Thirty years later decades were presented by Soviet official propaganda as a time of sheer enthusiasm. The chronicles, interspersed with episodes of feature films, were full of shots of various records and achievements. Here is a plane with big white letters URSS on red wings flies to America, at the helm - Valery Chkalov. But from the ice captivity rescue Chelyuskintsev. Praskovya, or just Pasha Angelina drives her tractor. Lyubov Orlova is in the ranks of smartly dressed toilers and sings the "March of enthusiasts." Steam locomotives are flying somewhere, the song “Oncoming” sounds by composer Shostakovich. Cotton growers are smiling in skullcaps. And here is the beginning of the Stakhanov movement, the year 1935.
In the Soviet Union of the 1930s, of course, something happened by chance. But very rarely. And such an event as an overfulfillment of the plan for coal mining by a single miner, and not just by some 10-20%, but fourteen and a half times, simply could not be spontaneous. It’s hard to imagine that a worker came to the mine early in the morning and decided to chop 102 tons instead of seven. You need to prepare for such achievements, and increase output gradually. But A. G. Stakhanov took and gave offhand an entire mountain of coal, at least official propaganda claimed. However, this was only the beginning of the Stakhanov movement, after 18 days he exceeded his record by more than double, chopping 227 tons. The labor of one person has almost become thirty-two times more effective, and this is without any technical innovations and capital investments!
The beginning of the Stakhanov movement was supposed to help increase labor productivity at all enterprises of the USSR, without exception. If we take the labor feat of this miner as an axiom, then the conclusion suggests itself that either he is a genius, or the production standards are underestimated many times. But the whole Stalinist propaganda machine laid special emphasis on the fact that Alexei Grigoryevich was by no means a man of outstanding abilities, but the most ordinary worker. Moreover, it would be difficult to imagine him a genius. Despite the harsh and sometimes even brutal suppression of unwanted conversations, persistent rumors spread around the country about the arrogance of a noble miner, his excessive passion for alcohol, certain problems in family life and that the record was "blown", but in fact a whole team worked. However, the beginning of the Stakhanov movement has already taken place, and countless blessings have poured on the head of a recent simple worker. He became the owner of a new apartment, furnished with the best furniture, the owner of the car, the holder of the Order of Lenin, the highest award of the USSR. As for fame, any celebrity of our time could envy her.
After another fight in the restaurant, Comrade Stalin warned the presumptuous hero about a possible change of surname. The beginning of the Stakhanov movement had such an important propaganda value and was covered so extensively that its name was no longer subject to change. The noble miner became quiet, but he did not give up the bad habit of drinking, which, however, did not prevent him from surviving to the age of 72. He met death in a mental hospital, where he was unsuccessfully treated for alcoholism.
Despite the fact that highly productive labor was financially stimulated, for tens of millions of Soviet workers at that time there was little more trouble than the beginning of the Stakhanov movement. The date of August 31, 1935 was the day of the birth of the new Soviet aristocracy - the workers. These workers no longer descended into the face, did not get to the machines, did not drive trucks and tractors. They had another job - to speak at rallies, meetings and ceremonies. The destiny of all the others was the fulfillment of many times higher production standards to the sounds of the "March of Enthusiasts".