Stakhanov movement: beginning, essence, consequences for industrialization. Abstract: Stakhanov movement

Followers of miner Alexei Stakhanov, innovators of socialist production in the USSR - workers, collective farmers, engineering and technical workers, for increasing labor productivity based on development new technology. It was one of the types of shock movement - the first and most massive form of socialist competition.

The founder of the Stakhanov movement was Alexei Grigorievich Stakhanov, a miner at the Central Irmino mine in the city of Kadievka (now Stakhanov), who mined 107 tons of coal on the night of August 30-31, 1935 in 5 hours 45 minutes with a production rate of 7 tons.

Stakhanov's sensational achievement was achieved by replacing the former individual work of miners with a brigade organization of labor with a division of labor functions. Stakhanov worked only with a jackhammer, and two other miners followed him, expanding the face and strengthening the walls.

Having received propaganda and material support from the Communist Party Soviet Union, Stakhanov movement for short time covered all industries, transport, construction, agriculture and other types of activities, spreading throughout the entire territory of the USSR.

In the leather footwear industry - reupholsterer of the Leningrad shoe factory "Skorokhod" Nikolai Smetanin, who performed production standard by 200%. IN textile industry weavers of the Vichuga factory named after. Nogina Evdokia and Maria Vinogradov, who simultaneously serviced up to 284 machines. In the timber industry - Vasily Musinsky, a framer at the Solombalsky LDK (Arkhangelsk region), sawed 313.8 cubic meters of wood in a 7-hour shift. On railway transport- driver of Donetsk railway Pyotr Krivonos, who more than doubled the technical speed of the locomotive. In metallurgy - steelmaker of the Mariupol Metallurgical Plant Makar Mazai, who significantly increased steel production in open-hearth furnaces. In agriculture, activists of the Stakhanov movement were the organizer of the first women's tractor brigade in the USSR Praskovya Angelina, combine operator Konstantin Borin, and collective farm leader Maria Demchenko.

During the war years, the Stakhanov movement faded into the background compared to new forms of socialist competition - the movement of two hundred workers (200% of the plan), thousanders (1000% of the plan), multi-machine operators, part-time professions, Komsomol youth and front-line brigades, which made it possible to achieve an increase in production output with a smaller number workers.

At the end of the 1950s. The Stakhanovist movement was replaced by a movement for a communist attitude towards labor, and the Stakhanovite workers were replaced by shock workers and communist labor collectives.

The successful propaganda experience of the Stakhanov movement was adopted by some countries Eastern Europe. In post-war Poland, the miner Wincent Pstrovsky, who worked at the mine of the Jadwiga company in the city of Zabrze, became widely known, producing 240% of the coal production standard during his shift.

A mass movement of production leaders arose in 1935, named after its founder, miner Alexei Stakhanov, who chopped 102 tons of coal in 1 night shift from August 30 to 31, at the Central-Irmino mine in the Lugansk region of Donbass.

Reasons for the success of the record

The main and main innovative idea of the record of both Stakhanov himself and his followers was the division of work responsibilities. A complete reconstruction of the labor organization was carried out. Thus, during Alexey Stakhanov’s work shift, all preparatory actions were carried out prior to the successful completion of the work. The scaffolding was prepared and lowered into the mine, the possibility of uninterrupted supply of mined coal to the mine was prepared, and the face was illuminated. The length of the ledge was changed and the number of ledges was reduced, which made it possible to reduce the load on the compressor, and the miner himself was able to move freely in the face.

Holding a record

Fastening work was carried out by specially selected fastening workers Shchigolev and Borisenko. Together with the brigade, the party organizer of the mine, Konstantin Petrov, and the editor of the local newspaper, Mikhailov, and the head of the site, Mashurov, went down to the face; they monitored the work, measuring the timing. It must be said that the norm of coal per shift, before Stakhanov’s record, was 7 tons. After Stakhanov, his followers, and he himself, repeatedly exceeded the record. The highest indicator for coal production was achieved by Donetsk miner N. A. Izotov. He cut 607 tons of coal at mine No. 1 “Kochegarka” in Gorlovka.

Followers of Stakhanov

The Stakhanov movement spread throughout the Union and found application in almost all areas national economy. So in the automotive industry it became A. Kh. Busygin. He exceeded the norm for forging crankshafts, fulfilling and exceeding his own record, bringing it to 1146 shafts instead of the norm - 675. In the footwear industry - N. Smetanin, he exceeded the norm by 200% the secret of his success, like Stakhanov’s, lies in the division of labor responsibilities.

The Vinogradov sisters, working at the weaving factory in Vychuga, started with 26 machines and switched to 40, and subsequently were able to work simultaneously on 284 machines. In railway transport, P.F. Krivonos became the leader in production; he increased the boost of the locomotive boiler, doubling the technical speed.

