Sergey F. Volodin

PhD in History, Associate Professor, Chair of Social Sciences, Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

(Tula, Russia)

Tatyana A. Volodina

Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Chair of History and Archeology, Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

(Tula, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2021-2-45

Abstract. The subject of this research is the experience of understanding the Stakhanov movement by Soviet domestic historiography. The article presents a comprehensive description of the achievements of Soviet historiography in the coverage of the Stakhanov movement. When analyzing the works of O. A. Yermansky, S. R. Gershberg, I. I. Kuzminova, V. A. Sakharova, R. Ya. Khabibulina and others, the authors proceeded from the standpoint of the unity of the research subject, its development and continuity. The article concludes that, despite the well-known ideological limitations, Soviet historians managed not only to highlight in detail the main components of a successful shift in the production culture of this period, but also to outline the obstacles and limits of the development of the Stakhanov movement in the 1930s. According to Soviet historians, important prerequisites for the Stakhanov movement were such new phenomena of the Soviet economy as an increase in the energy capacity of workers, the growth of their technical literacy, general culture, and the increasing role of material incentives for labor. In turn, among the main features of the Stakhanov method of increasing labor productivity, they called: strict specialization of skilled and auxiliary labor, rationalization of the technological process, comprehension and transfer of best practices, party leadership of the movement. At the same time, the negative aspects accompanying the Stakhanov movement were also identified in Soviet historiography. Due to the organization of Stakhanov shifts, five-day days, months, etc., the rhythm of the production cycle was disrupted. In addition, Stakhanov's ingenuity could not cancel the scientific foundations of engineering work, and individual labor records – the need to raise the productivity of all employees of the enterprise on the basis of technological and production discipline. The practice of extending the progressive piecework form of remuneration in excess of the measure also had certain costs. Nevertheless, the Stakhanov movement played a role in establishing a special historical phenomenon – Soviet industrial patriotism based on personal labor heroism.
Keywords: labor rationing, labor productivity, rationalization, Soviet historiography, socialist competition, the Stakhanov movement.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Volodin, SF, Volodin, TA. 2021, ‘Soviet historiography about the Stakhanov movement’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 2 (6), pp. 45–61, https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2021-2-45. (in Russ.)

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