Himanshu, Rupert & Zahra
Competition: Introduction
Competition remained a constant factor during the five year plans,
it was a major factor especially in the first five year plan. The high
targets placed enormous strains on the economy and materials
were short in supply an there was intense competition to get hold
of the supplies that available.
Powerful people pulled strings to make sure that their pet projects
received resources that they required. In some parts of the area,
there was over-production and there were also claims of overFul-filment which gained reconigition from party members.
Competition
Competition was a method used by the Bolsheviks to stir up
a frenzy of record-breaking enthusiasts who would all try
their hardest to set or break the record in their job. The idea
was first thought of by Konstantin Petrov, who set up ideal
work conditions for Alexei Stakhanov to set the record.
Alexei Stakhanov
Stakhanov set the record by cutting 102 tonnes of coal in one 5
hour shift, 16 times the normal amount. He was rewarded a
month’s salary, a nice apartment and a series of leisure benefits,
such as cinema tickets. Soon after seeing his rewards, many coal
workers demanded an opportunity to break Stakhanov’s record,
while in other fields people asked for the opportunity to set
records.
Furthermore, Petrov’s new method forced other managers to
come up with new creative ideas in order to meet the targets,
which stimulated competitions not only between workers but also
between managers.
V.P. Ogorodnikov
V.P. Ogorodnikov was one of the prominent figures during the
Stakhanovite Movement. His name appeared 4 times in the
top eight records at the Magnitogorsk steel mill from
September 1935 till January 1936.
This made him the second highest-earning factory worker. He
was rewarded with a new motorcycle and a big house with a
garden, of which 70% was paid for by the factory. This
method
allowed the market in Russia to expand in the heavy industry,
and everyone was doing more than the average as
competition was fierce. This method was carried out during
the second five-year plan.
Advantages (Workers)
Due to the benefits that workers received from being
competitive, they worked harder and more efficiently. The
NKVD made sure that workers could not go on strike, which
meant that certain absences at work were avoidable.
Workers wanted to take advantage of wage differentials in
order to attain a higher standard of living and so they would
harder- a higher standard of living would boost the economy
meaning an increase in production.
Disadvantages (Workers)
There were many advantages to such competition but
there are disadvantages as well. It is human nature to
want what someone else had got, and so workers
wanted higher wages, which the Stakhanovites had
attained.
One of the ways they had tried to earn higher wages and to
avoid creating a poor record for themselves, workers would
transfer from one job to the next, so that authorities could
not keep track of them. Normal workers demanded for
good tools as it was said the Stakhanovites had the best
equipment which was unfair.
Disadvantages (Managers)
Managers had to ful-fil their given target under any condition
and so bribery and corruption were used to do so.
Managers were desperate to keep skilled workers and to
do this they create non- existing employees on payrolls and
raised the wages of their most valuable workers.
Moscow attacked the overpayment of wages but managers
were scared if this was not done, then targets would not be
met. Additionally due to such competition managers were
only
judged on total output, not output from specific areas.
Advantages (Managers)
The advantages to was that managers there were able to
come up with new creative ideas in order to meet the targets,
they could think outside of the box and this healthy
competition between managers would not only create
interesting ideas but would also boost productivity as well.
IronicCompetition
had destroyed
the idea of
true socialism
Competition: Summary
In short, competition was used as propaganda
device to some extent to drive the citizens
forward and to urge them to produce more, as
workers saw that those who broke records
gained a lot more benefits.