Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly
Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V.
Speaker 2: Wilson.
Speaker 1: This accidentally turned out to be kind of a well
Speaker 1: timed episode just in terms of what inspired it and
Speaker 1: what's been going on with that inspiration. The show Succession
Speaker 1: just won a kajillion awards.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we originally tried to record this episode the day
Speaker 2: after that happened.
Speaker 1: Well, that was the day after one of the awards shows. Yes,
Speaker 1: there have been seven. They have really been sweeping and
Speaker 1: in my opinion, well deserved. I can talk more about
Speaker 1: Succession on behind the scenes. But this is not a spoiler,
Speaker 1: but in season four, there is a moment where one
Speaker 1: of the characters, Logan Roy, is observing one of his
Speaker 1: low level employees and the employee is understandably nervous because
Speaker 1: this is not normal for this person who runs the
Speaker 1: company to be walking the floor. And he is very
Speaker 1: carefully typing out some stuff, and the Logan Roy characters
Speaker 1: you've typed one email and he calls him a Stakhanovite,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, ah, why didn't Why haven't we ever
Speaker 1: talked about the Siiconfites because this is a really interesting,
Speaker 1: strange orchestrated moment in labor history in the USSR, and it,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of exemplifies some problems in propaganda that
Speaker 1: we're going on. So we are going to talk about
Speaker 1: Alexi Stakhanov and his achievement and how that was parlayed
Speaker 1: into a big moment for Stalin and for his plans. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it is at.
Speaker 2: The stage of Alexi Stakhanov's achievements and a rise to fame,
Speaker 2: we have to talk about Stalin's five year Plans. In
Speaker 2: nineteen twenty eight, Stalin rolled out a policy to overhaul
Speaker 2: the economics of the Soviet Union. His the regime's assessment
Speaker 2: was that the Soviet Union had become too entwined with capitalism.
Speaker 2: There needed to be a plan to break that. So
Speaker 2: the five year plan cycle was announced, and this game's
Speaker 2: pretty self explanatory in terms of the structure. Every five
Speaker 2: years would focus on a set of goals that was
Speaker 2: intended to achieve what Stalin envisioned was a more perfect
Speaker 2: Soviet Union. We talked about some of this in our
Speaker 2: episode on the Holladamor Famine.
Speaker 1: So just to recap. The first five Year Plan included
Speaker 1: programs to expand industry, generate more energy, and collectivize agriculture.
Speaker 1: And that may sound kind of benign, but it was not.
Speaker 1: The collectivisation of agriculture point was particularly brutal. The Kuluks
Speaker 1: were a class of farmer in the Soviet Union and
Speaker 1: Russia before it who were considered it's often called wealthy peasants,
Speaker 1: meaning that they operated well above a subsistence farming level.
Speaker 1: Kuluks owned their own land and usually livestock, and they
Speaker 1: had the means to employ other people on those farms
Speaker 1: and enough landholdings to lease some out. Kulos became cornerstones
Speaker 1: in a lot of communities because they also conducted financial
Speaker 1: and administrative support in their villages. Sometimes they would even
Speaker 1: issue mortgages, and to Stalin's government, this was capitalist and
Speaker 1: inherently wrong. So part of the First Five Year Plan
Speaker 1: was eliminating the kulos. Prior to the introduction of the
Speaker 1: Five Year Plan, Stalin's regime had already tried to make
Speaker 1: life harder for the Kulox. They did that through things
Speaker 1: like heavy taxation and new laws that restricted their land usage.
Speaker 1: But starting in nineteen twenty nine as part of the
Speaker 1: first five year plan, what has come to be known
Speaker 1: as de Koulokization began with a call to quote liquidate
Speaker 1: the Kulus as a class. This included violent attacks on
Speaker 1: kulock farms as well as deportation, arrest, and property seizure
Speaker 1: by the government, and all of this was done under
Speaker 1: that goal of collectivizing agriculture. Literally, they wanted to put
Speaker 1: all farmers to work under one collective umbrella for the government,
Speaker 1: rather than any of them working for themselves. This was
Speaker 1: all framed in propaganda as necessary to achieve non capitalist industrialization.
Speaker 1: But one of the direct results of this was a
Speaker 1: massive famine that was the Holladamoor. As we mentioned in
Speaker 1: our episode on the Holadamor, the loss of farming expertise
Speaker 1: that came from this decoop acuzation plus bad weather and
Speaker 1: poorly run state farms all meant that the grain industry collapsed.
