KS: R&D Books, 1998) 390–392.
Toke Nørby, The Perpetual Calendar: A helpful tool to postal historians: What about Russia? Archived 12 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine http://norbyhus.dk/calendar.php#Russia