Was rural stakhanovism a movement?

Europe - Asia Studies

Volumn 51, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 299-314

  Buckley, Mary ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0010639684     PISSN: 09668136     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09668139999047     Document Type: Article

References (82)

1. In fact, this rather numerical research was triggered by comments I received at the annual conference of BASEES in March 1994 in response to the paper 'Krest'yanskaya gazeta and rural stakhanovism'. More than one historian in the audience queried the size of the movement and linked its representativeness to its significance. I therefore felt obliged to try to provide an answer to a question which I might otherwise have happily ignored owing to its many pitfalls.
2. Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 12 October 1935, p. 1.
3. Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 12 October 1936, p. 1.
4. Sovkhoznaya gazeta, 6 March 1937, p. 3.
5. RTsKhIDNI, f. 17, op. 123, d. 14, 11. 2-15.
6. S. G. Wheatcroft & R. W. Davies, 'Agriculture', in R. W. Davies, Mark Harrison & S. G. Wheatcroft (eds), The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913-1945 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 106-130. See also S. G. Wheatcroft, 'The Soviet Economic Crisis of 1932: the Crisis in Agriculture', paper presented at the Annual Conference of BASEES, 23-25 March 1985. For fuller discussion of collectivisation, refer to R. W. Davies, The Collectivisation of Soviet Agriculture, 1929-1930 (London, Macmillan, 1980).
7. S. G. Wheatcroft & R. W. Davies, 'Agriculture', in R. W. Davies, Mark Harrison & S. G. Wheatcroft (eds), The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913-1945 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 106-130. See also S. G. Wheatcroft, 'The Soviet Economic Crisis of 1932: the Crisis in Agriculture', paper presented at the Annual Conference of BASEES, 23-25 March 1985. For fuller discussion of collectivisation, refer to R. W. Davies, The Collectivisation of Soviet Agriculture, 1929-1930 (London, Macmillan, 1980).
8. S. G. Wheatcroft & R. W. Davies, 'Agriculture', in R. W. Davies, Mark Harrison & S. G. Wheatcroft (eds), The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913-1945 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 106-130. See also S. G. Wheatcroft, 'The Soviet Economic Crisis of 1932: the Crisis in Agriculture', paper presented at the Annual Conference of BASEES, 23-25 March 1985. For fuller discussion of collectivisation, refer to R. W. Davies, The Collectivisation of Soviet Agriculture, 1929-1930 (London, Macmillan, 1980).
9. See Lynne Viola, Peasant Rebels under Stalin: collectivization and the culture of peasant resistance (New York, Oxford University Press, 1966), Preface.
10. For details of animal losses, see ibid., p. 70.
11. See RGAE, f. 260, op. 1.
12. See RTsKhIDNI, f. 17, op. 123; f. 17, op. 120; and f. 17, op. 12; RGAE, f. 7803, op. 1; and f. 9495, op. 1; GARF, f. 7689, op. 4; f. 7689, op. 7; f. 7689, op. 10; and f. 7689, op. 11.
13. See RTsKhIDNI, f. 17, op. 123; f. 17, op. 120; and f. 17, op. 12; RGAE, f. 7803, op. 1; and f. 9495, op. 1; GARF, f. 7689, op. 4; f. 7689, op. 7; f. 7689, op. 10; and f. 7689, op. 11.
14. See RTsKhIDNI, f. 17, op. 123; f. 17, op. 120; and f. 17, op. 12; RGAE, f. 7803, op. 1; and f. 9495, op. 1; GARF, f. 7689, op. 4; f. 7689, op. 7; f. 7689, op. 10; and f. 7689, op. 11.
15. See Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 22 April 1936, p. 3; and Pravda, 14 March 1939, p. 3.
16. See Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 22 April 1936, p. 3; and Pravda, 14 March 1939, p. 3.
17. RTsKhIDNI, f. 17, op. 2, d. 549, 11. 2-22 (December 1935); f. 17, op. 2, d. 548, 1. 19 (1935); f. 17, op. 2, d. 563, 1. 8 (June 1936); f. 17, op. 2, d. 623, 1. 23 (June 1937); f. 17, op. 3, d. 993, 1. 8 (January 1938).
