Ambivalence of Soviet Upward Social Mobility. Cadres Promotions in Industries 1920th–1930th

Occupation: Professor
Affiliation: Ural Institute of management, branch of the Russian presidential Academy of national economy and public administration
Address: Russian Federation, Yekaterinburg

Journal name

Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya

Edition

Issue 6

Pages

93-102

Abstract

Historians of the Soviet era noted with pride: during the first five-year plans, about 800-900 thousand nominees were promoted to top positions, including ca. 500 thousand in the sectors of the national economy; the rest held various positions in state power structures and party bodies. The fact that most of the nominees were yesterday's workers was regarded by the leadership of the Bolshevik party as an outstanding victory for the Soviet system. In the present paper, based on analysis of historical literature, all-Union party census of 1927; statistical surveys of managerial staff of industry 1929, 1933, 1934 and 1936 I attempt to offer an objective assessment of the nature, dynamics, and historical role of Vydvyzhenets as a form of social mobilization, which allowed to attract for the achievement of the First five-year goals personnel resources. It is noted that the nomination as a social process was caught at the intersection of the internal party struggles for the choice of course; the clash of approaches to feasibility of the NEP economy; the discussion about the permissibility and limits of the class struggle; the comparison of the industrialization practices and Marxist characteristics of class society. Party mobilizations (collective admission to the party) and party purges influenced the parameters of the nomination process. The economic chaos of the early 1930s, caused by the voluntarist decisions of Stalin and his associates, forced the leaders of the USSR to take a more realistic view of the potentialities of working-class community. It is concluded that the phenomenon of promotion was actually limited to the first five-year plan. Having allowed thousands of talented nominees to be promoted to top positions in the economic sphere, the nomination, at the same time, demonstrated a monstrous scale of personnel drop-out allowing us to speak about sacrificing a significant part of the nominated managers for the sake of industrialization.

Keywords

nominees, workers, party, industrialization, five-year plan

Received

22.04.2020

Publication date

25.06.2020

Number of characters

27838

Cite

GOST	Feldman M. Ambivalence of Soviet Upward Social Mobility. Cadres Promotions in Industries 1920th–1930th // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2020. – Issue 6 C. 93-102 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250009377-7-1-en (circulation date: 27.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250009377-7
MLA	Feldman, Mikhail "Ambivalence of Soviet Upward Social Mobility. Cadres Promotions in Industries 1920th–1930th." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 6 (2020):93-102. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250009377-7
APA	Feldman M. (2020). Ambivalence of Soviet Upward Social Mobility. Cadres Promotions in Industries 1920th–1930th. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (6), pp.93-102 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250009377-7

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 1328

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Andreyuk G. (1966) Promotion and its role in the formation of the intelligentsia. 1917–1932. In: From the history of the Soviet intelligentsia. Moscow: Mysl': 5–38. (In Russ.)
2. Beilin A. E. (1935) Personnel of specialists of the USSR. Moscow: Soyuzorguchet. (In Russ.)
3. Gimpelson E.G. (2000) The NEP and the Soviet political system.1920s. Moscow: IRI RAN. (In Russ.)
4. Communists in the apparatus of state institutions and public organizations. Results of the all-Union party census of 1927. (1929) Moscow: Gosizdat. (In Russ.)
5. Composition of managers and specialists of the USSR (1936) Union. Moscow: TSUNKHU Gosplana SSSR; Soyuzorguchet. (In Russ.)
6. Drobizhev V. Z. (1968). The Role of the working class in forming the command cadres of the socialist government (1917–1936). Istoriya SSSR [History of the USSR]. No. 4: 55–75. (In Russ.)
7. Included in the operation. Mass terror in the Kama region in 1937–38. (2006). Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russ.)
8. Feldman M. A. (2019) The End of the "romantic" era. (Discussion at the April (1929) Forum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) on the choice of ways, forms and methods of "socialist" modernization). Obshchestvennye nauki i sovremennost' [ Social Sciences and modernity]. No. 3: 135–148. (In Russ.)
9. Firsov B. M. (2018) Stalinist nominees of the 1930s in command positions. In: Lessons of October and the practice of the Soviet system.1920-1950s. Materials of the X International conference. Moscow, December 5–7, 2017. Moscow: Politicheskaya encyclopedia. (In Russ.)
10. How the NEP was broken. Transcripts of the plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b)of 1928-1929 In 5 volumes. Vol. 1. Joint Plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) April 6-11, 1928 (2000). Moscow: MFD. (In Russ.)
11. Heavy industry personnel in numbers. (1936) Moscow: Sektor obsh. izd. ONTI NKP. (In Russ.)
12. Khavin A.F. (1966) Captains of Soviet industry 1926-1940. Voprosy istorii [Question of history]. No. 5: 3–14. (In Russ.)
13. Khlevnyuk O. V. (2010) The Owner. Stalin and the establishment of the Stalinist dictatorship. Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russ.)
14. Kiseleva E. L. (2009) Purge of the state apparatus in 1929–1932. Chistka gosudarstvennogo apparata v 1929–1932. In: Rossijskaya istoriya [Russian history]. No. 1: 96–110. (In Russ.)
15. Krasin Yu. A. (2017) The Greatness and tragedy of the Soviet experiment. In: Velichie i tragizm sovetskogo eksperimenta [Political research]. No. 1: 10–23. (In Russ.)
16. Leibovich O. L. (2017) Hunting for the red Director. Perm: IC «Titul». (In Russ.)
17. Markevich M. A. (2005) Sovetskoe-means reliable: military representatives and the problem of quality in the Soviet defense industry. In: Economic history: Yearbook: 364 – 408 (In Russ.)
18. Novosiltseva T. I. (2004) Promotion in the personnel policy of the Soviet State in the 1920s and 1930s (based on the materials of the Smolensk region).  Author's abstract ... Cand. sci. Bryansk. (In Russ.)
19. Osokina E. A. (2006) Behind the facade of "Stalin's abundance": Distribution and market in the supply of the population during the years of industrialization. 1927–1941. 2ed. Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russ.)
20. Rogovin V. Z. (1995) Stalin "neeap" (1934–1936). Moscow. (In Russ.)
21. Social mobilization in Stalinist society (late 1920s-1930s). (2018) Rel. ed. by S.A. Krasilnikov. 2nd ed., ISPR. Moscow: Politicheskaya encyclopedia. (In Russ.)
22. The first all-Union conference of workers in socialist industry. Verbatim report from January 30 to February 5, 1931. (1931) Moscow- Leningrad: Socegiz. (In Russ.)
23. XVI conference of the all-Union Communist party (b). Verbatim record. (1962) Moscow: Partizdat. (In Russ.)
24. XVI Congress of the all-Union Communist party (b). June 26–July 13, 1930. In 2 vol. Vol. 1. (1935) Moscow: Partizdat. (In Russ.)
25. XVII conference of the all-Union Communist party (b). Verbatim record. (1932) Moscow: Partizdat. (In Russ.)