Consequences of the Stakhanov movement

Rationalization approach, division of labor, the ability for qualified workers to perform the main task, freeing them from performing auxiliary work. All this was undoubtedly good. The records were real, but they brought little benefit. This way it was possible to extract a record amount of coal, but the coal needed to be lifted uphill, and this required increasing the number of trolleys, changing the cross-section of the workings, improving the condition of the rail tracks, and changing the haulage technology. To this can be added the periodic lack of fasteners and spare parts for equipment repair.

If Busygin was able to forge a record number of shafts, then the next day his hammer stood motionless due to a breakdown; there were no basic spare parts. A change in production technology was vital. In addition, there was another disadvantage of the Stakhanov movement; an increase in output by individual workers led to an increase labor standards, wages meanwhile remained unchanged. Frontline workers were harassed, beaten, and sometimes killed. So, despite its progressive beginnings, this movement did not receive wide recognition among the masses.

Stakhanov movement- a mass movement of followers of A. G. Stakhanov in the USSR, innovators of socialist production - workers, collective farmers, engineering and technical workers, who many times exceeded the established production standards.

History of the movement

The movement arose in 1935 and was named after the miner of the Central-Irmino mine (Donbass) A.G. Stakhanov, who mined 102 tons of coal on the night of August 30-31, 1935 (5 hours 45 minutes) at a rate of 7 tons, and subsequently on September 19 - 227 tons.

The Stakhanov movement was seriously encouraged financially with prizes and promoted by the All-Union Communist Party How new stage socialist competition and a form of increasing labor productivity.

The Stakhanov movement contributed to the growth of the material well-being of the workers themselves. For example, in Karaganda, the Stakhanov movement had a serious influence on the level of wages. If the average monthly wage of Karaganda miners in 1931 is taken as 100%, then in 1934 it was 212%, in 1935 - 288%, and in 1937 - 374%.

On November 14-17, 1935, the First All-Union Meeting of Stakhanovites took place in the Kremlin (Moscow), which emphasized the important role of the Stakhanov movement in socialist construction. At the same meeting, the later catchphrase: “Life has become better, comrades. Life has become more fun."

Famous Stakhanovites

P. N. Angelina - in agriculture.
A. Kh. Busygin - in the automotive industry.
M. N. Mazai - in metallurgy.
I. I. Gudov - in the machine tool industry.
P. F. Krivonos and K. P. Koroleva - in railway transport.
I. M. Kavchuk - in the coal industry.
N. S. Smetanin - in the shoe industry.
E.V. and M.I. Vinogradov - in the textile industry.
B. Ikhlasov - in the mining industry.
A. M. Myasnikova - in the chemical industry.

Stakhanovites in socialist countries

In Poland, the first striker of labor and a propaganda model for workers was the miner Vincenty Pstrowski, whose biography is similar to the biography of Stakhanov.

In German Democratic Republic The first striker after whom the workers' movement is named is Adolf Hennecke.

In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the drummer and initiator of the movement was Aliya Sirotanovich, who on July 24, 1949 broke the world record for coal mining, extracting 152 tons (253 trolleys) in an eight-hour shift, thus surpassing Alexei Stakhanov by 50 tons.

Perpetuation

Streets in a number of cities of the Soviet Union were named in honor of the Stakhanov movement:

Stakhanovskaya street in Moscow,
Stakhanovtsev Street in Leningrad,
Stakhanovskaya street in Yekaterinburg,
Stakhanovskaya street in Yalta,
Stakhanovskaya street in Kolpino near Leningrad,
Stakhanovskaya street in Perm,
Stakhanovsky Bridge in Riga (now Slava),
Stakhanovskaya street in Pskov,
Stakhanovskaya street in Kirov,
Stakhanovskaya street in Monchegorsk ( Murmansk region),
Stakhanovskaya street and Stakhanovsky lane in Minsk,
Stakhanovskaya street in Sverdlovsk-44,
Stakhanovskaya street in Biysk,
Stakhanovsky passage in Tver.
Stakhanov railway platform in Samara.
Stakhanovskaya street in Krasnodar.
Stakhanov street in Lipetsk.
Stakhanovskaya street in Belaya Tserkov, Ukraine
Stakhanova street in Donetsk, Ukraine
Stakhanova street in Makeevka, Donetsk region, Ukraine
Stakhanovskaya street in Gorlovka, Donetsk region, Ukraine
Stakhanovskaya street in Mariupol, Donetsk region, Ukraine
Stakhanov street in the city of Stakhanov, Lugansk region, Ukraine
Stakhanova street in the city of Irmino (Teplogorsk), Lugansk region, Ukraine
Stakhanov street in the city of Alchevsk (Kommunarsk), Lugansk region, Ukraine
Stakhanova street in the city of Kirovsk, Lugansk region, Ukraine
Stakhanovtsev street in Tyumen, Russia