18. For further details see Mary Buckley, 'Categorising resistance to rural stakhanovism', in Kevin McDermot & John Morison (eds), Politics and Society under the Bolsheviks (Macmillan, forthcoming).
19. Interviews with elderly women living on the Vladimir Il'ich collective farm, Moscow oblast', conducted 14 September 1996.
20. For fuller discussion of this point, see Roberta T. Manning, 'Women in the Soviet Countryside on the Eve of World War II', in Beatrice Farnsworth & Lynne Viola (eds), Russian Peasant Women (New York, Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 216-217.
21. See, for instance, speeches by Angelina and Levchenkova at the Second All-Union Congress of Kolkhoz Shock Workers, Vtoroi Vsesoyuznyi S"ezd Kolkhoznikov-Udarnikov Peredovykh Kolkhozov, 15-19 Fevralya 1933g: Stenograficheskii otchet (Moscow, Sel'khozgiz, 1935), pp. 101 and 48. For a fuller discussion of gender and rural stakhanovism see Mary Buckley, 'Images and realities of "new" women of the 1930s: assertive, superior, belittled and beaten', in Linda Edmondson (ed.), Gender in Russian History and Culture, 1800-1990 (Macmillan, forthcoming 1999).
22. See, for instance, speeches by Angelina and Levchenkova at the Second All-Union Congress of Kolkhoz Shock Workers, Vtoroi Vsesoyuznyi S"ezd Kolkhoznikov-Udarnikov Peredovykh Kolkhozov, 15-19 Fevralya 1933g: Stenograficheskii otchet (Moscow, Sel'khozgiz, 1935), pp. 101 and 48. For a fuller discussion of gender and rural stakhanovism see Mary Buckley, 'Images and realities of "new" women of the 1930s: assertive, superior, belittled and beaten', in Linda Edmondson (ed.), Gender in Russian History and Culture, 1800-1990 (Macmillan, forthcoming 1999).
23. Mary Buckley, Women and Ideology in the Soviet Union (Hemel Hempstead, Harvester/Wheatsheaf; Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1989), pp. 117-118.
24. Prominent conferences of shock workers and/or stakhanovites included the Second All-Union Congress of Collective Farm Workers in February 1935, the Conference of '500ers' in sugar beet production in November 1935, the Conference of Advanced Male and Female Combine Harvester Drivers in December 1935, the All-Union Conference of Advance Workers in Animal Husbandry in December 1936, the Third Conference of Advanced Workers in Animal Husbandry of Kazakhstan in January 1939 and many others. Conferences also took place at oblast' and raion levels.
25. Sovkhoznaya gazeta, 14 April 1936, p. 3; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 24 October 1935, p. 3; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 8 December 1935, p. 1; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 10 February 1937, p. 8.
26. Sovkhoznaya gazeta, 14 April 1936, p. 3; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 24 October 1935, p. 3; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 8 December 1935, p. 1; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 10 February 1937, p. 8.
27. Sovkhoznaya gazeta, 14 April 1936, p. 3; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 24 October 1935, p. 3; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 8 December 1935, p. 1; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 10 February 1937, p. 8.
28. Sovkhoznaya gazeta, 14 April 1936, p. 3; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 24 October 1935, p. 3; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 8 December 1935, p. 1; Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 10 February 1937, p. 8.
29. For a discussion of these images, see Mary Buckley, 'Krest'yanskaya gazeta and Rural Stakhanovism', Europe-Asia Studies, 46, 8, 1994, pp. 1390-1393.
30. GARF, f. 8131, op. 13, d. 64, 1. 231.
31. GARF, f. 8131, op. 13, d. 45, 1. 1.
32. GARF, f. 8131, op. 13, d. 45, 1. 11.
33. GARF, f. 8131, op. 13, d. 64, 1. 232 and 1. 266.
34. See, Buckley 'Categorising resistance to rural Stakhanovism', for discussion of problems of definition and of categorisation of forms of resistance, including inaction.
