Problems of Social Security for Disabled Veterans and Families of Military Personnel in the Stalingrad Region in 1945–1953

Introduction. The study of social security issues is in demand in modern scientific literature and is conditioned by the high social significance of the topic and the contradictory nature of the established assessments of post-war measures of support for the disabled. Methods and materials. Methods of analysis and synthesis of information, problem-chronological and comparative-historical methods are used. The work is written on the basis of legislative acts, materials of the periodical press, and case documents from the funds of the State Archive of the Volgograd region. The sources record the normative-legal bases of providing pensions and benefits to disabled veterans of the Great Patriotic War and families of military personnel, the nature of the implementation of legislative acts at the regional level, and the peculiarities of the reflection of the problems of the postwar period in the regional press. Analysis. The study of materials of inspections and reports, statistical data on complaints and appeals of citizens, made it possible to assess the effectiveness of the activity of regional authorities in the sphere of social security of disabled veterans of the Great Patriotic War and members of families of military personnel in the Stalingrad region in 1945–1953. The article analyzes the practices of pension provision, employment, retraining of disabled people, solving personnel issues, and organizing public mutual aid in the first post-war years and at the end of the reconstruction period. On the basis of statistical data on the amounts of pension payments, the number of recipients of pensions and benefits, qualifications of employees of social security agencies, and the quality of work of the regional social security system during the period under study is assessed. Results. The main problems were caused by frequent personnel turnover and insufficient material base. There is a decline in the educational level of specialists in social security agencies and insufficient attention to the organization of advanced training courses by regional authorities. At the end of the period under study, the rate of employment of disabled persons, as compared to the first post-war years, is significantly increasing, while the rate of vocational training is decreasing. Successful practices of organizing pensions and verifying the correctness of pensions and allowances are identified. Authors’ contribution. Search, systematization, and analysis of archival documents and materials of periodicals on the topic of work with the subsequent presentation of the results in the main part of the article was carried out by D.V. Tretyak. The analysis of the activities of the cooperative movement to assist the disabled in the Stalingrad region and the formulation of generalizing conclusions were carried out by E.Ju. Bolotova.