The Stakhanov movement, a mass movement of innovators of socialist production in the USSR - advanced workers, collective farmers, engineering and technical workers for increasing labor productivity based on the development of new technology. It arose in the 2nd Five-Year Plan, in 1935, as a new stage in socialist competition. The Stakhanov movement was prepared by the entire course of socialist construction, the success of the country's industrialization, the growth of the cultural and technical level and material well-being of the working people. Most of the Stakhanovites came from among the shock workers. The "Stakhanov" movement was named after its founder - the miner of the "Central - Irmino" mine (Donbass) A. G. Stakhanov, who produced 102 tons of coal per shift at a rate of 7 tons. Stakhanov's record was soon blocked by his followers. The highest production in the Donbass was achieved by N. A. Izotov, who mined 607 on February 1, 1936 at mine No. 1 "Kochegarka" (Gorlovka). T coal per shift. The Stakhanov movement, supported and led by the Communist Party, in a short time covered all sectors of industry, transport, construction, agriculture and spread throughout the Soviet Union.

The founders of the Stakhanov movement were A. Kh. Busygin in the automobile industry, N. S. Smetanin in the shoe industry, E. V. and M. I. Vinogradov in the textile industry, I. I. Gudov in the machine tool industry, and V. S. Musinsky, in railway transport - P. F. Krivonos, in agriculture - P. N. Angelina, K. A. Borin, M. S. Demchenko and others. On November 14-17, 1935, the First All-Union Meeting of Stakhanovites took place in the Kremlin, which emphasized the outstanding role of the Stakhanov movement in socialist construction. In December 1935, the plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) specifically discussed the development of industry and transport in connection with the Stakhanov movement. The resolution of the plenum emphasized: “The Stakhanov movement means organizing labor in a new way, rationalization technological processes, correct division of labor in production, freeing skilled workers from secondary preparatory work, better organization of the workplace, ensuring rapid growth labor productivity, ensuring a significant increase in wages of workers and employees."

In accordance with the decisions of the December Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a wide network of production and technical training was organized, and courses for masters of socialist labor were created for advanced workers. Industry production and technical conferences held in 1936 revised the design capacities of enterprises, and production standards were increased. In 1936, Stakhanov’s five-day, ten-day, and monthly events were held on the scale of entire enterprises. Stakhanov brigades, sections, and workshops were created that achieved sustainable high collective output. The unfolding Stakhanov movement contributed to a significant increase in labor productivity. So, if during the years of the 1st Five-Year Plan (1929-1932) labor productivity in industry of the USSR increased by 41%, then during the years of the 2nd Five-Year Plan (1933-1937) by 82%. The creative initiative of innovators manifested itself with renewed vigor during the 5 years of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Stakhanov's methods were used, such as multi-machine service, combination of professions, and high-speed production and construction technology. The Stakhanovites took the initiative of the movement of the “two hundred men” (two norms or more per shift), and then the “thousanders” (1000% of the norm), the creation of “front-line brigades”.

The experience of the Stakhanov movement retained its significance in the post-war period, when, in conditions of continuous economic and cultural growth, new forms of socialist competition arose. Characteristic of a developed socialist society in the USSR, the movement for a communist attitude to work uses the methods of highly productive labor of the Stakhanovites in order to increase the efficiency of socialist production.

Why did the Stakhanov movement arise?

Why did the Stakhanov movement “suddenly” arise at the end of 1935? What gave him the impetus? Why didn't it arise, say, a year or two ago, when advanced technology was already available? In his exceptionally flat speech to the Stakhanovites, Stalin gave the following explanation for this phenomenon. “Life has become better, life has become more fun. And when life is fun, work gets done” (“Pravda”, November 22, 1935). The matter turns out to be very simple: the Soviet worker increases his labor productivity from the “gaiety” with which, of course, Stalin made him happy. Molotov, who questioned almost every speaker about why he was working with Stakhanovite methods, why now, and not before, gave a more realistic assessment: “In many places, the immediate impetus for the high productivity of Stakhanovites is a simple interest in increasing their earnings” (“ Pravda", November 19, 1935). America, which Stalin was not destined to discover, was bashfully discovered by Molotov. According to all newspaper reports, in all the speeches of the Stakhanovites, a red thread runs through: personal material interest. This is the main stimulus of the Stakhanov movement, and it is this, and only this, that ensures its undoubted growth in the near future.

