In 1935, miner Alexei Stakhanov became a hero of labor in the Soviet Union, and the Stakhanovite movement began. But what was touted as an organic step forward to greater productivity by Stalin was truly a carefully planned PR effort.

Research:

• Applebaum, Anne. "Holodomor". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Jan. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Holodomor
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "kulak". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Nov. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/kulak
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Stakhanov". Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Jun. 2008, https://www.britannica.com/place/Stakhanov
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Industrialization, 1929-34.” https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union/Industrialization-1929-34
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Lavrenty Beria". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lavrenty-Beria
• Kotkin, Stephen. “Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941.” Penguin. 2017.
• “Soviet leaders' gifts go on show.” BBC News. Nov. 15, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6150746.stm
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Khrushchev’s secret speech". Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Feb. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/event/Khrushchevs-secret-speech
• Costea, Bogdan and Peter Watt. “How a Soviet miner from the 1930s helped create today’s intense corporate workplace culture.” The Conversation. June 29, 2021. https://theconversation.com/how-a-soviet-miner-from-the-1930s-helped-create-todays-intense-corporate-workplace-culture-155814
• “Heroes of Labor.” Time. Dec. 16, 1935. https://web.archive.org/web/20071016224729/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755449,00.html
• “Khrushchev and the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party, ” U.S. Department of State. Office of the Historian. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/khrushchev-20th-congress
• Knight, Amy. “Beria: Stalin’s First Lieutenant.” Princeton University Press. 1995.
• Newman, Dina. “Alexei Stakhanov: The USSR's superstar miner.” https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35161610
• Overy, Richard. “The Dictators: Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia.” Norton. 2006.
• Remnick, David. “Soviets Chronicle Demise of Beria.” The Washington Post. Feb. 29, 1988. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/02/29/soviets-chronicle-demise-of-beria/f3793536-d798-44a1-943c-287b99f88340/
• Schmemann, Serge. “In Soviet, Eager Beaver’s Legend Works Overtime.” New York Times. Augst 31, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/31/world/in-soviet-eager-beaver-s-legend-works-overtime.html
• SIEGELBAUM, LEWIS H. “Stakhanovism and the Politics of Productivity in the USSR, 1935-1941.” Cambridge University Press. 1988.
• SIEGELBAUM, LEWIS H. “THE MAKING OF STAKHANOVITES, 1935-36.” Russian History, vol. 13, no. 2/3, 1986, pp. 259–92. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24655836
• “Stalin at the Conference of Stakhanovites.” Seventeen Moments in Soviet History. Michigan State University. https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1936-2/year-of-the-stakhanovite/year-of-the-stakhanovite-texts/stalin-at-the-conference-of-stakhanovites/
• Davies, R. W., and Oleg Khlevnyuk. “Stakhanovism and the Soviet Economy.” Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 54, no. 6, 2002, pp. 867–903. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/826287

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.