Speaker 1: Talked in that episode how a lot of this was
Speaker 1: like in what's now Ukraine because growing grain was such
Speaker 1: an enormous part of the Ukrainian economy. As the country
Speaker 1: started to recover in nineteen thirty three after having experienced
Speaker 1: millions of deaths. The Soviet government tried to cover things up,
Speaker 1: and time was ripe for some sort of story that
Speaker 1: could be used to bolster morale and boast to the
Speaker 1: globe of Soviet superiority. As this disastrous first five year
Speaker 1: Plan came to an end in nineteen thirty two, being
Speaker 1: claimed as a success in spite of all the serious
Speaker 1: problems that had created, heavy industry became the main focus
Speaker 1: for the second five year Plan. This is where a
Speaker 1: man named Alexi Stakhanov became famous. So Alexei Grigorovitch Stakhanov
Speaker 1: was born on January third, nineteen oh six, in the
Speaker 1: town of Lugova, which was in the administrative division municipality
Speaker 1: known as Levinsky Uyezd, which in turn was part of
Speaker 1: the Oriol Governorate. Less than a decade before he was born,
Speaker 1: the Levinsky Uyezd census talied a population of just under
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand people.
Speaker 2: In his early twenties, Alexei met a woman named Yevdokiya
Speaker 2: who was possibly Roma, and the two of them started
Speaker 2: a romantic relationship. They never formally got married, but they
Speaker 2: lived as has wife and they had two children, Claudia
Speaker 2: and Victor. Together Sakanoff became a coal miner working in
Speaker 2: the state run Central Ermino mine in the Donbas region
Speaker 2: and what was at the time Soviet Ukraine. The entire
Speaker 2: coal mining industry had been reorganized from the top down
Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty three, when the leadership within the system
Speaker 2: was assessed as being inefficient and unable to meet the
Speaker 2: goals that had been set by the Communist Party in
Speaker 2: the five Year Plan. New targets were set for all
Speaker 2: mines as part of this reorg. Don Bas was considered
Speaker 2: a poorly performing mine area. It rarely met the production
Speaker 2: goals that had been set for it, and the work
Speaker 2: there was unsurprisingly grueling.
Speaker 1: So the system for this mining was set up as
Speaker 1: sort of an everyman for him self affair, with financial
Speaker 1: incentives to produce the most coal. But that meant that
Speaker 1: each miner was picking at the tunnels on his own,
Speaker 1: lying down, propping up the tunnel himself with laws cut
Speaker 1: to various lengths for that purpose, and then once enough
Speaker 1: coal had been picked out, he loaded it onto a
Speaker 1: cart and then he would hitch that cart to a
Speaker 1: pony and walk the pony out of the mind for
Speaker 1: drop off of the product, and then back in and
Speaker 1: according to the official story, Alexi Stakhanov thought this was
Speaker 1: a really foolish way to run a mine. He had
Speaker 1: a plan to reset the workflow with four man teams.
Speaker 1: So one man did the picking, one man did the
Speaker 1: needed bracing as the coal tunnels were picked out, one
Speaker 1: loaded the coal, and then one managed the ponies and
Speaker 1: walking them back and forth. But he also thought it
Speaker 1: would be better to upgrade from a pick to a drill,
Speaker 1: so he trained to use one. According to the official story,
Speaker 1: Stakhanoff approached the mind's leadership with this plan, and initially
Speaker 1: their reception was lukewarm, but he persisted and he got
Speaker 1: the local party leader involved. The idea was.
Speaker 2: That there would be a test shift using this method
Speaker 2: to see if it was worthwhile. If it failed, Stakhanoff
Speaker 2: would be the one that would take the heat. Initially,
Speaker 2: Stakhanov was not the one intended to actually be the
Speaker 2: miner on this test shift. The Communist party leaders wanted
Speaker 2: somebody to do it who was a member of the party,
Speaker 2: and he was not. Of course, they also wanted that
Speaker 2: person to be strong and skilled. There just weren't any
Speaker 2: other candidates who were as well suited to it as
Speaker 2: Stakhanoff himself was. On August thirty first, nineteen thirty five,
Speaker 2: Alexi Stakhanoff went into the mine for a six hour shift.
Speaker 2: The local Communist Party leader and a journalist were on
Speaker 2: site to report what happened, and when it was over
Speaker 2: he had mined a mind boggling one hundred to two
Speaker 2: tons of coal.
