Movement of shock workers trying to increase labor productivity. Shock USSR. Chronicles of Stakhanov. AT 4. Please note what you are talking about

The Stakhanov movement was one of the manifestations of the so-called “socialist competition”, and its immediate predecessor was “shockism”. For the first time, such a mechanism for stimulating production was used during the years of war communism. Trotsky’s resolution adopted at the IX Party Congress stated that “along with the agitational and ideological influence on the working masses and repression... competition is a powerful force for raising labor productivity... The bonus system should become one of the means of inciting competition. The food supply system must be consistent with it: as long as the Soviet Republic does not have enough food supplies, a diligent and conscientious worker must be better provided for than a careless one.”

Forced industrialization was proclaimed by Trotsky's resolution

A decade later, with the proclamation of accelerated industrialization, “socialist competition” gained a second wind. The appeal of the XVI Conference of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) “To all workers and toiling peasants of the Soviet Union” dated April 29, 1929 stated that the decision of the IX Party Congress “is now completely timely and vital.” There was a call to organize competition between enterprises to increase labor productivity, reduce the cost of goods produced and strengthen labor discipline.

Newspapers everywhere encouraged young people to achieve industrial achievements. The press was filled with motivating slogans and appeals: “Isn’t every day, every worker, every team faced with this or that specific task, this or that task? Isn’t it possible to organize social competition among construction workers to complete these daily tasks?” Socialist competition in factories took a variety of forms: roll calls, achievement shows, shock brigades, public tugboats, above-plan coal trains, shock sections, ships and workshops. This movement of enthusiastic workers also formed its own heroes, the name of one of whom - Alexei Grigorievich Stakhanov - went down in history and even became a household name.

Stakhanov turned from a miner into a nomenklatura worker

Coal was especially urgently needed to meet the needs of industrialization, so the Soviet authorities aimed at increasing labor productivity among miners. At the same time, the modernization of the mines was carried out at a rather slow pace. Future production leader Alexey Stakhanov worked at the Tsentralnaya-Irmino mine, which by the early 1930s was considered one of the most backward in the region, it was even contemptuously called a “garbage dump.” However, during the years of the first Five-Year Plan, the mine underwent technical reconstruction: electricity was installed there, and some miners received jackhammers, with the help of which they began to set labor records.

On a day off, on the night of August 30-31, mine worker Alexey Stakhanov went underground with two fixers and two haulers of coal cars. In addition, party organizer of the mine Petrov and the editor of the large-circulation newspaper “Kadievsky Rabochiy” were present at the mine, who documented what was happening. Stakhanov carried out a record shift, producing 102 tons, and in September of the same year he raised the record to 227 tons.

Alexei Stakhanov with a gift from Stalin

A note about Stakhanov’s feat was accidentally seen by the People’s Commissar of Heavy Industry Sergo Ordzhonikidze, who, due to the low pace of the Second Five-Year Plan, left Moscow so as not to catch the eye of Stalin. A couple of days later, the Pravda newspaper published an article entitled “The Record of Miner Stakhanov,” which told about the feat of the Lugansk miner. Stakhanov was quickly noticed abroad. Time magazine even put a portrait of the miner on the cover. True, Stakhanov himself no longer worked at the mine, mainly speaking at rallies and party meetings. A leader in production, the media “ideal” of a communist man was distinguished by far from exemplary behavior: together with his comrades he broke mirrors in the Metropol restaurant and caught fish in a decorative pool, which caused extreme dissatisfaction with Stalin, who promised to change his surname to a more modest one if he did not will correct itself.

Stakhanov on the cover of Time magazine

Active Stakhanovites and shock workers received various privileges and had a certain advantage in the hierarchy of distribution of public goods. Thus, a special elite of Soviet workers was formed, which later transformed into an independent social class - the scientific and technical intelligentsia. Through drumming, opportunities for a better life opened up; it became a kind of social “elevator” for a young man dreaming of a career. The most honored workers “from the machine” were promoted to positions of foremen, technicians and even engineers (practitioners), and were also sent to study at higher educational institutions (the so-called “promoters”). So in the 1920s, the old leadership corps at all levels of management was replaced by young people who unconditionally supported Soviet power and unfailingly implemented all the guidelines of the party.

