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Udarnik of Communist Labour
The Shock worker of Communist Labour (Udarnik
kommunisticheskogo truda) was an official title of honour awarded
in the Soviet Union to those who displayed exemplary performance in
labour discipline. It was awarded with a badge and certificate, as
well as a cash prize.
The title originated in the late 1950s in a
competition in honour of the XXI Congress of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union, to further develop the communist attitude towards
work and the creation of the material-technical basis for the
development of communism and education towards a communist society.
It was also awarded through the Young Communist League.
According to Pravda, "the main feature of the
competition for the title of Shock worker of Communist Labour - as
stated in the Salutation of the CPSU Union Conference by
participants of the foremost competition teams and Shock worker of
Communist Labour - is that it is the organically combined struggle,
based on the latest science and technology, to achieve the highest
productivity and education of the New Man - the master of the
country, which is constantly looking ahead, daring and thoughtful.
Tying together the work, learning and life, this contest has an
active influence on all aspects of life and human activities, and
is an important factor in erasing significant differences between
mental and physical labour."
The aims of the movement were as follows:
Fight for the new man
Education on the communist attitude toward work
Education on collectivist principles
An increase in professional skills
Combining work and study
Strengthening of labour discipline
Overcoming and improving poor working conditions
Acquisition of related professions
Improvement of product quality
Development of modern technology
Overcoming small proprietors, religion, and other remnants of the
capitalist past
Improvement in morale and behaviour
Increased social activity among team members
Schok workers of Communist Labour should be distinguished from
the Udarnik (Shock worker) movement from earlier in Soviet
history.
Socialist competition
Socialist competition or socialist emulation
("sotsialisticheskoye sorevnovanie", "sotssorevnovanie") was a form
of competition between state enterprises and between individuals
practiced in the Soviet Union and in other Eastern bloc states.
The first variant is a literal translation of
the Russian term, commonly used by Western authors. The second form
is an official Soviet translation of the term, intended to put
distance from the "capitalist competition", which in its turn was
translated as
"капиталистическая
конкуренция",
"kapitalisticheskaya konkurenciya".
There was a significant amount of propaganda
along the lines that "capitalist competition" favors only the
winning capitalist, while "socialist emulation" benefits all.
Socialist emulation was voluntary everywhere
where people worked or served: in industry, in agriculture, in
offices, institutions, schools, hospitals, army, etc. With the
natural exception of armed force, committees of Soviet trade unions
were in charge of managing the socialist emulation.
An important component of socialist emulation
was "socialist self-obligations". While the production plan was the
major benchmark, employees and work collectives were supposed to
put forth "socialist self-obligations" and even "enhanced socialist
self-obligations" beyond the plan.
Deadlines for tallying up the results of a socialist emulation
were usually set at major Socialist and Communist holidays or
notable dates, like the birthday of Vladimir Lenin or the
anniversary of the October Revolution.
Winners were awarded both materially and
morally. Material awards were money, goods or perks specific to
Socialist system, such as tickets to resorts, authorizations for a
trip abroad, right to obtain a dwelling or a car outside the main
queue, etc. Moral awards were honorary diploma, honorary badges,
putting winners' portraits on the "Board of Honor"; work
collectives were awarded with the "Transferrable Red Banner of the
Socialist Emulation Winner"
Vladimir Lenin was the originator and the promoter of the idea
of socialist emulation as a means for organising "the majority of
working people into a field of labour in which they can display
their abilities, develop the capacities, and reveal those talents".
His milestone article was "How to organize the emulation?" In which
among the important goal of the emulation was discovery of persons
with organizational and management skills, to replace tsarist-era
specialists. Also, he was the first to set "socialist emulation"
against "capitalist competition". Later, Joseph Stalin wrote in his
streamlined style:
Principles of (capitalist) competition: defeat
and death of ones and victory and dominance of the others.
Principles of socialist emulation: friendly assistance to lagging
ones by the leading ones in order to achieve a common rise.
...etc.
While criteria of socialist emulation were easy
to set, understand and quantify in production areas, it was not so
in non-production areas: medicine, education, work of clerks, etc.,
where significant formalism took place and among the criteria a
significant weight was attributed to "social activism", not related
to the work done.
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