Speaker 1: That is not a typo. It is reportedly fourteen times
Speaker 1: the amount that he would normally produce in a shift,
Speaker 1: all purportedly because of his new method of dividing the
Speaker 1: labor in the minds. So if you're thinking division of
Speaker 1: labor wasn't really a new concert in nineteen thirty five,
Speaker 1: you're right. It wasn't new globally. The assembly line popularized
Speaker 1: by Henry Ford, for example, had been in operation since
Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen. It wasn't new to the Soviet Union either,
Speaker 1: and this form of mining had been championed in Soviet
Speaker 1: mines on and off since the nineteen twenties, but had
Speaker 1: never really gained wide support. Additionally, this situation was set
Speaker 1: up where it was a test, so Stakhanov was the.
Speaker 2: Only miner working in the area during the test. This
Speaker 2: was a situation where he physically didn't have to move
Speaker 2: far from one mining ledge to another. He wasn't sharing
Speaker 2: space with other miners, not having to keep out of
Speaker 2: each other's way. Things like that. We will loop back
Speaker 2: to a discussion about the real nature of that historic
Speaker 2: night in a little bit.
Speaker 1: Publicly, this was a banner pr moment for the Communist Party.
Speaker 1: At last, the idea of a super efficient Soviet Union
Speaker 1: had a touchstone, and in every man who could be
Speaker 1: modeled as a hero. His achievement was first written about
Speaker 1: in the papers of don Bos and soon caught the
Speaker 1: attention of sergo Orzani Kidzie, who was the Minister of Industry. He,
Speaker 1: in turn, according to the official story, brought this story
Speaker 1: of Stakhanov to Stalin, and Stakhanov quickly went from local
Speaker 1: hero to national star. He was also given an instant
Speaker 1: membership in the Communist Party.
Speaker 2: Pravda wrote about Alexi, and the Communist press started touting
Speaker 2: the benefits of the Stakhanov system. Alexi Stakhanov, who was
Speaker 2: the sudden darling of Stalin's government, was moved to a
Speaker 2: nice furnished apartment and given a horse and a buggy.
Speaker 2: This was a luxurious upgrade from the life he had
Speaker 2: been living. Later, his daughter Violetta shared with the BBC
Speaker 2: quote Dad was particularly proud.
Speaker 1: Of the horse.
Speaker 2: A tour was also planned, part lecture tour and part
Speaker 2: training tour, so Alexi could share his knowledge with the
Speaker 2: rest of the country.
Speaker 1: Coming up, we will talk about additional ways that alexistakhanov
Speaker 1: life changed, but first we will pause for a sponsor break.
Speaker 1: As Takano's fame grew, his partnery of Dokia grew increasingly
Speaker 1: more uncomfortable with the situation. She eventually left, and her
Speaker 1: exit from his life is described sometimes as running away
Speaker 1: with a group of Rominy travelers, possibly running away with
Speaker 1: another man. The two children stayed with Alexi, but Alexi
Speaker 1: had women writing him letters all the time, so he
Speaker 1: probably did not take ye of Dokia's exit too hard.
Speaker 1: He could, not, however, read those letters. He openly told
Speaker 1: journalists that he didn't know how to read or write,
Speaker 1: and that party leaders read his letters for him.
Speaker 2: While he was touring the country, Alexi was honored with
Speaker 2: a performance by a school choir in the town of Kharkov,
Speaker 2: and in the choir was a girl named Galita Bondarenko,
Speaker 2: who Alexi was immediately interested in she was only fourteen.
Speaker 2: Modern versions of this story say that he fell instantly
Speaker 2: in love with her. That is obviously romanticizing a very
Speaker 2: unbalanced power dynamic between an adult and a child. He
Speaker 2: wanted to marry her, and he did very quickly. Her
Speaker 2: family was poor and likely thought this match would secure
Speaker 2: a good future for her. After the marriage ceremony, it
Speaker 2: seems like they lived mostly apart for two years, though
Speaker 2: while she finished school. Accounts are pretty fuzzy on this detail.
Speaker 2: Translations are ambiguous in the language that they used to
Speaker 2: talk about it. Their daughter, Filetta, described this relationship as
Speaker 2: one where Galina respected Alexei like an elder more than
Speaker 2: having loving feelings toward him. He was described by family
Speaker 2: as possessive and jealous with his wife, although this couple
Speaker 2: did seem to develop something of a real partnership over
Speaker 2: the years. Yeah, it's really weird that age gap thing
Speaker 2: is talked about in very KG language where it's not
Speaker 2: clear if they were really living as a married couple
Speaker 2: for a couple of years at all or not. And
Speaker 2: I think that is purposely KG because nobody wants to
Speaker 2: discuss how yucky it is Alexi continued to travel the
Speaker 2: country while Gallina returned to life as a student. His
Speaker 2: fame had been instant and the so called Stacanovite movement
Speaker 2: had begun, But while many were cheering him as an
Speaker 2: example of a hero worker, there were other people who
Speaker 2: did not share that enthusiasm. He later claimed that he
Speaker 2: had been attacked on the street by workers who didn't
Speaker 2: appreciate him promoting the idea that everyone should be exceeding
Speaker 2: their work goals by a factor of ten. Anti Stacanovites,
Speaker 2: Stalin would later say, met with violence and loss of
Speaker 2: jobs for their attitude. In the years immediately following the
Speaker 2: fervor of Stacanovism, the movement's detractors were branded as sabaturs.
