Stakhanovism and the Politics of Productivity in the USSR, 1935–1941 (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies, Series Number 59)

This is the first study in English of a major and instructive episode in the history of the Soviet Union. The Stakhanovite movement commemorated the mining of 108 tons of coal by Alexi Stakhanov in 1935 and it was an important symbol by which the state urged workers to achieve greater productivity. As Siegelbaum shows, Stakhanovism can be used to explore the social relations within Soviet industry at a critical stage in its development. In this sense, Stakhanovism was an important symbol of a shift in official priorities from construction of the means of production via increasing inputs of labor to intensive use of capital and labor. Contents Tables Preface Russian terms and abbreviations Introduction 1. Preconditions and precursors: industrial relations, 1929—1935 2. From Stakhanov to Stakhanovism 3. Managers and specialists in the Stakhanovite year 4. The making of Stakhanovites 5. Stakhanovites and non-Stakhanovites 6. Stakhanovites in the cultural mythology of the 1930s 7. From the Great Purges to the Great Patriotic War: the decline of Stakhanovism Conclusion Selected bibliography Index By interpreting the Stakhanovites as role models of the new Soviet man in the 1930s, this book explores the social relations within Soviet industry at a critical stage in its development. It examines the nature of the Stakhanovite movement, and their changing role within Russian society Lewis H. Siegelbaum. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 309-320.