The truth about Alexei Stakhanov

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

How was Stakhanov's record set? What are they coming up with now to slander the hero of the Soviet era? Where, as the phrase "Life has become better, life has become more fun" was pronounced? About this in the article by Andrey Vedyaev for the 70th anniversary of the Miner's Day.

Nowadays, even on Miner's Day, which is celebrated on the last Sunday of August, very few people remember the person to whom we actually owe this holiday. Moreover, in recent years, all sorts of liberal media literally broke loose, pouring streams of dirt on this greatest Hero of the Soviet era, who, on the night of August 30-31, 1935, chopped 102 tons at the Tsentralnaya-Irmino mine in the city of Irmino, Luhansk region coal at a rate of 7 tons. We are talking about Alexei Grigorievich Stakhanov. The reason for unleashing an unsightly campaign in the media was given by the daughter of the legendary miner, an interview with whom was placed in MK on June 21, 2003: “All this frankly for the first time in my life was told to the reporter of MK Violetta Alekseevna … The heiress of a loud surname admits that her father beat the mirrors in the Metropole and caught fish there in the pool."

And away we go. The apogee of lies and shamelessness was the article "From slaughter to binge", published on August 30, 2015 in the newspaper Gazeta. Ru, which writes: "By the early 1930s … some miners were lucky to get jackhammers, with which they began to set records … By the end of August 1935, the party organizer of the mine, Konstantin Petrov, had an idea - he decided to give Stakhanov assistants so that he chopped coal without being distracted: his assistants had to fix the walls of the mine with logs … In 1936, Stakhanov was sent to study at the All-Union Industrial Academy, and soon he became a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR … In the capital, the hero-slaughterer made friends with Stalin's son Vasily and went all out, for which he was nicknamed Stakanov. Once the NKVD officers, who were supposed to take Stakhanov to the Kremlin, found him not only sleeping in an armchair, but also wet himself in his sleep. Seeing the salt appearing on the boot of the hero of labor, one of the people seeing off gave him his boots …”.

In many articles, the idea is actively imposed that Stakhanov's record is a postscript: a whole brigade worked, and all the production was recorded on one Stakhanov. It should be noted here that in order to judge such things, one must look at the problem not from the window of the capital's office, but from the face on a steep fall, the work on which is the essence of Stakhanov's record. Do the nimble newspapermen know about this?

Imagine such a lava - that is, a vertical column of coal about 100 m high. “The lava is cut into eight short ledges, and there are a lot of people in it,” Aleksey Grigorievich Stakhanov himself writes in his book Life of a Miner (1975). - One interferes with the other. You cut with a hammer for at most three hours, but we are told that technology is everything. Well, she decides if, while you fasten behind you, she is inactive … We decided that I would move from ledge to ledge, and two fasteners will follow me."

Therefore, it is impossible to perceive otherwise as a curiosity the words of a certain historian Nikita Sokolov on the TV channels Moskva Doverie and Moskva 24, who declares: “They overtook the horsemen so that they went down into the mine ahead of time, everything was prepared in advance, eight faces were freed for one worker” … But the slaughter was, and remained alone! And the number of konogons does not exactly affect the rate of penetration.

On the night of August 31, 1935, Alexey Stakhanov, having passed all eight ledges, set a world record, having produced 102 tons of coal. Since only he cut coal, the production rate was exceeded 14.5 times - this is recorded in the relevant documents of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry. Therefore, Violetta Alekseevna is wrong, who, in an interview with the Ukrainian media, seems to confirm the version that the brigade was working, and that all the production was recorded on her father: “Two miners helped my father to rake off the coal. And the idea of dividing the labor of the slaughterer - one chops, two rakes after him - the father and the party organizer came up with."

In fact, there is no need to “rake off” the coal on a steep dip - it falls down on the lower ledge itself. But in order to work 6 hours with a jackhammer in almost complete darkness over a 100-meter abyss, this requires physical strength, dexterity, endurance, as well as the ability to read the coal seam in order to cut it down along the cleavage (fine fracture). So Aleksey Stakhanov set an outstanding achievement, and it went down in history forever.