In general, a successful strategy led, however, to a significant decrease in the proportion of managers with higher and secondary specialized education, which negatively affected the quality indicators of production and the speed of implementation of certain scientific achievements. According to the All-Union Population Census of 1939, in the USSR only half of all employees had appropriate professional training, which reduced the effectiveness of management of all processes of socio-economic life.

Stakhanov died in 1977 in a psychiatric hospital from alcoholism

One of the “promoters” was Mikhail Eliseevich Putin, the actual initiator of shock socialist competition. Since childhood, Putin has tried a number of simple professions: a boy in a coffee shop, a delivery boy in a shoe shop, a watchman, a port loader. So he acquired sufficient physical strength, and therefore in the winter he began to work as an athlete-wrestler in the circus - he really liked this spectacle. There was an interesting episode in Putin’s circus career when the future drummer of the production took part in a classic fight with the invincible Ivan Poddubny and was able to hold out for seven whole minutes. Having become a member of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) following Lenin’s call (mass recruitment of all comers into the party from among the workers and poorest peasants in 1924), after the end of the Civil War, Putin entered the Krasny Vyborgets plant, where his work made him famous.

Portrait of Mikhail Eliseevich Putin

In January 1929, Lenin’s article “How to Organize a Competition,” written by him back in 1918, was published in the Pravda newspaper. The publication was followed by speeches by activists, including those inspired and directed by party and trade union organizations, in which they called for increasing production standards, saving raw materials, and improving quality indicators. Soon, the Leningrad correspondent point of Pravda received the task of finding an enterprise where it was possible to significantly reduce the cost of production, and most importantly, to find a worthy, exemplary brigade that would agree to become the “initiator of mass socialist competition.” On March 15, 1929, an article appeared in the country's main newspaper about a competition among pipe cutters at the Krasny Vyborzhets plant - Mikhail Putin gained wide popularity, and the relay of socialist competitions began to rapidly spread throughout the country.

In fact, the drummers were supposed to become real examples of the implementation of communist ideas about the formation of a new type of man. The young Soviet state needed a different type of citizen, one who would meet the demands of a society at the forefront of the world communist movement. During this period, a large number of works were written that described the ideal of the new man and listed his main qualities: love for society and its members, willingness to fight for one’s ideals, revolutionary spirit, activity and desire to participate in changes, discipline, erudition, technical abilities and a willingness to subordinate one’s interests to those of society. Such a hero is well known from the textbook works of the school curriculum: the novels of Alexander Fadeev “Destruction” and “The Young Guard”, Alexander Serafimovich and his “Iron Stream”, Nikolai Ostrovsky and his autobiographical novel-diary “How the Steel Was Tempered”. Of course, the characters described in these works often remained only a figment of the imagination of their creators.

Option 1.

A1. The desire to find new economic ways to build socialism forced the Bolsheviks in the early 20s:

Go to NEP

A2. What characterizes the new economic policy of the Bolsheviks?

Introduction of a universal labor policy

Permission to sell surplus bread on the market

Introduction of surplus appropriation

Creation of committees

A3. The autonomization plan as the basis for the unification of the Soviet republics was put forward by:

1. Dzerzhinsky

A4. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was concluded:

A5. Which of the following is the reason for the internal party struggle in the 20s?

Ideological differences among party leaders on ways to build socialism in the USSR

An increase in the number of opponents of building socialism in a particular country

The desire of a number of leaders to create a government coalition of several socialist parties

Disagreements among leaders on the need to prepare for a world revolution

A6. Victory during the internal party struggle in the 20s. won:

2. Zinoviev

A7. How was spiritual life different in the 1920s? from the culture of the Silver Age?

The existence of various creative associations and unions?

Isolation from the masses

Control by the party and government apparatus

Lack of connection with Western culture

A8. The movement of shock workers, who sought to increase labor productivity, was named after:

Stakhanov

Angelina

Busygina

A10*. USSR foreign policy event in the 30s:

Signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

USSR entry into the League of Nations

Soviet-Polish War

Military conflict with Japan at Lake Khasan

Signing of the secret Soviet-German protocol on the division of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe

IN 1. The policy discussed in the passage:

The XV Party Congress set as the main task of the party in the countryside the gradual transition of scattered peasant farms to large-scale production

AT 2. What is the name of the one established by the state in the 20s? obligatory payment collected from peasant farms?

Answer:____________________________________

AT 3. In what year was the “Stalinist” Constitution or the Constitution of “victorious socialism” adopted?

