The word “subbotnik” entered the Russian language 95 years ago after the communists of one of the Moscow depots voluntarily and free of charge went to work on Saturday.
Subbotniks could not change the difficult economic situation in Russia in 1919, but they became part of an active propaganda campaign. However, already in the 1930s they ceased to be voluntary, becoming in late socialism an object of irritation and ridicule.
April 1919 for Soviet Russia was not best time. The Civil War was in full swing: in the north the army of General Yudenich was advancing on red Petrograd, in the south the positions of Denikin’s Volunteer Army were strong. The main thing these days, however, was the Eastern Front - in March 1919, Admiral Kolchak’s troops went on the offensive and broke through to the Volga.
The years of war (first World War I, and then the Civil War) destroyed the country's economy. Production ties were disrupted, workers left factories - some went to the armies, some fled from hunger and urban devastation to the countryside, some made a career in the party (if we were talking about Soviet Russia). In these conditions, it was extremely difficult for the new state to survive.
In April 1919 in Moscow, a member of a working-class family received an average of 214 grams of bread per day, that is, only 80 grams more than the Leningrad blockade ration.
In conditions of economic collapse, strikes and labor protests begin. The strike in Tula, for example, happened in early April, and Lenin was asked a question about it at the plenum of the All-Russian Central Union of Trade Unions (AUCCTU), which took place on April 11.
But, despite the fact that the life of the era of the revolution can well be described as “life in a catastrophe” (this is the title of the monograph by historian I.V. Narsky, dedicated to Everyday life Urals in 1917-1921),
many workers sincerely believed in the triumph of a new world and a new order.
Therefore, a group of railway workers who worked at the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya depot (Kazan Railway) went out on Saturday evening, April 12, to repair steam locomotives. According to the cell protocol,
“The work started at 8 pm and finished at 6 am.
Worked on cold locomotives that needed to be washed<...>. When the repairs were completed and the locomotives were flooded, all the party members who worked voluntarily went into the carriage, where they drank tea, discussed the current situation on the Eastern Front, sang “The Internationale” and began to go to their apartments.” Subsequently, this document was transferred to the district party committee.
After the Sortirovochnaya depot, subbotniks began to take place in many other cities of Russia.
The first mass subbotnik took place at the same Moscow-Kazanskaya railway On May 10, 205 people attended.
Thus, the movement became widespread and spread throughout the country. However, almost immediately they tried to regulate it - on May 15, the Zheleznodorozhny District Committee of the Russian communist party(Bolsheviks) (RCP(b)) obliged communists to work at least 6 hours on Saturdays - under the threat of expulsion from the party.
However, it is unlikely that these measures alone can explain the fact that in May-June 1919, 30 subbotniks were held in Moscow alone, in which more than 1,500 communists took part.
“If coercion occurred, it was on the conscience of individual commanders. There was no upsurge of the masses in the depressive years of 1919-1921, it was about the initiative of the communists from below, which was picked up for the purpose of political mobilization and propaganda on a nationwide scale,” says a researcher at the Center for Comparative Historical and Political Science Research (CSIPI) of the Perm State National Research Institute University (PGNIU) Alexander Reznik.
The authorities responded to this initiative with great enthusiasm. In July 1919, Vladimir Lenin wrote an article “The Great Initiative,” which was then published as a separate brochure.
In it, the leader of the Soviet state wrote that communist subbotniks are “a victory over one’s own inertia, licentiousness, petty-bourgeois egoism, over all the habits that damned capitalism has left as a legacy to the worker and peasant.”
In this article, the leader of the world proletariat expressed the idea that additional unpaid labor has become part of a new labor discipline, different from the “discipline of the stick” or the “discipline of hunger” under capitalism.
In 1920, Lenin himself took part in the subbotnik dedicated to May 1. Then he went out to clean the Kremlin and allegedly participated in carrying logs. This episode was actively used in propaganda. If you believe the memories, then the log raised by Ilyich must have been almost a kilometer long - so many people claimed that they were the ones who carried it along with the leader of the party and government. This episode was also played out in unofficial culture, including in jokes.
The main proletarian poet V.V. also wrote enthusiastically about subbotniks. Mayakovsky. Part 8 of the poem “Good!” is devoted to the description of the subbotnik:
The work is hard
Job
it's tormenting,
For her
No pennies
But we
We are working
As if we
Let's do
The greatest epic.