On November 14, 1935, the first All-Union conference of the Stakhanovites of industry and transport was held in Moscow with the participation of members of the Politburo headed by Stalin. It became a sensation on an international scale: for the first time in history, the authorities directly addressed the common man of labor. Opening the meeting, Sergo Ordzhonikidze said:

“That which has been illuminated up to now by" scientific norms ", learned people and old practices - these our comrades, the Stakhanovites, overturned upside down, thrown out as obsolete and retarding our forward movement.

Alexey Stakhanov in his speech spoke about the new high earnings of miners and emphasized:

- There were people at the mine who did not believe my record, my 102 tons. “They attributed this to him,” they said. But then the party organizer of the Dyukanov section went and gave 115 tons for the shift, followed by the Komsomol member Mitya Kontsedalov - 125 tons. Then they had to believe!

As Aleksey Stakhanov proudly recalled later, he, yesterday's dark farm laborer and shepherd, spoke to the leaders of the people, and they listened to him attentively. "But they also came out of the people", - then flashed through his head …

In his closing speech, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin noted that the source of the Stakhanov movement lies in the Soviet social order. “Life has become better, comrades. Life has become more fun. And when life is fun, work is good … If our life was bad, unsightly, unhappy, then we would not have any Stakhanov movement."

A few days later, Stakhanov, Dyukanov, Petrov, Kontsedalov, Mashurov and many more Stakhanovites of Donbass were awarded the Orders of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. It should be noted here that in modern media one can often find speculations of this type: "The title of Hero of Socialist Labor Alexei Grigorievich received only 35 years later …" But the fact is that in 1935 this title did not exist yet. It was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on December 27, 1938, and a year later, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin became the first Hero of Socialist Labor.

On March 10, 1939, the XVIII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks opened, which summed up the results of the second five-year plan as a transitional period from capitalism to socialism and outlined a course for creating conditions for the transition to communist construction. The resolution of the Congress said: "The development of socialist emulation and its highest form - the Stakhanov movement - led to a powerful rise in labor productivity in industry, which increased by 82 percent in the second five-year plan against 63 percent according to the plan."

After Germany's perfidious attack on the USSR and the threat of the loss of Donbass, whose coal was necessary for steel smelting, Stalin sent Stakhanov to Karaganda as the head of mine No. 31. And here we again face the lies of the liberal media. Gazeta. Ru, already cited above, writes: “By 1943, when Stakhanov failed all the indicators, he was summoned to Moscow, where he headed the award sector of the Ministry of the Coal Industry.”

And how was it really? On June 17, 1942, in the article “Coal over the plan”, the newspaper “Socialist Karaganda” reports: “The miners of mine No. 31, headed by Aleksey Stakhanov, are increasing coal production every day. The bulkhead of the 4th section, Comrade Teymuratov, fulfilled his production task by 200 percent in May, and by 218 percent in 11 days in June. Comrade Gurfov gives more than two norms every day. Comrade Omarov fulfills 175 percent of the quota, and one and a half of the quota - comrade Kasenov. Site No. 4, headed by Comrade Bobyrev, extracts 50-60 tons of coal daily in excess of the plan."

After the war, Aleksey Grigorievich worked in the People's Commissariat of the Coal Industry, organized socialist competition throughout the country. Everything changed after the death of Stalin and the seizure of power by the corn-grower Khrushchev. “Nikita Sergeevich treated his father badly - maybe because Stalin respected him? - recalls Violetta Alekseevna. - Khrushchev was generally an ignorant person and broke the order in history … Khrushchev told him: “Your place is in Donbass. You must understand me as a miner miner.” The father flared up: "What kind of miner are you ?!""

By the way, the mine in Donbass, where Khrushchev allegedly worked, was never found …

In 1957, Stakhanov was sent as deputy manager of the Chistyakovantratsit trust (now the city of Torez, Donetsk People's Republic), and then transferred to mine No. 2-43 as an assistant chief engineer for production. The family did not go with him - who wants to go from the House on the Embankment to the village?