35. For tables on industrial Stakhanovism, refer to Z. K. Zvezdin, I. I. Belonosov & M. I. Khlusov, Sotsialisticheskoe sorevnovanie v SSSR, 1918-1964: dokumenty i materialy profsoyuzov (Moscow, izdatel'stvo VTsSPS Profizdat, 1965), p. 140. Sheila Fitzpatrick suggests that official statistics show increases in the size of the stakhanovite movement. The sources that she cites, however, are concerned with industrial Stakhanovism, not rural. See her Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization (New York, Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 266 and footnote 13 on page 367.
36. For tables on industrial Stakhanovism, refer to Z. K. Zvezdin, I. I. Belonosov & M. I. Khlusov, Sotsialisticheskoe sorevnovanie v SSSR, 1918-1964: dokumenty i materialy profsoyuzov (Moscow, izdatel'stvo VTsSPS Profizdat, 1965), p. 140. Sheila Fitzpatrick suggests that official statistics show increases in the size of the stakhanovite movement. The sources that she cites, however, are concerned with industrial Stakhanovism, not rural. See her Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization (New York, Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 266 and footnote 13 on page 367.
37. According to Laptev, in 1939 state farms took up 51.1 million hectares, while collective farms and individual peasant farms accounted for 370.8 million hectares. See I. Laptev, Sovetskoe Krest'yanstvo (Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo kolkhoznoi i sovkhoznoi literatury, Moscow, 1939), p. 123. Official Soviet statistics hold that in 1938 there were 242400 collective farms and 3961 state farms. See Tsentral'noe upravlenie narodnokhozyaistvennogo ucheta gosplana pri SNK SSSR, Sotsialisticheskoe stroitel'stvo soyuza SSSR (1933-1938), Statisticheskii sbornik (Moscow-Leningrad, Gosplanizdat, 1939), p. 85 and p. 87.
38. According to Laptev, in 1939 state farms took up 51.1 million hectares, while collective farms and individual peasant farms accounted for 370.8 million hectares. See I. Laptev, Sovetskoe Krest'yanstvo (Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo kolkhoznoi i sovkhoznoi literatury, Moscow, 1939), p. 123. Official Soviet statistics hold that in 1938 there were 242400 collective farms and 3961 state farms. See Tsentral'noe upravlenie narodnokhozyaistvennogo ucheta gosplana pri SNK SSSR, Sotsialisticheskoe stroitel'stvo soyuza SSSR (1933-1938), Statisticheskii sbornik (Moscow-Leningrad, Gosplanizdat, 1939), p. 85 and p. 87.
39. Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 4 April 1938, p. 2.
40. M. A. Vyl'tsan, Zavershayushchii etap sozdaniya kolkhoznogo stroya (Moscow, Izdatel'stvo 'Nauka', 1978), p. 128.
41. Ibid., p. 129, See also Sotsialisticheskoe zemledelie, 26 October 1935.
42. Ibid., p. 129, See also Sotsialisticheskoe zemledelie, 26 October 1935.
43. Vyl'tsan, Zavershayushchii etap, p. 127.
44. Sovkhoznaya gazeta, 22 December 1937, p. 2.
45. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 42, 1. 28.
46. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 119, 1. 236.
47. GARF, f. 7689, op. 10, d. 40, 1. 112.
48. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 320, 1. 97ob.
49. GARF, f. 7689, op. 7, d. 81, 1. 11ob.
50. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 320, 1. 19.
51. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 419, 1. 90.
52. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 119, 1. 8.
53. GARF, f. 7689, op. 7, d. 123, 1. 7ob.
54. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 460, 1. 13.
55. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 460, 1. 15.
56. GARF, f. 7689, op. 7, d. 125, 11. 8-9.
57. GARF, f. 7689, op. 7, d. 16, 1. 8.
58. GARF, f. 7689, op. 7, d. 16, 1. 10.
59. GARF, f. 7689, op. 7, d. 16, 1. 8.
60. GARF, f. 7689, op. 10, d. 170, 1. 14.
61. GARF, f. 7689, op. 7, d. 16, 1. 78.
62. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 42, 1. 28. For discussion of how record harvests of beet were managed with 'considerable connivance' by adding missing tsentners from communal areas, see Fedor Belov, The History of a Soviet Collective Farm (London, Routledge, 1956), p. 17.
63. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 42, 1. 29.
64. Krest'yanskaya gazeta, 6 January 1939, p. 2.
65. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 419, 1. 95.
66. Sovkhoznaya gazeta, 14 October 1935, p. 1.
67. Ibid.
68. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 119, 1. 23.
69. GARF, f. 7689, op. 11, d. 43, 1. 53.
70. Ibid. This is an amusing play on words. 'Stakan' is the Russian for 'glass,' so stakanovskoe dvizhenie is here 'drinking glass movement'.
71. Archives indicate a very high turnover of farm chairpersons on some farms. See RTsKhIDNI, f. 17, op. 123, d. 6, 1. 34.
72. Arfon Rees has pointed out a further relevance of size: if Stakhanovism assumes such proportions that it becomes the norm, as it did in transport and mining, then the label 'movement' becomes inappropriate. For discussion of stakhanovism in transport see his Stalinism and Soviet Rail Transport, 1928-1941 (London, Macmillan, 1995). For discussion of stakhanovism in industry, refer to Lewis H. Siegelbaum, Stakhanovism and the Politics of Productivity, 1935-1941 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988).
73. Arfon Rees has pointed out a further relevance of size: if Stakhanovism assumes such proportions that it becomes the norm, as it did in transport and mining, then the label 'movement' becomes inappropriate. For discussion of stakhanovism in transport see his Stalinism and Soviet Rail Transport, 1928-1941 (London, Macmillan, 1995). For discussion of stakhanovism in industry, refer to Lewis H. Siegelbaum, Stakhanovism and the Politics of Productivity, 1935-1941 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988).
74. Vladimir Voinovich, The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin, 1978), p. 144.
75. Valentin Kataev, 'Mariya Demchenko', in L. I. Stishova (ed.), V budnyakh velikikh stroek: zhenshchiny-kommunistki geroini pervykh pyatiletok (Moscow, Politizdat, 1986), p. 299.
76. Mary Buckley, 'The nagornovskoe dvizhenie - a stakhanovite movement in ploughing that was not', paper delivered at a seminar to mark the retirement of Professor Malcolm Anderson, Raeburn room, University of Edinburgh, 6 June 1998.
77. Stephen Kotkin, Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization (Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1995), pp. 2-14.
78. Fitzpatrick, Stalin's Peasants, pp. 10-13.
79. A relevant argument to note here is that of Moshe Lewin. He contends that a preindustrial society produced a 'mass of backward reactions at all levels of society'. As a way of combating backwardness, stakhanovism offered 'spectacular' solutions - precisely the sorts of answers which were not needed if systematic work, steady rhythms and coordination were required. See Moshe Lewin, The Making of the Soviet System (London, Methuen, 1985), pp. 37-38.
80. Buckley, 'Categorising resistance to rural stakhanovism'.
81. Nicholas S. Timasheff, The Great Retreat: the growth and decline of communism in Russia (New York, E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc., 1946), pp. 135-136 and pp. 349-362. Trotsky, too, argued that differentiation was part of the 'revolution betrayed'. Nonetheless, his work included positive comments on stakhanovism. He observed that 'certain achievements of individual workers are undoubtedly extremely interesting as evidence of the possibilities open only to socialism. However, from these possibilities to their realisation on the scale of the whole economy, is a long road ... Moreover, to raise millions to a small degree of technical skill is immeasurably harder than to spur on a few thousand champions'. See Leon Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and where is it going? (New York, Pathfinder, 1974), p. 83.
82. Nicholas S. Timasheff, The Great Retreat: the growth and decline of communism in Russia (New York, E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc., 1946), pp. 135-136 and pp. 349-362. Trotsky, too, argued that differentiation was part of the 'revolution betrayed'. Nonetheless, his work included positive comments on stakhanovism. He observed that 'certain achievements of individual workers are undoubtedly extremely interesting as evidence of the possibilities open only to socialism. However, from these possibilities to their realisation on the scale of the whole economy, is a long road ... Moreover, to raise millions to a small degree of technical skill is immeasurably harder than to spur on a few thousand champions'. See Leon Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and where is it going? (New York, Pathfinder, 1974), p. 83.