The postcommunist transitions to a market economy raised doubts about the political sustainability of an economic reform under democracy. At the same time, they turned the attention to the centrality of political factors in economic policy-making. Latvia has succeeded in proceeding into the consolidation phase of its market reforms while remaining committed to both political pluralism and macroeconomic austerity. Even if politics were not treated as a mere constraint, the basic question is still: how are the government's adjustment choices modified in the political process?

This book explores the Soviet attempt to propagandise the 'new Soviet woman' through the magazines Rabotnitsa and Krest'yanka from the 1920s to the end of the Stalin era. Balancing work and family did not prove easy in a climate of shifting economic and demographic priorities, and the book charts the periodic changes made to the model.