5 ways to ruin your career in the USSR (PHOTOS)

A Soviet citizen's career depended directly on how well they were integrated into the party-administrative system. Everything mattered: appearance, behind-the-scenes conversations, family life. Any deviation was viewed as unreliability and a sign of disloyalty.

1. Refusal to join the Communist Party (CPSU)

The Party was not just a political force, but the backbone of the entire state hierarchy. Membership in the CPSU was a pass into the ‘nomenklatura’ – that is, into the pool of leadership positions (factory directors, department heads, university rectors, judges, prosecutors, etc.). A non-party member could rise to the rank of store foreman or laboratory director, but they would not be approved for a higher position. A party membership card also provided advantages in the allocation of free housing and vacation vouchers. Without it, these benefits were largely out of reach.

2. Open displays of religiosity

Atheism was the official state ideology. Religion was considered a "relic of the past" and the church was viewed as a hostile or, at best, neutral institution that should not influence the Soviet people. Public church attendance, child baptism, wearing a cross, celebrating religious holidays – all of these could be grounds for a "dressing-up" at a party meeting or even dismissal. Even if a person was not fired, they were barred from working with people (in education, propaganda or Party recruitment).

3. Immoral behavior: abuse, adultery, divorce, drunkenness

In the USSR, personal life was not private, especially for senior officials. Party and trade union committees monitored the "moral character" of their personnel no less than their production performance. A person could be expelled from the CPSU for habitual drunkenness, infidelity, physical abuse or scandalous affairs. Expulsion from the party meant the loss of one’s position (if it was a ‘nomenklatura’ post) and a long-term ban on holding any leadership positions. In Soviet personnel practices, divorced men and women were reluctantly appointed to positions involving moral responsibility (for example, school principal or judge). It was believed that "if you couldn’t handle your family, you couldn’t handle a team".

4. Avoiding social responsibilities & frequent job changes

The Soviet system valued stability and social involvement. The ideal career path was to start at a factory as a mechanic and retire as its director. Frequent job changes were called "job-hopping" and were considered a vice. Human resource departments were suspicious of those who changed jobs every one to two years. Such an employee was not recommended for leadership positions, as they were considered unreliable.

Participation in trade union activities, mentoring young people, working in volunteer groups, participating in cleanup days and holiday demonstrations were, as they joked in Soviet times, "voluntary-compulsory". Anyone who skipped these activities was branded an "individualist" and deprived of social benefits.

5. Dissent, political jokes & unconventional dress

Anything that violated the Soviet "standard" was considered sedition. Even a single phrase critical of the Soviet regime, uttered in the smoking room, could lead to a denunciation. If the material reached the Party Committee, it would result in at least a severe reprimand with an entry in the employee's personal file; at most, expulsion from the party and dismissal (or even criminal prosecution for "anti-Soviet agitation"). 

Bright ties, tight trousers, colorful shirts and long hair on men – for Soviet authorities, these were signs of "bourgeois Western influence" and "moral instability". Such people were not hired for positions of responsibility and could be expelled from university or fired from their jobs.