Answer:____________________________________

Q4: Note who is being talked about in the passage:

He was born into the family of a wealthy tenant farmer. In London he met Lenin, who praised him as “a very energetic and capable comrade.” In 1917 he was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. In his “Letter to the Congress,” Lenin called him “the most capable person in the real Central Committee.” In 1927, he was expelled from the party, exiled to Alma-Ata, in 1929, expelled from the USSR, and in 1932, deprived of Soviet citizenship. Later he was killed by order of Stalin.

2. Zinoviev

   Sverdlov

C1. The political system that developed in the USSR in the 30s is called totalitarian by historians. Totalitarianism is characterized by complete control of the life of the state over all spheres of social life. Using your existing knowledge of history, give examples that confirm this assessment.

C2. Name the main reasons (at least 3) for the start of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in Russia inXXcentury.

Test final work on the topic “USSR on the path to building a new society”

Option 2.

A1. The desire to eliminate the technical and economic backwardness of the country forced the Bolsheviks in the mid-20s:

Go to NEP

Go to the policy of war communism

Allow freedom of foreign trade

Set a course for industrialization and collectivization of the national economy

A2. The essence of the new economic policy was:

Creating elements of a market economy

Nationalization of light industry enterprises

Liberalization of political life

The gradual transition from the dictatorship of the proletariat to a democratic republic

A3. The state-established mandatory payment levied on peasant farms during the NEP years is called:

Prodrazverstka

In-kind tax

Expropriation

A4. In what year was the USSR created?

A5. During the first five-year plans, much attention was paid to the rise of:

Agriculture

Light industry

Heavy industry

Service areas

A6. During collectivization, in contrast to NEP, the following occurs:

Socialization of the means of production

Using market methods

Accelerating the pace of agricultural development

Replacement of surplus appropriation with tax in kind

A7. As a result of the internal party struggle in the 20s. positions strengthened:

Trotsky

1. Kalinina

A8. The process of liquidation of wealthy peasant farms during the years of collectivization of agriculture is called:

Monopolization

Dispossession

Secularization

Averageization

A9. The Munich Agreement (Munich Agreement) of 1938, which contributed to the outbreak of World War II, was signed:

Great Britain

1. Czechoslovakia

   Spain

A10*. Foreign policy event of the 30s:

Signing of the Portsmouth Peace

Signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact

Participation in the Genoa Conference

Military conflict with Japan in the area of ​​the Khalkin-Gol River

Providing assistance to Republican Spain

IN 1. What was the name of the policy referred to in the CEC Resolution?

Grant the regional (regional) executive committees and governments of the republics the right to apply in these areas all the necessary measures to combat the kulaks, up to and including the complete confiscation of the property of the kulaks and their eviction from individual districts and territories.

Q2.Insert the missing position in the text:

In the 1930s One of the ways to increase labor productivity in industry is called the ________________________ movement.

AT 3. What is the exaltation of the role of one person, attributing to him during his lifetime a decisive influence on the course of the historical process?

Answer:__________________________________________

AT 4. Note who you are talking about.

He was born in 1870 in the city of Gori. Participated in the creation of the newspaper Pravda. In 1913, he wrote an article “Marxism and the National Question,” which earned him the authority of an expert on the national question. He became People's Commissar for National Affairs. During the Civil War he was involved in military-political work. In 1922, he was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Having strengthened his position, he dealt with the internal party opposition.

Ordzhonikidze

C1. Some historians believe that the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the USSR, concluded in 1939, had a positive significance in the history of the USSR. What other assessments of this document do you know? Which one do you find most convincing? Provide provisions and facts that will help reveal your point of view

C2. Name the main reasons (at least 3) for the transition to industrialization policy in the late 20sXXcentury.

The task marked * has multiple answer options.

Group C assignments are completed for a separate assessment at the student’s request.

Test on the topic “The Soviet state and society in the 1920-1930s.”

OptionI

1. Which of the above refers to the prerequisites of the NEP?

A) invasion of invaders into Russian territory

B) mass dissatisfaction of peasants with surplus appropriation

B) decisions of the Genoa Conference

2. What features are characteristic of collectivization Agriculture ?

A) forced collectivization B) development of private land ownership

C) accelerated pace D) attraction of foreign capital

D) dispossession

Please indicate the correct answer:

1) ABC; 2) AED; 3) IOP; 4) BVG.