Speaker 2: Some were punished for this with hard labor. On November seventeenth,
Speaker 2: nineteen thirty five, after several months of campaigning for the
Speaker 2: adoption of Stakhanov's intense work ethic for the benefit of
Speaker 2: the country, Stalin spoke at the first conference of the
Speaker 2: Stakhanov Movement, gathered in Moscow. It was a rousing speech
Speaker 2: that appealed to the assembled attendees as being the most
Speaker 2: progressive and advanced members of the workforce as evidence of
Speaker 2: the superiority of a socialist society. Quote. It has already
Speaker 2: been said here that the Stakhanov movement, as an expression
Speaker 2: of new and higher technical standards, is a model of
Speaker 2: that high productivity of labor which only socialism can give
Speaker 2: and which capitalism cannot give. That is absolutely true. There
Speaker 2: were other points made in Stalin's speech, including the importance
Speaker 2: of Stacanovism for the next step of the Soviet government.
Speaker 2: He said, quote its significance lies also in the fact
Speaker 2: that it is preparing the conditions for the transition from
Speaker 2: socialism to communism. And when Stalin described the workers who
Speaker 2: had embraced Daconivism, those words painted them as follows.
Speaker 1: Quote. They are mostly young or middle aged working men
Speaker 1: and women, people with cultural and technical knowledge, who show
Speaker 1: examples of precision and accuracy in work, who are able
Speaker 1: to appreciate the time factor in work, and who have
Speaker 1: learned to count not only the minutes but also the seconds.
Speaker 1: The majority of them have taken the technical minimum courses
Speaker 1: and are continuing their technical education. They are free of
Speaker 1: the conservatism and stagnation of certain engineers, technicians and business executives.
Speaker 1: They are marching boldly forward, smashing the antiquated technical standards
Speaker 1: and creating new and higher standards. They are introducing amendments
Speaker 1: into the designed capacities and economic plans drawn up by
Speaker 1: the leaders of our industry. They often supplement and correct
Speaker 1: what the engineers and technicians have to say. They often
Speaker 1: teach them and impel them forward, for they are people
Speaker 1: who have completely mastered the technique of their job, and
Speaker 1: who are able to squeeze out of technique the maximum
Speaker 1: that can be squeezed out of it.
Speaker 2: But the part of Stalin's speech that's most quoted and
Speaker 2: most written about was the propagandist way he painted Staconovism
Speaker 2: as something that organically grew out of the bedrock that
Speaker 2: the Soviet government had laid. Quote. What first of all
Speaker 2: strikes the eye is the fact that this movement began
Speaker 2: somehow of itself, almost spontaneously, from below, without any pressure
Speaker 2: whatsoever from the administrators of our enterprises. More than that
Speaker 2: this movement, in a way arose and began to develop
Speaker 2: in spite of the administrators of our enterprises, even in
Speaker 2: opposition to them. The basis for the Stakhanoff movement was,
Speaker 2: first and foremost the radical improvement in the material welfare
Speaker 2: of the workers. Life has improved comrades, life has become
Speaker 2: more joyous, and when life is joyous, work goes well.
Speaker 2: Hence the high rates of output, hence the heroes and
Speaker 2: heroines of labor that primarily is the root of the
Speaker 2: Stakhanoff movement. Aside from being propaganda, this was all a
Speaker 2: flat out lie. The country had just been through a famine,
Speaker 2: a series of purges at Stalin's order as well. This
Speaker 2: was not a time of joy or prosperity for most
Speaker 2: of the population. Far from it. And this Stakandamit movement,
Speaker 2: as we'll discuss in just a moment, was really orchestrated.