Nikolai Ivanovich Panibratchenko, director of mine No. 2-43, recalls: “This appointment was more like being expelled from Moscow … Stakhanov was world famous. In glory he had no equal, maybe it is comparable in height with the first cosmonaut of the planet Yuri Gagarin … Stakhanov went down into the mine, was engaged in production issues. People went to him for help as to a deputy, although he had not been there for a long time, and he was solving issues. Sometimes she would give her last penny. In the morning he goes down to the mine, goes to the sites. Young people are delighted: Stakhanov, Stakhanov! Then, I looked, they would pick up vodka and invite him to the forest plantation. We are looking for the mine where the shift has disappeared. I called the first secretary of the city committee Vlasenko. I tell Stakhanov: Vlasenko is calling. He says:

- If he needs to, let him come to the mine.

Vlasenko arrived:

- Why are you behaving like that! I will disassociate you!

And he answers, literally:

- And why am I going to visit you. I did not enter the party. They brought my party card home at the command of Comrade Stalin.

- Is it true that Stakhanov went with a revolver?

- Exactly, he walked with a revolver. Ordzhonikidze Sergo gave him. The name inscription was engraved. At the mine, in the city, everyone knew about the revolver. He carried it with him, never shot. He let me hold it … Of course, he helped the mine. The carriages will be loaded, but the railway will not take it. Then he goes to the station:

- I am Stakhanov, why was the coal rejected? I'll call Minister of Railways Beschev now. I live with Boris Pavlovich on the same landing …

- They say he is one of the disinterested - for people everything, for himself nothing?

- The true truth. He lived alone - no wife, no children. There is a bed with a metal mesh in the room. She is wearing a thin land-colored flannel blanket. No sheet, no mattress. A sweatshirt instead of a pillow. No furniture, no food. I tell him:

- So why did you run the dwelling? Why didn't you contact us? It is necessary, Alexey Grigorievich, to fix the matter.

I see, he is embarrassed, muttering:

- Okay, okay, Nikolai Ivanovich, thank you. - And he himself feels awkward. He was a conscientious man, honest. Healthy growth, handsome face and physique, Stakhanov had simplicity to himself. The women clung to honey like wasps. The sea had acquaintances, but there were no close friends.

- Joseph Vissarionovich looked closely at him, treated him with sympathy. It is possible that you had further views on him?

- Stakhanov once told me how, after a meeting of the leaders in the Kremlin, Stalin invited him to spend the night at a dacha near Moscow. What they talked about that night is anyone's guess.

Having broken through to power, Khrushchev took revenge on everyone who was in Stalin's entourage. Even the word "Stakhanovite" itself disappeared, it was replaced by the word "shock worker". But Khrushchev also sank into oblivion - but Stakhanov experienced the sweet moment of the revival of his legend. The miners' writer Nikolai Efremovich Goncharov was a witness to this memorable event. After the resignation of "dear fellow countryman Nikita Sergeevich" in Donetsk, they decided to gather young seven-year drummers. It was here that they remembered about the "Torezian inmate". They came up with a symbolic action: Stakhanov will hand over his jackhammer to the most talented young miner …

At first Stakhanov stubbornly: I won't go. But nevertheless, by the beginning of the rally, he was brought from Torez. He was pale and gloomy, the famous white-toothed smile disappeared from his face. He was invited to the presidium, and he, slouching awkwardly, walked into the very last row. But the first secretary of the Donetsk regional party committee, Vladimir Ivanovich Degtyarev, brought him back from there and sat him in front, next to his old friend, the party organizer of the Tsentralnaya-Irmino mine, Konstantin Petrov. Introducing the guests, Degtyarev simply said - Alexey Stakhanov …