3. The transition to the NEP took place in

A) 1920 B) 1921 B) 1922 D) 1925

4. Which event happened first?

A) formation of the USSR B) transition to the NEP C) adoption of the first Constitution of the USSR

C) reduction in the combat effectiveness of the Red Army

10. Which of the above characterizes the totalitarian regime emerging in the USSR?

A) monopoly dominance of the CPSU (b) in the political arena

B) respect for democratic rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of 1936.

C) the market basis of the state’s economic system

D) the operation of the principle of separation of powers

17. Who were the main political rivals in the 20s?

18. Who headed the Soviet delegation at the Genoa Conference?

19. The purpose of creating creative unions in the USSR was:

A) Strengthening party-state control over culture

B) Creating conditions for free creativity of cultural figures

C) Strengthening cultural ties between the peoples of the USSR

D) Expansion of cultural contacts with Western countries

20. Indicate the situation characterizing the policy of the Soviet government in relation to the church

A) Desire for cooperation

B) Prohibition of religious propaganda

B) Cooperation

D) providing complete freedom of action in the non-political sphere

21. Complete the term

Exalting the role of one person, attributing to him during his lifetime a decisive influence on the course of historical development ________________

22. Complete the following phrases:

“Forced modernization of industry in the USSR in the 1930s. received the name ___________________________"

“An international organization that united communist parties of various countries in 1919-1943 _____________________”

23. Match the names of famous Soviet cultural figures and their areas of activity:

OptionII

1. What measures are typical for NEP?

A) introduction of cost accounting B) introduction of surplus appropriation C) universal labor conscription

Please indicate the correct answer:

1) ABD 2) BVG 3) AGD 4) BGD

2. The USSR was admitted to the League of Nations in:

A) 1930 B) 1931 B) 1933 D) 1934

3. What event in the history of the USSR is 1936 associated with?

A) adoption of the USSR Constitution B) beginning of the second five-year plan

C) recognition of the Soviet Union by the USA D) creation of the first machine and tractor station

4. What did the USSR and Germany agree on when they signed the non-aggression treaty and the secret protocols to it?

A) about the date of the German attack on England and France

B) on the division of spheres of influence between Moscow and Berlin in Eastern Europe

C) on the division of spheres of influence in the Balkans and Asia

5. Twenty-five thousand meters are

C) communists sent to villages to create collective farms D) Nepmen

6. Which of the following does not apply to the features of political development in the 1920s.

A) Merging of the state and party apparatus B) Development of a multi-party system

B) Intra-party struggle C) Establishment of a one-party political system

7. Which term denotes the policy of the Soviet government in 1924-1929?

A) “Zubatovism” B) collectivization C) surplus appropriation D) NEP

8. The movement of shock workers trying to increase labor productivity was named after

A) A. Stakhanov B) C) A. Busygina D) M. Mazaya

9. The process of liquidation of wealthy peasant farms during the years of agricultural collectivization

A) monopolization B) secularization C) dispossession D) middleing

10. Which of the above is one of the reasons for the unification of the Soviet republics into a single state - the USSR?

A) economic interdependence of the republics

B) the need to establish a religious union

C) the desire to strengthen the influence of Russians among the peoples living on the territory of the former Russian Empire

D) an attempt to unite efforts to prepare a world revolution

11. The article “Dizziness from Success” was published

A) in 1928 B) 1930 C) in 1933 D) in 1938

12. The Genoa Conference took place in

A) 1918 B) 1921 C) 1922 D) 1928

13. “The Shakhty affair” is

A) accusing a group of Donbass engineers and technical specialists of sabotage

B) report on socialist competition in the mines of Donbass

C) opening of new mines in Donbass

D) re-equipment of mines with new equipment

14. In the Constitution of 1936, the results of the socio-economic and political development of the USSR were assessed as

A) complete victory of socialism B) the beginning of the world revolution

C) preparation for world war D) the beginning of the withering away of the state

15. The streak of recognition of the USSR is

A) 1924-1925 B) 1925-1926 B) 1926-1926 D) 1936-1939

16. The collapse of collective security policy in Europe was caused by

A) mutual distrust of the USSR and European powers

B) the outbreak of World War II

B) the beginning of German aggression against the USSR

D) the conclusion of the Anglo-Franco-German Treaty of Friendship

17. The conclusion about the possibility of building socialism in a single country - the USSR, was formulated

18. In 1934 it happened

B) appointment to the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs

B) murder

D) expulsion

19. What decision was made at a meeting of the heads of government of Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy in September 1938 in Munich?