Speaker 1: At the conclusion of this speech, Stalin said quote finally
Speaker 1: two words about how it would be fitting to mark
Speaker 1: this conference. We here in the Presidium have conferred and
Speaker 1: have decided that this conference between the leaders of the
Speaker 1: government and the leaders of this Stakhanov movement must be
Speaker 1: marked in some way. Well. We have come to the
Speaker 1: decision that one hundred or one hundred and twenty of
Speaker 1: you will have to be recommended for the highest distinction.
Speaker 1: The implication here, of course, was that Alexi Stakhanov himself
Speaker 1: would of course receive such a distinction, but he would
Speaker 1: wait a really long time for it. On December sixteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, I've Time magazine ran a cover story
Speaker 1: titled Heroes of Labor. To be clear, this was not
Speaker 1: a piece praising the Stacanobite movement. That opens by mentioning
Speaker 1: a number of new words that the world had learned
Speaker 1: thanks to Stalin and describing some of Stalin's horrific moves,
Speaker 1: including the eradication of the kulux. Then it pivoted to Stacanovism, stating,
Speaker 1: quote the great new addition to vocabulary's Stacanovism. Today, a
Speaker 1: fresh battle has opened over Staconovism, and thus far enraged
Speaker 1: workers have done most of the shooting in coal mines, factories, railways,
Speaker 1: and even on the Dictator's favorite collective farms. In recent weeks,
Speaker 1: desperate Russian workers have slain stakanovitees pride and sabotage. Six
Speaker 1: months ago, the most violent of Dictator Stalin's henchman, big nosed,
Speaker 1: hot eyed Commissar for Heavy Industry Grigory or Zona Gizzi,
Speaker 1: demanded that Russian workmen pitch in and really learned to
Speaker 1: use the machine tools their government was buying from the
Speaker 1: capitalistic world at drastic sacrifices of food and other Russian goods.
Speaker 1: The Time article frames the Takanov story as one in
Speaker 1: which the Communist Party had found a good story and
Speaker 1: flag bearer in the minor equipping. Quote One Alexis Takanov,
Speaker 1: a skilled pneumatic drill operator in the don Bos coal
Speaker 1: trust sector, was discovered by the Soviet press this year
Speaker 1: to be performing prodigies. Soon was raised by Bolshevik puffs
Speaker 1: to the status of a hero of labor. This write
Speaker 1: up goes on to mention that there's a contradiction in
Speaker 1: this whole campaign, since Communist leaders had been criticizing capitalism
Speaker 1: for its constant efforts to speed up production. It also
Speaker 1: points out that while a handful of workers like Stakhanov
Speaker 1: were being given lavish gifts by the government for what
Speaker 1: they had done, those outside that small group wondered what
Speaker 1: would happen if more workers did start to produce at
Speaker 1: such extreme levels. There was surely no way everyone could
Speaker 1: get the same incentive and be given new apartments and
Speaker 1: carts and more.
Speaker 2: Alexi was moved to Moscow in nineteen thirty seven, where
Speaker 2: he was given an executive position in the coal ministry
Speaker 2: in a luxury apartment, as well as cars and other amenities.
Speaker 2: For a man likes to Khanoff, who had grown up
Speaker 2: poor and found himself suddenly surrounded by the party elite,
Speaker 2: it was a big adjustment. The way of life in
Speaker 2: Moscow working in political circles was challenging. He was introduced
Speaker 2: to someone at a party by Stalin as a future
Speaker 2: government minister, and according to family accounts, he was terrified. Galina,
Speaker 2: who had also grown up poor but had a much
Speaker 2: better education than her husband, is described as the person
Speaker 2: who helped him through this adjustment by having more savvy
Speaker 2: regarding the commingling of social and professional aspects of their
Speaker 2: new lives. Alexi and Galina had two daughters while they
Speaker 2: were living in Moscow. Violetta was born in nineteen forty
Speaker 2: and Allah in nineteen forty three. They also had two
Speaker 2: other children who died in infancy. Alexei and Gallina's daughter, Violetta,
Speaker 2: told the BBC a terrifying story about an experience that
Speaker 2: Galina had while they were living in Moscow. To set
Speaker 2: the stage, we have to talk for a moment about
Speaker 2: Laverenti Barria, who was a terrifying figure in Stalinist Russia.
Speaker 2: Barria joined the Communist Party in nineteen seventeen and was
Speaker 2: eventually assigned to intelligence, leading to his appointment as head
Speaker 2: of the Georgian Secret Police. His rise through the party
Speaker 2: ranks continued, and in nineteen thirty eight he became head
Speaker 2: of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, and also part
Speaker 2: of Stalin's inner circle.