“I could see Stakhanov well,” Goncharov writes. - He sat hunched over, not raising his head. The huge auditorium was quiet for several seconds. Then, in one impulse, everyone rose from their seats and clapped deafeningly. The applause, to which the famous miner was accustomed at the zenith of his fame, now seemed to stun him. He was still incredulous, slowly raised his head and looked into the hall. And then he began to rise slowly. Finally, he himself clapped in response, raising his head ever higher. This is how Stakhanov's first appearance to the people after a long break took place …"

After that, Alexey Grigorievich again became a welcome guest in the working environment. True, sometimes he still indulged in loneliness. Khrushchev's injury affected. But telegrams on his behalf to the winners of the socialist competition were printed even on such days …

He was destined to experience a complete return of glory. In 1970, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Alexei Grigorievich Stakhanov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

Lyudmila Dmitrievna, Stakhanov's daughter-in-law, recalls those times. Together with her husband Viktor, they began to visit Stakhanov in Torez: “He was a hard worker in everyday life,” she says about Stakhanov. - In the morning we get up, and he is no longer there, he ran to the mine, to a vocational school, on business. They turned to him, like an ambulance, for help. He helped people. He did not refuse anyone, he sought justice. I was driving somewhere, calling, performing in different audiences. In the morning he gets up, drinks kvass, has a bite to go to the mine, and serve porcini mushrooms for lunch, he liked me to cook. Alexey Grigorievich loved to drink, relax at the table to sing, tell jokes, remember. It was interesting with him, I knew a lot of things. But wallowing, hooliganism was out of the question. He knew how to keep himself in good male health in different situations with dignity. And evil tongues are worse than a pistol."

Georgy Amvrosievich Chitaladze, former general director of the largest association Sverdlovskanthracite in the Luhansk region, began his career in 1957 in the Chistyakovanthracite trust at the Lutugin mine. “I worked at that time as the head of the section,” recalls Georgy Amvrosievich. - Stakhanov constantly came to the mine, met with the engineering and technical personnel. The mine engineers spoke very well of him. I was the secretary of the Komsomol organization of the mine and listened to him at the city Komsomol conference. He spoke about the difficult situation in our trust as a whole and inspired us to work hard. At one time, when the country was at the peak of industrialization, he showed by his example that in difficult mining and geological conditions of a steep fall, it is possible to give increased production in excess of the rate that was established. This was his record as he did the bulk of the work. Beckoning about Stakhanov had only positive impressions. I was even present when he was presented with the Golden Star of the Hero. At that time I was already the director of the mine administration. He was a simple, modest man, did not stick out and never say that he was Alexey Stakhanov. After the publication of the well-known Government Decree on the development of Donbass and the Rostov region, where construction, reconstruction and technical re-equipment were 100 percent financed, the coal industry began to modernize. A new mine tunneling equipment appeared, high-reliability powered roof supports in working faces, which made it possible to reduce to a minimum the proportion of manual labor both in the working faces and in the preparation faces. As an example of the creative development of Stakhanov's method when Marat Petrovich Vasilchuk (later chairman of the USSR and Russia Gosgortekhnadzor - A. V.) was the head of the Shakhterskantratsit plant, at his insistence on a steep drop of over 55 degrees, we managed to introduce a narrow-grip harvester 2K-52SH at full collapse on pedestals. It should be emphasized that at that time, for safety reasons, harvesters were allowed only up to 35 degrees on a steep fall. The head of the inspection asks me - on what basis do you work as a combine harvester for a fall over 55 degrees? And Marat Petrovich, meanwhile, has already become the head of the Donetsk mining district of the USSR Gosgortekhnadzor. I to the head of the inspection and answer: “Hey, ask the head of the district …” As a result, if before that the lava produced 400-500 tons, then after the introduction of the combine - 1100-1200 tons per day. And the winners are not judged! Here is an example of innovation, creative development of Stakhanov's ideas."

And for those zealous scribblers who are well versed in gossip and dirty linen, I would suggest, before touching the topic of the holy miner's labor, to go down into the mine themselves - and even on a steep fall, with a butt in their hands. Let's see if they put it in their pants themselves.