However, to exaggerate the non-propaganda significance of subbotniks for the economy and public life not worth it.
“The subbotniks could not radically change the situation only because they were initially considered a manifestation of the “heroism” of the workers, and heroism in the rear could not be widespread,” notes Reznik.
According to him, there were few communist workers who initiated everything, and many of those who returned from the front or went up career ladder, or they became demoralized and joined the mass of non-party people.
In addition, already in 1921 the transition to a new economic policy(NEP), within which private entrepreneurship was again allowed in certain sectors of the national economy.
“At this time, there are contradictions between the socio-political campaigns of the communists and real practice labor relations have become even more aggravated,” notes Reznik.
Already in the 1930s, participation in subbotniks became mandatory not only for communists.
In late Soviet times, subbotniks, as a rule, came down to spring work on landscaping courtyards and entrances, which often became a prelude to drinking at fresh air. The effectiveness of such actions was low, and they caused irritation among people.
The word “subbotnik” also entered the jargon - this is how they began to call raids on prostitutes carried out by the police, and subsequently the free use of their services.
However, the idea of free labor of citizens for the common good remained alive even after the second coming of capitalism to Russia. Thus, in April, a citywide cleanup day is traditionally held in Moscow. At the end of the 2000s, there were even ideas about returning compulsory participation in this event, but they remained just talk.
The following publications were used in preparing the material:
Communist subbotniks in Moscow and the Moscow province in 1919-1920. M.: Moscow worker, 1950.
Kukushkin Yu., Shelestov D. The first communist subbotniks. M.: Moscow worker, 1959.
Lenin V.I. Complete collection essays. T. 38, 39. M.: IMEL, 1974.
Communist subbotniks one of the forms of voluntary free work of Soviet workers for the benefit of society, characterizing their communist attitude to work. By its nature and content, K. s. carried the beginnings of socialist competition (See Socialist competition) and were one of its first forms. K. s. arose in the spring of 1919, during the period Civil War and military intervention, in response to V.I. Lenin’s call to improve the operation of the railways. The initiator of K. s. The party cell of the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya depot of the Moscow-Kazan Railway spoke out. On the night of Saturday (hence the name) April 12, 15 communists of the depot, after working for 10 hours, repaired 3 locomotives. On May 10, the first mass (205 people) C.C. took place. on the Moscow-Kazan railway. In May they took place on the Aleksandrovskaya, Nikolaevskaya, Ryazan-Uralskaya, Moscow-Vindavskaya, and Kursk railways. Following the railway workers, K. s. carried out by workers of factories and factories in Moscow and other cities. The movement embraced broad sections of the working class. Experience of the first K. s. was summarized by V.I. Lenin in his work “The Great Initiative”. Celebrating the huge historical meaning K.S., Lenin called them the actual sprouts of communism, the great “... conscious and voluntary initiative of the workers in the development of labor productivity, in the transition to a new labor discipline, in the creation of socialist conditions of economy and life” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed. ., vol. 39, p. 18). New rise K. s. in November-December 1919 he was associated with the fight against the fuel crisis in the country. In the circular letter of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) “To combat the fuel crisis,” V. I. Lenin aimed party organizations at systematically carrying out the C. s. Subbotniks were also held in military units and villages. The movement reached its greatest scope in 1920. In January, during “Front Week,” thousands of workers worked on the C.S. to help the front. By decision of the 9th Congress of the RCP (b), on May 1, 1920, an All-Russian May Day subbotnik was held. V.I. Lenin worked at the subbotnik in the Kremlin. In Moscow, 425 thousand people took part in the cleanup, in Petrograd - 165 thousand people, hundreds of thousands of people took part in the cleanup in other cities. In 1920, surveys were also carried out. assistance to the Western and Southern Fronts, international solidarity and assistance to Hungarian and French workers, C.S. dedicated to “Peasant Week”, etc. C.S. and Sundays were held during the years of restoration of the national economy, industrialization of the USSR, during the Great Patriotic War 1941-45. Nowadays they are carried out to speed up the construction of economic facilities, clubs, schools, urban greening, etc. In the All-Union Contest dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first Contests. (April 1969), in the All-Union K. p. in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin (April 1970) and in the All-Union K. s. In honor of the birthday of V.I. Lenin and the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR (April 1972), almost the entire working population of the country took part. During each of the cleanup days of 1970 and 1972, industrial products worth over 600 million rubles were produced. Lit.: Lenin V.I., The Great Initiative, Complete. collection cit., 5th ed., vol. 39; At the origins of communist labor, M., 1959; Kukushkin Yu., Shelestov D., The first communist subbotniks, M., 1959. Yu. A. Polyakov.