Speaker 1: He was a callous and violent man known for casually
Speaker 1: ordering mass executions. He became known by the nickname the
Speaker 1: Kremlin Monster, and he was a serial sexual predator who
Speaker 1: raped an unknown number of women.
Speaker 2: One of his predatory activities has been described as something
Speaker 2: of an open secret in the Communist Party. He would
Speaker 2: have his driver take him around Moscow at night, and
Speaker 2: when he saw a woman or girl that he thought
Speaker 2: was attractive, he'd stop the car. They would pick her up,
Speaker 2: usually by invitation. Sometimes he would send his staff out
Speaker 2: to search for prey, and then they would be taken
Speaker 2: back to Barria's home. Some left at the end of
Speaker 2: the night, but the discovery of remains of numerous women
Speaker 2: on the site later during a construction project indicates that
Speaker 2: a lot of them did not survive their time with him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, his whole story is so upsetting and there are
Speaker 1: so many horrifying details. But to circle back to Alexei
Speaker 1: Stakhanov's wife, Galina and how this all ties to her.
Speaker 1: One day, as she was out shopping, a car that
Speaker 1: had been slowly following her pulled up next to her
Speaker 1: and asked her to get in, and she did. Laventi
Speaker 1: Barria was not in the car, but she was driven
Speaker 1: to his home. Galina in this story is clearly a
Speaker 1: very cool headed woman because when she was brought into
Speaker 1: the house and kind of realized the danger she was in,
Speaker 1: she told the officer there that she was married to
Speaker 1: Alexei's Takhanov and that she was pregnant, and that put
Speaker 1: an end to things. After that, she was escorted back
Speaker 1: out to the car and she was taken home, But
Speaker 1: Alexi was angry with Galina for having gotten into the
Speaker 1: car because Barry's practice of looking for victims was so
Speaker 1: well known. It seems like she thought, this is somebody
Speaker 1: in the government who knows my husband and they need
Speaker 1: me for something. But despite this incident, the Dakhanov stayed
Speaker 1: in Moscow, and Alexi continued to work for the coal
Speaker 1: mining industry into the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 2: Takanov didn't stay in Moscow forever, though, and we'll talk
Speaker 2: about what precipitated his move after we hear from the
Speaker 2: sponsors that supports Stuffy missed in history class. On March fifth,
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty three, Joseph Stalin had a stroke and died,
Speaker 2: and once the ensuing power struggle over his successor was complete,
Speaker 2: which included the Erast trial and execution of Lverenti Barria
Speaker 2: for treason, Nikita Khrushchev was the new Premiere of the
Speaker 2: Soviet Union, and Khrushchev made a point to shift the
Speaker 2: Communist Party and the government away from the structure that
Speaker 2: it had become under Stalin. During a closed session of
Speaker 2: the twentieth Congress of the Communist Party held in February
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty six, Krisjeff gave what was called his Secret
Speaker 2: Speech about the problems of the Stalin government and the
Speaker 2: reforms that were needed. In it, he noted, and I
Speaker 2: will say we are quoting an English translation that was released,
Speaker 2: so this may have been heavily edited for English speaking audiences,
Speaker 2: but this is what we have in it, He noted,
Speaker 2: quote at present, we are concerned with a question which
Speaker 2: has immense importance for the party now and for the future,
Speaker 2: with how the cult of the person of Stalin has
Speaker 2: been gradually growing, the cult which became, at certain specific stages,
Speaker 2: the source of a whole of exceedingly serious and grave
Speaker 2: perversions of party principles, a party democracy of revolutionary legality.
Speaker 2: Under kruz Jeff there were, as promised, big changes which
Speaker 2: got the nickname de Stalinization. A lot of Stalin's programs
Speaker 2: and decisions were overturned or eliminated, and eventually those reforms
Speaker 2: impacted Alexi Stakhanoff. It was determined that there was no
Speaker 2: reason to keep him in Moscow, and in nineteen fifty
Speaker 2: seven he was given orders to go back to where
Speaker 2: it had all started, which was don Bass. He was
Speaker 2: made chief manager of the mine at theres, which was
Speaker 2: definitely a step down from the cushy job he'd had
Speaker 2: in the capitol, although he continued to give talks to
Speaker 2: students and consult with other minds. He had been in
Speaker 2: Moscow for twenty years at that point, and to be
Speaker 2: shuttled eleven hundred kilometers away felt to him like he
Speaker 2: was being discarded. Saconovism as a movement had been lauded
Speaker 2: and credited for achieving goals than Stalin's five year plan,
Speaker 2: and it just kind of sputtered out.