These conditions of self-interest were created only at the very lately, in connection with the course towards stabilizing the ruble, the elimination of the card system and rationing supplies in general. Just a few months ago, monetary earnings did not play a relatively large role in the worker’s budget, which was largely built on closed distributors, the factory canteen, etc. More or less earnings in rubles did not matter much under these conditions. In the new conditions, when the ruble again becomes the “universal equivalent” of goods, of course, extremely imperfect and still fragile, but still an “equivalent”, the Soviet workers, in the struggle for higher wages, had an incentive to increase labor productivity, because piecework, piecework , introduced everywhere in the USSR, automatically expresses in rubles the increase in labor productivity of each individual worker. Piece wages, which began to be introduced long ago, became the dominant form of wages in industry and transport, even in those sectors where this caused difficulties due to the collective “team” nature of labor.

In the coal industry, for example, although piecework already existed, partly the so-called brigade piecework, i.e. a team of workers received a salary for the team, in accordance with the products produced by it - the team -; within the team, the salary was divided approximately equally. The conversion is now beginning - and it will undoubtedly be quickly completed where this has not yet been done - to differential piecework, i.e. each worker individually will earn in accordance with the products he produces. To the extent that new technology created the preconditions for the Stakhanov movement, piece payment under the conditions of monetary reform brought this movement to life. And in the contradictory Soviet economy with elements of socialism and capitalism, the Stakhanov movement became not only economically necessary, but to a certain extent - an increase in labor productivity - and progressive. Of course, not as “preparing conditions for the transition from socialism to communism” (Stalin, Pravda, November 22, 1935), but precisely within the framework of the existing transitional and contradictory economy, as preparing, by capitalist methods, the elementary prerequisites for a socialist society. Money and piece wages in the pre-Stalin era were never considered categories not only of communism, but also of socialism. Marx defined piece wages “as the most appropriate to the capitalist mode of production” (“Capital”). And only a bureaucrat who has lost his last Marxist shame can this forced retreat from supposedly already realized “socialism” to money and piecemeal payment, and, consequently, to increased inequality, to overstrain labor force and portray the lengthening of the working day as “preparation for the transition to communism.”

Founder of the Stakhanov movement

Alexey Grigorievich Stakhanov (1905, Lugovaya village, Oryol province - 1977, Chistyakov, Donetsk region) - the founder of the Stakhanov movement. Born into a poor peasant family. He worked as a laborer and was a shepherd. For three winters he studied at a rural school, from which he did not graduate (in the questionnaire, in the “education” column, he wrote about himself as “illiterate”). Unable to escape poverty, in 1927 he came to work in the city of Kadievka at the Tsentralnaya-Irmino mine, dreaming of earning money for a horse. In 1935, the mine’s party organizer, K. G. Petrov, suggested that Stakhanov celebrate International Youth Day with a production record. On the night of 30 to 31 August. Stakhanov extracted 102 tons of coal with a jackhammer per shift, exceeding the production norm by 14 times, earning 200 rubles. instead of 25 - 30. This became possible due to preliminary preparation (the fox chasers were instructed to go down into the mine earlier in order to provide a forest of bonfires that strengthened the lava. The horse chasers were called in for the uninterrupted removal of coal) and proper organization labor; Stakhanov worked the entire shift with a jackhammer, two miners secured the ledge behind him, and before this work was done by one person. However, the mine’s party committee, having generously rewarded Stakhanov, considered it necessary to “indicate and warn in advance all those who try to slander Comrade Stakhanov and his record as accidental, fictitious, etc., that the party committee will regard them as the most worst enemies those who oppose the best people mines, our country, giving everything to fulfill the instructions of the leader of our party, Comrade Stalin, “on the full use of technology.”

In conditions of unscientific planning, constant storming, imbalances and irregular production, the emphasis was on “labor heroism.” Following Stakhanov, the Stakhanov movement developed in various industries. Stakhanov was awarded the Order of Lenin; in 1936, by decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Stakhanov was accepted as a member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks without candidate experience. Appointed as an instructor at the Sergougol trust, he attended numerous rallies, meetings, and congresses, sitting on the honorary presidium. In 1936 he was admitted to the Industrial Academy and elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was provided with an apartment in the famous “House on the Embankment”, security, and company cars. Stakhanov was friends with the son of the leader of all nations, Vasily Stalin... In 1937, Stakhanov’s book “The Story of My Life” was published. In 1941 he was appointed head of the mine in Karaganda. In 1942 he became head of the socialist competition sector at the People's Commissariat of the Coal Industry in Moscow. In 1957 he returned to the Donetsk region, worked as deputy manager of a coal trust; then assistant to the chief engineer of the mine administration. In 1970 he was awarded the second Order of Lenin and awarded the title of Hero of Social Labor. In 1977, Kadievka was renamed the city of Stakhanov. On September 19, the city of Stakhanov set a new record, producing 227 tons of coal per shift. Stakhanov’s labor feat simply could not go unnoticed; a real record mania began in the country, capturing all spheres of the country’s life. The Stakhanov movement expanded and sometimes reached oddities.