Big Soviet encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .
See what “Communist subbotniks” are in other dictionaries:
Days of free work for society, held on the initiative of the CPSU. The first communist subbotnik took place at the initiative of the communists on Saturday 12.4.1919 at the Moscow Sorting depot... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
COMMUNIST SUBBOTTNIKS, days of free work of workers for society, were held on the initiative of the CPSU until the mid-1980s. First K. s. took place at the initiative of the communists on Saturday 12.4.1919 at the Moscow Sorting depot. Source: Encyclopedia... ...Russian history
V. Ivanov “V. I. Lenin at a subbotnik in the Kremlin" Subbotnik (Sunday) conscious, organized free labor for the benefit of society during free time from work, on weekends (hence the name). In Russia in early years Soviet power... ... Wikipedia
Days of free work of workers for society, held on the initiative of the CPSU. The first communist subbotnik took place on Saturday April 12, 1919 at the Moscow Sortirovochnaya railway depot. * * * COMMUNIST SUBBOTTERS COMMUNIST... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
One of the forms of voluntary free work of owls. workers for the benefit of society, characterizing their communist. attitude towards work. K. s. arose in the spring of 1919, during a tense civil period. war, in response to V.I. Lenin’s call to improve the work of the railway. d.... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia
See Communist subbotniks... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
- ... Wikipedia
Voluntary and free collective performance of socially useful activities overtime work assignment, which originally took place on Saturdays (where the name comes from).
It is officially believed that subbotniks arose in the spring of 1919, during the Civil War and military intervention, in response to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s call to improve the operation of the railways. The initiator of the first subbotnik was the party cell of the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya depot of the Moscow-Kazan Railway. On the night of Saturday, April 12, 1919, 15 communists from the depot, working for free for 10 hours, repaired 3 steam locomotives.
On May 10, 1919, the first mass (205 people) communist subbotnik took place on the Moscow-Kazan Railway. On this day, workers released 4 locomotives and 16 cars from repair, produced great job for loading and unloading wagons. Labor productivity was 270% higher than usual. In May, subbotniks were held on the Aleksandrovskaya, Nikolaevskaya, Ryazan-Uralskaya, Moscow-Vindavskaya, and Kursk railways. Following the railway workers, subbotniks were carried out by workers from factories in Moscow and other cities.
On May 1, 1920, an all-Russian May Day subbotnik was held, in which 425 thousand people took part in Moscow alone. Lenin took part in the subbotnik in the Kremlin. Since then, the cleanup has become a tradition.
Communist subbotniks and Sundays were held during the years of restoration of the national economy, industrialization of the USSR, and during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. After the war, subbotniks were held until the 1990s. The cleanup was carried out either at the place of work, and then during the cleanup people did their usual, everyday work, or to speed up the construction of economic facilities, clubs, schools, urban greening, etc. Subbotniks were also carried out at their place of residence, on the initiative of local authorities, and then people worked to improve their native area, performing various construction works: construction and painting of fences, planting lawns, creating and arranging flower beds, parks, playgrounds.
The frequency of subbotniks was inconsistent. Sometimes subbotniks could be held every week, sometimes only a few times a year. All-Union Lenin communist subbotniks dedicated to the birthday of V.I. Lenin (April 22) were held annually. They seemed to mark the final arrival of spring and were used to prepare for the celebration of May Day.
At first, subbotniks were voluntary, and mainly communists, Komsomol members and so-called “sympathizers” took part in them.
Subbotniks were considered as one of the means of communist education of the masses. In Komsomol and party organizations, participation in subbotniks measured a person’s social activity, and measures of public censure or even administrative sanctions could be applied to the few who evaded. Subsequently, subbotniks turned from voluntary to voluntary-compulsory.
The very concept of “subbotnik” was widespread only in the Soviet Union and is now known only in the countries that arose after its collapse.
IN modern Russia and other CIS countries, a subbotnik is any work to improve the territory if it is not carried out by specialized organizations. Thus, many private and public enterprises carry out cleaning by their employees, and management educational institutions attracts pupils and students to cleanup days. These events are no longer always timed to coincide with Saturday, or even less so in the week around Lenin’s birthday.