Speaker 1: Stakhanov's family stayed in Moscow so Violetta and Allah could
Speaker 1: finish school there. Feeling isolated and as though he had
Speaker 1: been exiled by the Khrushchov government, Alexi began drinking heavily.
Speaker 1: He was often asked to come to Moscow by his
Speaker 1: family to visit, but he pretty frequently declined. Despite the
Speaker 1: falloff and enthusiasm for Staconovism after its initial surge and
Speaker 1: its relegation to history once Stalin was gone, Stakhanoff continued
Speaker 1: to be a heroic figure throughout the time of the
Speaker 1: Soviet Union. In nineteen seventy he finally received the accolade
Speaker 1: that he thought he had been promised in Stalin's speech.
Speaker 1: In November of nineteen thirty five, he was given the
Speaker 1: honorific hero of Socialist Labor. His drinking became so problematic
Speaker 1: that he got into trouble at various times. He is
Speaker 1: alleged to have been in a brawl at the restaurant
Speaker 1: in the Metropolis Hotel that resulted in the loss of
Speaker 1: his accolade and of his Communist Party card. November of
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, in don Bas, Alexistikanoff had a stroke
Speaker 1: and he died shortly thereafter. Nineteen seventy eight to the
Speaker 1: city of Kadyevka was renamed Stakhanoff. This was a coal
Speaker 1: mining city in what is modern day eastern Ukraine. Though
Speaker 1: his reputation may have tarnished, he did still hold an
Speaker 1: iconic status, particularly in the coal industry. In two thousand
Speaker 1: and six, to Khanov's pneumatic hammer was included in a
Speaker 1: display at the Kremlin Museum as part of an exhibit
Speaker 1: about gifts given to Soviet leaders in the twentieth century.
Speaker 2: There are historians who break down the flaws and improbabilities
Speaker 2: in the entire Stakhanov achievement story, who say that that
Speaker 2: famous night when he produced such an enormous amount of
Speaker 2: coal was staged by the Communist government. In a nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty five New York Times article discussing the fiftieth anniversary
Speaker 2: of Stakhanov's record shift, journalist Sergei Schmemen writes, quote konstantinji Petrov,
Speaker 2: the chief of the Mines party organization, recalled that Stakhanov's
Speaker 2: wife strenuously resisted his attempt to make her husband a
Speaker 2: hero until she was silenced with.
Speaker 1: The gift of a cow.
Speaker 2: That wife was his partner, yef Dokia, was not as
Speaker 2: actually married to him. This suggests that Stakhanov knew ahead
Speaker 2: of time that he would be successful, and that this
Speaker 2: so called test was mostly for publicity. Yeah, yev Dokia
Speaker 2: was like, I don't I don't want everybody looking at
Speaker 2: our family. This article also notes that the entire shift
Speaker 2: was meticulously planned, and that Stakhanov had two men propping
Speaker 2: in his tunnel, and that Petrov was also in the
Speaker 2: mind holding a light for him through most of the shift.
Speaker 2: There were also additional people on hand to expedite the
Speaker 2: entire process, not just a four man crew as was
Speaker 2: often reported. The article quotes an interview that Petrov gave
Speaker 2: in the early nineteen eighties, saying quote, I suppose to
Speaker 2: Khanov need not have been the first. It could have
Speaker 2: been anybody else. In the final analysis, it was not
Speaker 2: the individual face worker who determined whether the attempt to
Speaker 2: break The record would succeed but the new system of
Speaker 2: coal extraction. But Alexi was the first. Why then, well,
Speaker 2: because before a record can be set, a man has
Speaker 2: to believe in its feasibility and in his own powers.
Speaker 2: We had been looking for just such a stalwart fellow.
Speaker 2: In twenty fifteen, Alexi's daughter Violetta, gave an interview in
Speaker 2: which she talked about her father, their life, and his legacy.
Speaker 2: She simultaneously spoke very highly of her father and alluded
Speaker 2: to some of the less ideal aspects of the story,
Speaker 2: including her mother's very young age when Alexi chose her
Speaker 2: to be his wife. Stakhanov emerges from her interview as
Speaker 2: almost a cautionary tale, a man who was suddenly intensely
Speaker 2: famous because it served the people in power, and then,
Speaker 2: in losing it, couldn't handle the fall back out of favor.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty one, an article in the periodical The
Speaker 1: Conversation points to to com of as the harbinger of
Speaker 1: modern workplace culture of overachieving at the expense of employee
Speaker 1: well being. And to be clear, there is absolutely a
Speaker 1: problem of workplace culture and management that can negatively impact
Speaker 1: employees and lead to both physical and mental burnout at best.
