Stakhanovites and Living Conditions (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Stakhanovites and Living Conditions
The Stakhanovite movement
The Stakhanovite movement originated in August 1935 when Aleksei Stakhanov, a coal miner working in the Don Basin, extracted 102 tonnes of coal using a pneumatic pick in 5 hours 45 minutes. This represented 14 times the quantity normally expected from a miner during that timeframe. The regime immediately celebrated Stakhanov as an example of how determination and effort could dramatically boost productivity.
Stakhanov received substantial financial rewards, honorary titles, and official recognition as a Soviet hero. The Party organised competitions encouraging other workers to break records and emulate his achievement. By December 1935, so many records had been broken that they filled two volumes of documentation.
This campaign served the regime's propaganda purposes perfectly, presenting an image of a new proletarian culture founded on teamwork and selfless dedication to socialist construction. The movement had practical consequences for industrial management, as factory directors found themselves under pressure to support their workforce in ways that would enable higher production levels.
However, the Stakhanovite campaign did not enjoy universal popularity among workers themselves. Evidence suggests that some Stakhanovites faced jealousy from colleagues, partly because they received superior accommodation and material benefits. Records indicate that certain Stakhanovites suffered victimisation or even physical attacks from fellow workers who resented pressure to increase their own output or who suspected the campaigns were undermining their position.
The Propaganda Stunt Revealed
Years later, investigators discovered that Stakhanov's celebrated achievement had been substantially staged. He had worked with a support team who performed many routine tasks that miners typically had to complete themselves, such as propping up the roof. This allowed Stakhanov to concentrate exclusively on cutting coal, making his record-breaking performance possible but hardly representative of normal working conditions.
Managers: pressures and working conditions
Factory directors and industrial managers faced the unenviable task of meeting output targets established by regional administrators (working for the Commissariat responsible for their particular economic sector). Fulfilling quotas whilst operating with restricted resources, controlled prices, limited wage funds, and various other constraints presented an extremely difficult challenge.
Managers naturally attempted to negotiate for the largest possible workforce and wage allocation, but once these were established, the factory manager possessed little room for manoeuvre. The production quota remained the paramount concern. Managers who exceeded their targets could receive bonuses amounting to as much as 40 per cent of their base income. High salaries and elevated status came with these positions as part of the new industrial elite.
Key Definition: Wrecking
Wrecking refers to acts perceived as economic or industrial sabotage, such as failing to meet economic targets, lowering morale in the workplace (by failing to uphold Stalinist propaganda), lack of effort, or incompetence.
However, the pressure to meet targets created severe problems. Managers frequently resorted to falsifying statistics when faced with the prospect of failure. The consequences for missing targets were severe: a manager could be put on trial, imprisoned, or even executed. Furthermore, managers had to ensure their accounts balanced properly to avoid charges of wrecking.
From 1936 onwards, factories had to pay for their own fuel, raw materials and labour from their 'profits', forcing managers to account meticulously or at least appear to maintain credible figures. In such circumstances, bribery and corruption became deeply embedded within the system.
The state established national work norms specifying how much labour a worker should be expected to perform, alongside rules governing issues such as absenteeism. These regulations made it difficult for managers to earn goodwill from their workforce. Managers who ignored rules or proved too willing to reward bonuses rather than punish shortfalls risked their production levels declining.
When work norms rose by between 10 and 50 per cent in 1936, dealing with protesting workers became even more challenging. Any attempt to bypass regulations or lower norms could result in accusations of sabotage.
The Stakhanovites presented particular complications for managers. Excessive effort from Stakhanovites could lead to factory targets being revised upwards, creating fresh difficulties for achieving quotas the following year. Additionally, workers eager to demonstrate their prowess and earn medals sometimes accused managers of wrecking by failing to supply adequate tools or resources.
During the late 1930s, managers confronted labour shortages resulting from several factors: a slump in global trade due to the worldwide Depression, improving conditions on collective farms (which reduced migration to cities), and growing numbers of young men being conscripted into military service. Military demands also intensified shortages of raw materials, particularly oil, coal and wood, precisely when consumer demand was rising.
Managers who maintained accurate accounts could potentially enjoy reasonably comfortable lives, though most kept any illicit gains carefully hidden for fear of being reported. For honest managers, living conditions were not vastly different from those of their workers.
Workers: harsh realities of industrial life
Despite communist rhetoric about proletarianisation and creating the 'socialist man', the actual living and working conditions experienced by industrial workers fell far short of any socialist paradise.
Key Definition: Proletarianisation
Proletarianisation refers to turning the mass of the population into urban workers whilst eliminating selfish capitalist attitudes and developing a cooperative mentality.
Work discipline and punishment
The drive for rapid industrialisation introduced tough measures for the workforce. Workers faced a seven-day working week and extended working hours. Arriving late or missing work could result in dismissal, eviction from housing, and loss of benefits. Damaging machinery or leaving employment without permission became criminal offences, whilst strikes were illegal.
From 1938, labour books recorded each worker's employment history, skills, and any disciplinary problems. These documents became a crucial tool for controlling and monitoring the workforce.