Stakhanov movement and differentiation in the working class

The introduction of piecework wages inevitably introduces deep stratification among the Soviet working class itself. If this stratification was restrained until recently by rationing supplies - food cards, factory distributors and canteens - then in the conditions of the transition to a money economy, the widest scope is open to it. It is unlikely that in any of the advanced capitalist countries there is such a profound difference in the wages of workers as there is now in the USSR. A miner-miner, a non-Stakhanovite, earns 400-500 rubles a month. maximum, Stakhanovite more than 1,600 rubles. An auxiliary horse driver receives only 170 rubles. (not a Stakhanovite) and 400 - a Stakhanovite (Pravda, November 16, 1935), i.e. one worker earns approximately ten times more than another. Meanwhile, 170 rubles is not the lowest salary at all, but the average according to Soviet statistics. There are workers who earn 150, 120 and even 100 rubles. Marker Kozlov (Machine Tool Plant, Gorky) earned 950 rubles in the first half of October (Pravda, November 26, 1935), i.e. more than eleven times more than a horse-trading worker and 16 times more than a worker earning 120 rubles. Stakhanovka weavers earn 500 or more rubles, non-Stakhanovka weavers earn 150 or less (Pravda, November 18, 1935).

The examples we have given do not indicate extreme boundaries in either direction. It would be easy to show that the wages of the privileged strata of the working class (the labor aristocracy in the real sense of the word) are related as 20:1, and perhaps more, to the wages of its low-paid strata. And to this we must also add other everyday privileges of the Stakhanovites: preferential service with vouchers to rest homes and sanatoriums; apartment renovation; free places for children in kindergartens (Trud, October 23, 1935); free movie tickets; Stakhanovites are shaved free of charge and out of turn (Donbass, Trud, November 1, 1935); free home teachers for Stakhanovites and their families (Trud, November 2, 1935), etc., the right to free calls to a doctor day and night, etc.

There is an opinion that the Stalinist leadership places the Stakhanovites in a very privileged position, not only in order to encourage them to increase labor productivity, but also consciously promotes the differentiation of the working class, with the political goal of relying on an albeit narrower, but also more reliable base: the labor aristocracy. The increasing differentiation in the working class, the separation from it of a privileged elite, the labor aristocracy, extremely aggravate the internal antagonisms within the working class itself. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Stakhanov movement was met with hostility by the working masses. Even the Soviet press is unable to hide this.

If we take the salaries of specialists, the picture of inequality becomes downright ominous. Chief Engineer mine (a random mine that performs tasks well), Ostroglyadov, earns 8,600 rubles per month; and this is an ordinary person, not a major specialist, and his earnings, therefore, cannot be considered exceptional. Thus, specialists often earn 80-100 times more than unskilled workers, and such inequality has been achieved now, 18 years after the October Revolution, almost on the eve - according to Stalin - of the “transition from socialism to communism”!

Hostility takes over different shapes: from jokes, bullying to murders, and communist workers and even low-level officials of the party and trade unions participate in bullying Stakhanovites (Trud, November 3, 1935). Leaders call for a fight against “pests.”

Stalin's chairman of Ukraine, Postyshev, declares: “The fight against saboteurs and resisters of the Stakhanov movement... is now one of the most important areas of the class struggle” (Pravda, November 13, 1935). Stalin’s governor in Leningrad, Zhdanov, says the same thing: “At some enterprises, the Stakhanov movement met resistance, including from backward workers.

The party will stop at nothing to sweep away all those who resist it from the path of victory of the Stakhanov movement" (Pravda, November 18, 1935). Will these threats have an effect on the workers? From the excerpts below, in any case, we will see that workers are not inclined to give in without a fight where their vital interests are at stake. Trud, dated November 18, 1935, reports that “at mine No. 5, miner Kirillov beat the site manager, who demanded that he properly attach the Stakhanovite Zamsteev to the miner.” The fact is that the use of Stakhanov’s methods in coal mines led to a significant reduction in miners (for example, in Stakhanov’s own mine, their number decreased from 36 to 24. Although they are not threatened with unemployment, some of them were transferred to auxiliary work as a foreman). significantly worse paid. This was the situation in which the miner Kirillov found himself. The same issue of Trud describes how two workers “conducted a malicious campaign against Stakhanov’s methods. Dyagtirev persuaded the foreman of the Stakhanovist brigade, Kurlichev, not to work. As a result, work on the site was disrupted."