A) on the withdrawal of Italian troops from Ethiopia

B) on the transfer of part of the Czechoslovak territory (Sudetenland) to Germany

B) on the accession of Great Britain and France to the Anti-Comintern Pact

20. The Communist International was created for

A) Economic support for the proletariat of Europe

B) Preparations for the world revolution

C) Establishing contacts with socialist parties in Europe

D) Reworking the main provisions of communist ideology

21. Complete the name of the term.

All cultural workers were required to follow certain government guidelines and be guided in their creative activities by ideological approaches that corresponded to the political course of the ruling party. The principle of partisanship in literature and art was to be based on the method of _____________

22. Complete the following phrases:

“The People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR put forward the idea of ​​​​creating ________ in Europe”

“The process of uniting individual peasant farms into collective ones _________________”

Test on the topic “USSR on the path to building a new society”

OptionIII

1. Which of the above characterizes the NEP?

A) surplus appropriation B) tax in kind

C) the introduction of workers' control D) universal labor conscription

2. Naval base whose sailors rebelled in 1921

A) Sveaborg B) Sevastopol C) Kronstadt D) Vladivostok

3. The goals of collectivization include

A) obtaining funds for industrialization

B) increasing the standard of living of peasants

C) the elimination of the kulaks as a class

D) centralized agricultural management

D) achieve growth in the size of the industrial working class

Please indicate the correct answer:

4. Mark the years of the first Five Year Plan

A) 1925-1939 B) 1928-1932 B) 1929-1933 D) 1933-1937

5. The autonomization plan was put forward as the basis for the unification of the Soviet republics

7. A non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany was concluded

8. In what year was the USSR created?

A) in 1922 B) in 1924 C) in 1936 D) in 1938

9. During the first five-year plans, much attention was paid to the rise

C) heavy industry D) service sector

10. Which of the following is one of the reasons for the conclusion of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR in 1939?

A) the desire of the USSR to create a system of collective security in Europe

B) the need to stop German aggression in Europe

C) the desire to secure the country from the invasion of Nazi troops in the near future

11. The Rappal agreements, which marked the beginning of a breakthrough in the foreign policy isolation of the RSFSR in the international arena, were signed in 1922.

A) with Great Britain B) with the USA C) with Germany D) with France

A) in 1929 B) 1930 C) in 1933 D) in 1938

13. Free hiring of labor through labor exchanges is a phenomenon characteristic of

A) the NEP period B) the first five-year plan C) the second five-year plan

14. Toward Soviet foreign policy in the 1920s. not applicable

A) attitude towards England, France, USA as friendly countries

B) providing support to Turkey

C) conclusion on friendship with Afghanistan

D) recognition of the status of Iran as an independent state

15. Famine 1932-1933 arrived

A) due to natural reasons B) due to national genocide

B) due to deliberate social genocide of the population

D) in connection with the anti-peasant policy of forced collectivization and grain procurements

16. During what events did the governments of the Western powers proclaim a policy of “non-intervention”

A) during the Spanish Civil War

B) during the intervention of Japanese troops in China

B) during the period of the forced annexation of Austria to Germany

17. The struggle for power after death ended in victory

18. Event dating back to 1936

A) murder B) entry of the USSR into the League of Nations

C) appointment of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b) D) adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR

19. For what purpose did Stalin publish the article “Dizziness from Success” in March 1930?

A) to admit your own mistakes

B) to place responsibility for forced collectivization on local authorities

C) to warn peasants against hasty entry into collective farms

20. Collectivization of agriculture was the reason

A) Destruction of the kulaks as a class B) Increasing grain production

C) Strengthening privately owned peasant farming

D) Transfer of funds from city to village

21. Indicate the name of the policy in question.

In economic terms, the implementation of this policy ensured the restoration of the country's economy destroyed in the war in a relatively short time and allowed the Soviet government to feed the people. Market relations were actively developing in the country, and a mixed economy was being formed.