Tightening Discipline (1939-1940)
Government attitudes towards workers grew harsher during 1939 and 1940 as the prospect of war loomed:
- Being 20 minutes late for work became a criminal offence
- A 1940 decree ended the free labour market
- Skilled workers could be directed to work anywhere
- Others required permission to change jobs
- Social benefits were also reduced
Training and wage differentials
Despite the harsh conditions, some enthusiasm existed among workers during the early years of industrialisation. An extensive training programme was established, and opportunities for advancement through learning new skills meant that certain workers prospered.
From 1931 onwards, wage differentials were introduced specifically to reward those who worked hard. Managers could vary wages, award bonuses, implement payment by the piece (to encourage higher productivity), and offer better housing to reward skills and dedicated application.
The proletariat became more diverse in its experiences—some workers thrived whilst others struggled. Stalin's industrialisation drive generated new opportunities for social advancement. Purges during the 1930s targeted intellectuals and white-collar workers most severely, reducing competition for jobs and creating vacancies 'at the top'.
Nevertheless, even though Stalin announced in 1933 that 'life has become better, comrades, life has become more joyous', the realities of daily existence remained grim throughout this period.
Housing and daily hardships
The masses pouring into industrial cities, particularly during the early 1930s, found themselves living in extremely cramped communal apartments. Workers had to cope with inadequate sanitation and erratic water supplies. Public transport was overcrowded, shops were frequently empty, and queues alongside chronic shortages became an accepted feature of daily life.
Key Definition: Real Wages
Real wages refers to what could actually be purchased with money wages, taking into account the varying price of goods.
Real wages increased during the second Five Year Plan, yet they remained lower in 1937 than they had been in 1928. Furthermore, although rationing was phased out in 1935, market prices remained high. Whilst those occupying positions of importance within the socialist system (for example, Party officials) could obtain goods more cheaply, this was not the case for ordinary workers.
Living standards for average workers stagnated and may even have declined slightly in the years immediately before the war.
Prison camp inmates
At the extreme end of the spectrum, workers were forced to labour for the state on grandiose projects as prison camp inmates.
Belomor Canal (1931-1933)
The Belomor Canal was constructed almost entirely through manual labour between 1931 and 1933. The conditions were horrific:
- Labour force reached approximately 300,000 at its peak
- Death rate reached 100 per day
- New prisoners arrived at 1,500 per day
- Average survival time was just two years
Prisoner testimony described impossible work quotas, lack of adequate warnings about the severe climate, and people freezing to death. Corpses were left on work sites, with bodies thrown into sledges and bones remaining in the concrete mixer.
Women: discrimination, change, and inequality
Despite communist doctrines of 'equality', female workers in 1929 (representing approximately 29 per cent of the workforce) were largely concentrated in the lowest paid employment requiring the least skills—particularly in textiles and other light industry. Women were routinely discriminated against and paid less than men for fulfilling the same work norms.
This situation did not improve immediately with the launching of the first Five Year Plan. Zhenotdel, the women's section of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party devoted to women's affairs, was closed down in January 1930. There was no concerted drive to increase female labour participation.
Key Definition: Zhenotdel
Zhenotdel was the women's section of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, responsible for advancing women's rights and participation in Soviet society.
Growth in female employment
However, women workers began entering Soviet industry in unprecedented numbers. By 1935, women constituted 42 per cent of all industrial workers. As prices rose, urban working-class women flooded into industry and also found employment in education, healthcare and administration to help sustain their families.
The desperate attempts by factory managers to reach their quotas led them to employ the wives, widows, and teenage daughters of their male workers. These women proved to be a valuable labour resource; they were more reliable than victims of collectivisation arriving from the countryside. Furthermore, the employment of urban women reduced the need for additional housing development to accommodate migration into cities, indirectly helping in the accumulation of capital for further industrial growth.
Discrimination and improvements
During the second Five Year Plan, the Party recognised the value of female workers and issued orders for greater numbers of women to be employed in heavy industry. However, many factory managers continued hiring women for jobs requiring the fewest skills and remained reluctant to offer promotions or train women to undertake skilled work.
On the factory floor, females faced harassment, both physical and sexual, from their male co-workers. With the abolition of Zhenotdel, there was no institution to challenge inequality in the workplace.
Nevertheless, from 1936 onwards, the Party made greater efforts to enrol women in technical training programmes and made women's entry into management positions easier. Consequently, increasing numbers of women found their way into well-paid skilled positions in heavy industry, including lumber, metal and machine production.
The provision of state nurseries, crèches, canteens and child-clinics enabled these women to cope with combining work and family responsibilities. Despite these advances, on average women still earned 40 per cent less than men. Progress was certainly made, but little over 43 per cent of the industrial workforce was female by 1940, and substantial inequality remained.
Key Points to Remember:
- The Stakhanovite movement, based on Aleksei Stakhanov's 1935 record-breaking coal extraction, served as propaganda to boost productivity but was later revealed to be partly staged and provoked resentment among some workers.
- Managers faced enormous pressure to meet output targets with limited resources, risking imprisonment or execution for failure, whilst corruption and falsification became widespread responses to impossible demands.
- Industrial workers endured harsh discipline (seven-day weeks, criminal punishments for lateness), poor housing in cramped communal apartments, chronic shortages, and real wages that remained lower in 1937 than in 1928 despite economic growth.
- Women entered the industrial workforce in unprecedented numbers (rising from 29 per cent in 1929 to 43 per cent by 1940) but faced persistent discrimination, harassment, and earned on average 40 per cent less than men.