The Stakhanovites complain that only when “there is supervision, work goes on” (Trud, September 24, 1935). In Odessa, at a heavy engineering plant, turner Polyakov attacked the Stakhanovite Korenny with an iron bar. Polyakov was expelled from the union, expelled from work, and a show trial is expected to be held against him (Trud, October 23, 1935). In Mariupol, at the Azovstal plant, two workers, Chistyakov and Khomenko, were sentenced to 4 and 2 years in prison for threatening to kill a Stakhanovite foreman. At the Krasny Shtampovshchik plant, a Stakhanovite worker found a dirty broom on her machine with a note attached: “Comrade Belaya is presented with a bouquet of flowers for fulfilling three standards” (Trud, November 1, 1935). It took six days to identify the “culprits.” Trade union organizer Muravyov was among them. They have been fired from work. The higher authorities demand that the case be transferred to the court. "Trud" of November 12, 1935 reports that "the textile workers who switched to compact work have encountered and are encountering great obstacles. The class struggle reminds itself at every step." A small example: "They opened the windows and let out all the moisture, the room was polluted to the limit." At another factory, “the shuttle boxes of dozens of machines were smeared with soap. Behind all this we see sabotage actions. At the Bolshevik factory, the worker Odintsova, working on 144 automated machines, was attacked by an insolent enemy (that is, the same worker. - M. N.) mocked in the most open way."

A Stakhanovite worker tells how they bully her: “they approached me with the following words: How thin you have become and how pale you have become, don’t you feel sorry for your life.” “Izvestia” of October 28 tells how in barracks No. 25 of the Cardboard Factory in Moscow, the Kholmogorov workers, father and son, “reproached the Stakhanovite Solovin for the fact that with his work he would eventually achieve a reduction in prices... The Kholmogorovs persuaded those who lived with workers Naumov and Nepekin set fire to paper at the feet of the sleeping Solovin. As a result of this brutal crime, Solovin received serious burns. The criminals were arrested.” At the Aviakhim plant, worker Krykov systematically exceeded the quota, while higher-level workers produced less than him. “On October 14, everything became clear. Karpov gave Krykov the following note: Comrade Krykov, don’t drive so fast and don’t exceed the norm, but ask for more prices...”. Krykov complained to the administration and the worker Karpov was first fired and, after repentance, reinstated with a severe reprimand (Pravda, October 31, 1935). The same issue of Pravda reports that in Smolensk, “backward workers began to persecute the Stakhanovist turner Likhoradov... It got to the point that a certain Sviridov broke a gear and broke the belts on the Likhoradov machine.” Likhoradov himself says (Pravda, November 17, 1935): “When I made 7 pieces of bandages (i.e., I significantly exceeded the norm), such a story arose in the workshop, hostile elements were ready to simply eat me.” Soviet newspapers call workers resisting the Stakhanov movement “accident workers” who contribute to accidents and breakdowns of mechanisms: “accidents and breakdowns of mechanisms are a favorite means of fighting against the Stakhanov movement” (“Trud”).

Pravda of November 3, 1935 reports that in Tambov, four Stakhanovite workers “arrived at work and discovered that their tool boxes had been broken into and their tools stolen.” The severity of the struggle is also indicated by the fact that in some, fortunately rare, cases, it takes on the character of terrorist acts. “On the evening of October 25, the best drummer, a mechanic at the Trud plant, I. Shmyrev, was killed... The criminals were arrested” (Pravda, October 29, 1935). A few weeks later, Pravda reported that “a military tribunal sentenced the murderers of Stakhanovite Shmyrev to death.” At the Ivan mine in Makeevugol, the best Stakhanovite Nikolai Tsekhnov was killed “to disrupt the transfer of the site to the Stakhanov system... The criminals were arrested” (Izvestia, October 30 and November 2, 1935). We have already mentioned that Stakhanovites often work at the expense of their worker neighbors. "Trud" of October 23, 1935 reports: "The Stakhanovite is busy with work, and his neighbor is idle." And in another place: “The successes of the Stakhanovites required the reduction of workers in some areas, new fight" 1. Shura Dmitrieva, a Stakhanovite, directly stated to the chairman of the factory committee: “It’s unpleasant for me. Either get work for everyone, or get layoffs, otherwise I’ll stop working like this.” It’s not hard to imagine the mood in the factories under these conditions.