22. Complete the following phrases:

The Rappal Agreement was signed with ________________

From the second half of the 1930s. shock workers, advanced production workers were called ________

23. Match the historical figure and the fact of his biography:

On March 15, 1929, a short article with the following content appeared in the Pravda newspaper, the highest printed organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: “Agreement on socialist competition for aluminum cutters of the pipe shop of the Krasny Vyborzhets plant.” We, aluminum trimmers, challenge the following developments to socialist competition to increase labor productivity and reduce costs: cleanliness, red copper trimming, scraping and the development of tram arches. For our part, we are voluntarily reducing cutting prices by 10 percent and will take all measures to increase labor productivity by 10 percent. We challenge you to accept our challenge and enter into a contract with us. Aluminum choppers: Putin, Mokin, Ogloblin, Kruglov.”

It was with this “glove” thrown by the foreman of aluminum trimmers Mikhail Eliseevich Putin (1894-1969) to the cleaners, copper trimmers and scrapers that total socialist competition began in the Soviet Union, which soon covered all spheres of production activity of Soviet citizens. Naturally, the initiative of Putin and his comrades did not come from below, not from the thick of the people, where the idea of ​​​​more intensive work for the same salary could not arise. Worker Putin’s call was preceded by the appearance in January in Pravda of Lenin’s article “How to Organize Competition?”, written twelve years earlier but published for the first time.

This “gun”, which had been hanging on the stage for a long time, according to theatrical tradition, fired at the right moment. Firstly, after the devastating civil war, the Soviet people restored the national economy, and the prerequisites for moving forward appeared. Secondly, this movement was already planned and was called the “industrialization of the country.” Therefore, the country's leadership sought to increase labor productivity without increasing the wage fund. This method is called “moral stimulation of workers.”

Depending on the results achieved in production, moral encouragement (or, as they now say, motivation) of workers was carried out. Just good workers were awarded certificates of honor. The next most important award were the badges: Winner of the socialist competition, Shock Worker of the Five-Year Plan, Shock Worker of Communist Labor. Brigades, workshops and enterprises received a group award - a challenging red banner, which was awarded for a limited period - for a quarter or a year. Photos of the most distinguished employees were placed on the “Honour Board”. Well, the “Hercules” were given government awards, the highest of which was the gold star of the Hero of Socialist Labor. At the same time, moral incentives were often supported by minor material ones in the form of bonuses and free trips to holiday homes and sanatoriums.

From 1929 to 1935, socialist competition, “initiated” by Putin, was “anonymous.” The press discussed achievements in this or that industry, at this or that enterprise, but the names of the “heroes” were practically not mentioned. Actually, there were none. But by the mid-1930s they became necessary as industrialization began. And then they began to create them manually. The first to be “made” was Alexei Stakhanov, who on August 31, 1935, using an ordinary jackhammer, chopped 102 tons of coal during a shift, thereby exceeding the norm by 14 times! There is an interesting point in this heroic story: during the establishment of the record, two “slaves” (workers Borisenko and Shchigolev) worked for Stakhanov, who strengthened the working arches and whose names were not officially named. Soon, at a nearby mine, Nikita Izotov cut 240 tons, but five fixers were already walking behind him. These records were also planned at the very top, since they became trump cards at the First All-Union Meeting of Stakhanovite Workers and Workers, held in November. It was there that Stalin declared that “life has become better, life has become more fun.”

The overwhelming majority of Soviet workers viewed such feats with great disapproval, since this led to a sharp increase in production standards. At the same time, privileged conditions were not created for anyone, as for Stakhanov and Izotov. Each miner alone chopped coal, secured the vaults, and rose to the surface to replace the extinguished lamp with a burning one. Stalin, speaking at the congress, announced the opposition of the Stakhanovites to the stagnant administration. However, she was not the only one who tried in vain to slow down the heroes, as the leader recounted from the high rostrum: “Comrade Molotov has already told you about the torment Comrade Musinsky, a sawmill in Arkhangelsk, had to endure when he secretly from the economic organization, secretly from the controllers, developed new, higher technical standards. The fate of Stakhanov himself was not the best, for he had to defend himself as he moved forward not only from some members of the administration, but also from some workers, who ridiculed and persecuted him for his “innovations.” As for Busygin (blacksmith V.T.), it is known that he almost paid for his “innovations” by losing his job at the factory.”