Speaker 1: But that's a complex issue. You can't really lay it
Speaker 1: at the feet of one person, or even attribute it
Speaker 1: to one moment or cause. It was not as though
Speaker 1: worker exploitation was invented with the Communist Party's handling of
Speaker 1: Alexis Stakhanov's story. The Industrial Revolution had already led to
Speaker 1: plenty of exploitation and abuse of workers, and even then
Speaker 1: it wasn't new. Additionally, the adoption of the idea of
Speaker 1: a sort of super worker who routinely overperforms is a
Speaker 1: choice that a lot of companies have opted to adopt
Speaker 1: and use to goose performance output in the twentieth and
Speaker 1: twenty first centuries. So we can't really say it's this
Speaker 1: moment that caused this problem.
Speaker 2: And it's worth noting that even with the staging that's
Speaker 2: now recognized as having happened in that August nineteen thirty
Speaker 2: five test shift that made Alexista Khanoff famous, it was
Speaker 2: still a pretty remarkable feat. The pneumatic drills at the
Speaker 2: time were just beasts that were hard to control and
Speaker 2: exhausting to handle, and Stakhanoff did run it for six hours,
Speaker 2: So although his effort was exploited by Stalin, and though
Speaker 2: he didn't really come up with the whole idea of
Speaker 2: a division of labor, even if he had help, the
Speaker 2: accomplishment itself was still pretty impressive. Yeah. I mean, I
Speaker 2: feel so bad for him in all of this story
Speaker 2: because they clearly were like, we want an uneducated person
Speaker 2: that we can exploit who is also a.
Speaker 1: Very strong part. Like he ran a drill for six hours,
Speaker 1: which is a lot. And I think that's why his
Speaker 1: status as kind of a hero in the coal mining
Speaker 1: industry in particular has sustained a little bit more, even
Speaker 1: though there are obviously problems with his life and some
Speaker 1: of his decisions, Right, that's all. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: make that note at the end, so nobody goes, do
Speaker 1: you not know how hard it is to do?
Speaker 2: I'm like, I do know how hard physical labor is,
Speaker 2: and I don't want to take that away from him
Speaker 2: while we can also talk critically about the rest of it.
Speaker 1: But I have a really fun listener mail that made
Speaker 1: me smile and smile. It is from our listener Ashley,
Speaker 1: who writes Dear Tracy and Holly, longtime listener, first time writer.
Speaker 1: I am an actuary fully credentialed Fellow of the Society
Speaker 1: of Actuaries, and January eighth was my birthday, so imagine
Speaker 1: my surprise when you accidentally gave me one of my
Speaker 1: best birthday presents ever. I really enjoyed both episodes and
Speaker 1: the behind the scenes. I laughed a bit when you
Speaker 1: talked about technological advancement. When I was a baby actuary
Speaker 1: about twenty years ago, I had forecast models that would
Speaker 1: take a week to run. Now that same model would
Speaker 1: probably take an hour. So does our work go faster Nope,
Speaker 1: not at all. We just make the models more complicated.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate your careful and consider it approach to
Speaker 1: sharing history. Thank you so much for all you do.
Speaker 1: I listen to the podcast a lot while running, and
Speaker 1: it certainly makes the miles go faster. I do not
Speaker 1: have pets, so no pet tax, but my family and
Speaker 1: I love to travel when we can. Attached as a
Speaker 1: photo of Sue the Dinosaur from the Chicago Field Museum.
Speaker 1: Best wishes to you both for a wonderful twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four Listen. I will always take a picture of Sue.
Speaker 1: The Field is one of my favorite museums in the world.
Speaker 2: I know I've said on the show before I love
Speaker 2: it also like this is one of those emails that
Speaker 2: was a gift to me because anytime we talk about
Speaker 2: a profession, I'm always worried that people in that profession
Speaker 2: will be like you, Dang goong, you know what you're
Speaker 2: talking about. You can read all the books you want,
Speaker 2: but the reality maybe very Really, Ashley, you gave me
Speaker 2: the gift, so I thank you. If you would like
Speaker 2: to email us, you can do so at History Podcast
Speaker 2: at iHeartRadio dot com. You can also find us on
Speaker 2: social media as Missed in History and if you have
Speaker 2: not subscribed yet, you can do that. We are easy
Speaker 2: to find on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you listen
Speaker 2: to your favorite shows. Stuff you Missed in History Class
Speaker 2: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 2: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 2: to your favorite shows.