The foreman of the 1st May factory (Leningrad) Soldatov says: “When there were no Stakhanovites, there was no downtime, but with the Stakhanovites there was downtime” (Trud, October 24). We have cited so many newspaper excerpts to show the severity of the struggle within the working class around the Stakhanov movement. If the Stakhanov movement does not yet threaten the Soviet worker with unemployment - the rapidly growing industry is still able to absorb all the available labor - then it threatens him with downtime, transfer to help, physical overexertion, reduced wages, etc., etc. Further stratification of the working class means increasing economic inequality and strife. It would be absurd to think that the majority or even a significant part of the working class could become Stakhanovites. The increase in wages of Stakhanovites is already, undoubtedly, an object of concern for the bureaucracy. Busy with stabilizing the Soviet currency, it cannot “throw around” the ruble. Stalin openly proclaimed that it was necessary to reconsider the current technical standards “as not corresponding to reality, they have lagged behind and turned into a brake... They must be replaced with new, higher technical standards,” which “are also needed in order to pull the lagging masses to the advanced ones.” ".

Clear enough. These new standards should, according to Stalin, “take place somewhere in the middle between the current technical standards and those standards that the Stakhanovs and Busygins achieved” (Pravda, November 22). And the rise in technical standards will undoubtedly soon be followed by a reduction in prices, i.e. hit to wages. At a number of enterprises, prices were reduced by directors immediately after the first records of the Stakhanovites. The Soviet worker senses this, it worries him, and he looks for ways to self-defense and protests in his own way, as we have seen from the facts cited. It is very likely that we stand in the USSR on the eve of serious economic defensive battles of the working class. This struggle will inevitably have, at least at the beginning, a partisan and fragmented character. The working class in the Soviet Union does not have its own trade unions, does not have a party. That completely degenerate bureaucratic organization, which is called trade unions, is recognized by the bureaucrats themselves (from other departments) as a completely bankrupt appendage to economic organizations. This admission is now made openly in the Soviet press. The issues of protecting the professional interests of the working class will acquire enormous importance in the USSR in the very near future.

Workers will inevitably strive to create their own organizations, albeit extremely primitive and artisanal, but still capable of defending the direct interests of workers in the field of working hours, rest, vacations and wages and putting a barrier to the pressure of the bureaucracy along the line of intensification under the flag of the Stakhanov movement and under other flags . The task of the Bolsheviks-Leninists is to help the working class of the USSR in this struggle against monstrous bureaucratic perversions in the field of increasing labor productivity. It is necessary, in particular, to help the advanced Soviet worker - on the basis active participation in increasing the economic power of the country - to correctly formulate, put forward and popularize among the masses the basic demands-slogans, a kind of minimum program to protect the interests of the working class from the bureaucracy, its arbitrariness, violence, privileges and corruption. It is very likely that on the basis of industrial successes and a certain increase in the standard of living of the masses, at least their upper layers, - increases that are extremely lagging behind industrial growth, - the Soviet worker is precisely from this end, i.e. from protecting their elementary economic interests, will join the political struggle again. Then before October Revolution the prospect of revival will open. Another very significant reason for the records should be sought in the fact that we are not dealing with an average day in ordinary production conditions, but with absolutely special training, often for quite a long period of time, and that the record holder works under monstrous tension, at which he, of course, is not able to hold out for any length of time

Results of the Stakhanov movement

The Stakhanov movement made it possible in many cases to improve the situation in production. However, many problems arose during the campaign. The country's leadership decided that the new movement indicated the possibility of another “great leap” - a sharp simultaneous increase in labor productivity. Enterprises began to demand that the achievements of individual lighthouse workers become the norm for entire teams. The spurring of “complete Stakhanovization” gave rise to mass storming and disorganization, the pursuit of records to the detriment of the quality of work, and in some cases, the collapse of production. As a result, another wave of repression swept across the country. This time, Stalin made the “scapegoats” of “saboteurs” and “conservatives” from among the economic leaders who allegedly did not change their ways and interfered with the work of the Stakhanovites. Technical and organizational problems were assessed as political. “Comrade Stalin,” explained the magazine “Soviet Justice” (1936. No. 1. P. 3), “said that the Stakhanov movement is fundamentally deeply revolutionary, and therefore the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic believes that the deliberate disruption of the Stakhanov movement is a counter-revolutionary action.” .

“Stakhanovization” penetrated into all spheres of the country’s life, often taking the wildest forms.

An eloquent example of this is the order of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Kirghiz SSR “On the results of socialist competition of the 3rd and 4th departments of the UGB NKVD of the Republic for February 1938.” 1, which, in particular, said: “The 4th department exceeded the number of arrests per month by one and a half times compared to the 3rd department and exposed spies, participants in the radical revolution. (counter-revolutionary. - Comp.) organizations have 13 more people than the 3rd department... however, the 3rd department transferred 20 cases to the Military College and 11 cases to the special board, which the 4th department does not have, but the 4th the department exceeded the number of cases completed by its apparatus (not counting the periphery) considered by the troika by almost a hundred people” (Izvestia of the Central Committee of the CPSU. 1989. No. 5. P. 74-75). Stalin also announced that further development movement depends on the determination of the fight against enemies. They were looked for everywhere: among workers, and especially among engineering and technical workers. The reason for persecution could be a careless word addressed to the Stakhanovites, production problems, or failure to fulfill the plan.