It should be noted that moral incentives for shock workers also had an implicitly expressed material component. Ordinary frontline workers were often appointed to higher positions - foremen, shop managers, and even enterprise managers, which was reflected in both the salary and the benefits received. As for the “Heracles,” miraculous metamorphoses occurred to them. In this regard, the fate of Stakhanov is indicative, who from a village boy overnight turned into a “Soviet nobleman.” Immediately after he set the record, he was sent to Moscow to study at the Industrial Academy. Together with his young wife, he was settled in a beautiful apartment in the House on the Embankment, given two company cars, and allocated funds for the construction of a summer house. So he settled in Moscow, holding senior positions in the Ministry of Coal Industry, sitting on the Supreme Council of the USSR and other representative bodies. Stakhanov was often invited to dinner by Stalin himself. And with the leader’s son, Vasily, the hero of labor regularly caused brawls at the National. True, after Stakhanov lost his party card in a drunken brawl, Stalin asked him to tell the drummer that if he did not stop his spree, he would have to change his last name to a more modest one.

From all this it follows that Stakhanov (like all other labor superstars) played an exclusively expositional and ideological role. With his enormous height and, according to contemporaries, fists the size of a child’s head, he was the physical embodiment of the myth. Stakhanov, the personification of the “Soviet dream,” seemed to invite everyone who wanted to catch their luck and become, like him, a “Soviet nobleman.” Become like the Vinogradov weavers, like the tractor driver Pasha Angelina, like the driver Krivonos!..

However, everything passes. This kind of highly effective moral stimulation was inseparable from all other institutions of a totalitarian society. Beginning in the 1960s, the mechanisms of socialist competition began to slip, and in the 1970s this phenomenon turned into a completely meaningless ritual. Drawing up quarterly socialist obligations became mandatory for every employee and amounted to rewriting job responsibilities into a special “competitive” journal. Certificates, badges and banners were still issued, but they were already completely worthless.

It can be assumed that socialist competition with its inherent method of moral encouragement of leaders has been preserved only in such exotic states as North Korea and Cuba. However, we are surprised to discover that recently some elements of this phenomenon, discredited in Russia, are beginning to appear both in the West and in the economically developed countries of the East.

Naturally, such motivation is possible only against the backdrop of normal wages. A person who can barely make ends meet would probably be offended when, instead of banknotes that ensure a decent life, he is given a trinket with a gold feather, or even a figurine.

As for Japan, here “capitalist competition” has gained great popularity, especially in high-tech companies. And in such giants as Sony, Sharp, and in ambitious companies rushing to the heights of financial success, one can often observe fragments of our Soviet past. In workshops and laboratories, photographs of the best inventors and innovators are hung on stands. Posters with calls to increase labor productivity and save materials and energy are posted everywhere. There are strictly adhered to schedules for meetings to share best practices.

And these are not ritual propaganda materials: all inventions and rationalization proposals that can save at least one yen are strictly introduced into production. For example, in the copier company Ricoh, which ranks fourth in the country in terms of innovation activity, over seven thousand patents are registered annually. And not only engineers, but also workers take part in this total process. Moreover, inventors receive only moral incentives for their contributions.

Of course, Japan is a special country where people work for their “native” company, as they say, for life. In this connection, they are interested in its financial prosperity, because it inevitably affects their well-being. But what is the point for Americans and Europeans to be so sensitive to the moral component of reward for selfless work?

The answer to this question can be found in the book of the American futurist Francis Fukuyama, written fifteen years ago, “The End of History and the Last Man,” which became the gospel of neoliberalism. Considering the most diverse motives that force a person to work, Fukuyama comes to a disappointing (and completely politically incorrect) conclusion for third world countries: people work with greater efficiency in countries connected by a commonality of liberally oriented cultures. And this community was formed thanks to a heightened sense of justice, the desire for self-sacrifice and the manifestation of valor, courage and nobility, that is, those qualities that are united by such a term as thymos.

Consequently, for a person with high thymos, one of the main motivations is the thirst for self-affirmation in some field (in politics, on the battlefield, in business, in science, and in general in work) and instilling self-respect. Well, since Fukuyama said that such people live mainly in the USA, Western Europe and Japan, then moral incentives are very important for them. This means that they can be provoked into labor competition. And this new strategy of Western employers stems not so much from the desire to pay less and get more returns, but rather from the desire to use an additional lever to increase labor productivity. And even if it is not as powerful as the theorist Fukuyama claims, why not try it, since this does not require serious financial expenditure? It’s so easy to boost a leader’s mood by hanging his photograph on the wall. After all, this evokes the respect of colleagues and can arouse interest among some representatives of the fair sex.