The Politburo’s view of the Stakhanov movement can be judged by the following statement by Zhdanov on April 5, 1936 at the Stakhanovite-ITR Leningrad conference: “We must... firmly remember the instructions of our leader, who said that we must develop the Stakhanov movement in breadth... with on the other hand, as Comrade Stalin said, give a light punch in the teeth to all those who stand in the way of the Stakhanov movement.”

On November 14, 1935, the First All-Union Meeting of Stakhanovites took place in the Moscow Kremlin, which emphasized the important role of the Stakhanov movement in socialist construction.
At the same meeting, Stalin’s phrase was heard, which later became popular: “Life has become better, comrades. Life has become more fun."
We have selected interesting facts And rare photographs from the “cheerful” life of Stakhanovite workers in the USSR in the 30s.
1. In August 1935, Donetsk miner Alexei Stakhanov (on the right in the photo) set a world record for coal mining, extracting 102 tons in 5 hours and 45 minutes of work, which was 14 times more than the average daily production rate. Even taking into account the fact that Stakhanov was assisted in his work by two fasteners, this was truly a great achievement that aroused great interest both in our country and abroad. The American University of Lincoln asked Stakhanov to send his photograph to add it to photographs with autographs and original letters of great people; French miners came to Donbass for experience. In the fall of 1935, a broad campaign began in the country, called the “Stakhanov movement.”

2. There remains a lot of evidence of foreigners who came to the USSR. Many of them also visited Donbass, to which they invariably dedicated several pages of their travel notes. Among them was Andre Gide, who, after another visit to the USSR in June 1937, published his book “Return to the USSR.” At that time he was one of the most popular Western writers in the land of the Soviets. But after decades since those events, one fact remains curious...

3. The writer arrived at the legendary Donbass sanatorium in Sochi; there is an official chronicle of the visit, which describes the guest’s admiration for everything he sees. But what really happened? Yes, Gide did not refuse rave reviews about canteens, houses and workers' clubs.

4. But, looking at the huge portrait of Stakhanov on the wall (in the photo, Shakhtar A.G. Stakhanov shares his work experience), he was sincerely perplexed: “He managed, they tell me, to complete a job in five hours that required eight days. I dare to ask if this does not mean that eight days were originally planned for five hours' work. But my question was met with restraint; they preferred not to answer it. Then I talked about how a group of French miners traveling around the USSR, in a comradely manner, replaced a team of Soviet miners at one of the mines and, without tension, without even suspecting it, fulfilled Stakhanov’s norm,” writes Gide in his memoirs.
It is clear that after such reasoning and publications, the writer, on Stalin’s personal orders, was no longer allowed into the USSR. Everyone had the right to only one opinion, approved by the leading party.

5. Unfortunately, the desire to be among the leading enterprises developing the Stakhanov movement also led to all sorts of frauds that cast doubt on the real achievements of industrial workers. The material factor also played a significant role here - the Stakhanovites received very large bonuses for those times, which newspapers readily reported.

6. Stakhanov Council of the weaving plant, 1936.
For example, one day a worker completed a task by 175% and earned 48 rubles in 7 hours. (while the average monthly salary of a worker at the plant was about 300 rubles). Since both the bosses and the workers themselves were interested in the “Stakhanovite” overfulfillment of the plan, there was often a tendency to lower standards.

7. Stakhanovite of the Artemov Artel “Red Seamstress” F. Chervyakov at sewing.
However, despite many events that have taken place negative points: “record mania”, the desire to increase quantitative indicators at any cost to the detriment of product quality and even various frauds in rationing, the spread of the Stakhanov movement made it possible to increase labor productivity, improve discipline and identify hidden reserves.

8. Admission of new members to the collective farm, which also adopted Stakhanov’s practice, the village of Parfentyevo, Kolomensky district, Moscow region.

9. Stakhanovka combine operator.

10. Women workers.

11. Collective farmer-Stakhanovite Khasya Rabalskaya. Jewish collective farm, Ukraine.

12. Senior conductor-Stakhanovite Samuil Gulub, a migrant from the Vinnitsa region.

13. Another photo of cheerful Stakhanovites.

14. ... which contrasts greatly with the once banned photographs of James Abbe, who visited the USSR during the same period, depicting queues at the grocery store.