Subbotnik (Sunday)- conscious voluntary organized free work for the benefit of society in free time from work, on weekends (where the name comes from).
The first communist subbotniks
The initiators of the first subbotnik were the communists of the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya depot of the Moscow-Kazan Railway.
On the night of Saturday (hence the name) April 12, 1919, at the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya depot, a group of 15 workers returned to the workshop after a working day to repair steam locomotives. The minutes of the event organizer, chairman of the depot cell I. E. Burakov noted:
They worked continuously until 6 a.m. (ten hours) and repaired three locomotives current repairs for No. 358, 4 and 7024. The work proceeded amicably and was argued as never before. At 6 o'clock in the morning we gathered in the service car, where, after resting and drinking tea, we began to discuss the current situation and decided to continue our night work - from Saturday to Sunday - "until the complete victory over Kolchak." Then they sang “Internationale” and began to disperse...
15 people took part in the first communist subbotnik. Of these, 13 were communists (E. Apukhtin - mechanic, I. E. Burakov - mechanic, Ya. F. Gorlupin - mechanic, M. A. Kabanov - mechanic, P. S. Kabanov - mechanic, A. V. Karakcheev - mechanic , Y. M. Kondratyev - machinist, V. I. Naperstkov - mechanic, F. I. Pavlov - boiler operator, P. S. Petrov - mechanic, A. A. Slivkov - machinist, A. I. Usachev - mechanic, P . I. Shatkov - mechanic) and two sympathizers (A. V. Kabanova - unskilled worker, V. M. Sidelnikov - mechanic).
On May 10, 1919, the first mass (205 people) communist subbotnik took place on the Moscow-Kazan Railway, which became the occasion for V. I. Lenin’s article “The Great Initiative (On the heroism of workers in the rear. Regarding the “communist subbotniks”),” first published as a separate pamphlet in July 1919. The initiative of Moscow railway workers, picked up by industrial enterprises, Lenin called it a manifestation of the heroism of the working masses who began the practical construction of socialism. In an environment of economic ruin, hunger, and a drop in labor productivity, subbotniks were perceived by him as an expression of a new, communist attitude towards labor.
The movement reached its greatest extent in 1920. In January, during “Front Week,” thousands of workers worked on cleanup days to help the front. By decision of the 9th Congress of the RCP(b), an All-Russian subbotnik was held on May 1. In the Kremlin, the head of the Soviet state, V. I. Lenin, took part in the work on this subbotnik. Subsequently, this fact was actively used in communist propaganda.
It was precisely these communist subbotniks that Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote about in .
Subbotniks became widespread in the 1930s - at the same time they temporarily turned from voluntary to forced-voluntary.
The tradition of holding subbotniks has survived to this day. Subbotniks are usually carried out to clean up areas and restore order. But sometimes it can also be carried out at the place of work, and then during the cleanup day people did their usual, everyday work. Usually this was done to raise funds and all earnings for that day were transferred to help those in need or charitable foundation. Subbotniks can be held at the place of residence, often on the initiative of local authorities, or the residents themselves. Then people work to improve their native area, performing various tasks. Most often this is spring cleaning of streets, pruning bushes, planting lawns, creating and arranging flower beds, parks, and playgrounds. But there may also be construction work: building and painting fences, repairing buildings, plastering, finishing rooms. Such “construction subbotniks,” however, could also be organized at the place of work if, for example, the institution moved to another building. It also happened that schools called parents of students to similar cleanup days (for the purpose of repairing the school).
The frequency of subbotniks is not constant. Sometimes subbotniks could be held every week, sometimes only a few times a year. All-Union Lenin communist subbotniks, dedicated to the birthday of V.I. Lenin (April 22), were held annually. They seemed to mark the final arrival of spring and were used to prepare for the celebration of May Day.
Subbotniks today
The very concept of “subbotnik” was widespread only in the Soviet Union and is now known only in the countries that arose after its collapse. In essence, it is the involvement of citizens employed in various fields of the economy in voluntary labor to clean up, usually adjacent to the place of work/residence, improve them, etc.
In other countries, however, there are similar concepts that imply voluntary free (or carried out for a symbolic reward, such as a treat) working together for landscaping or general assistance in this or that matter. See Community service.
In modern Russia and other CIS countries, a subbotnik is called any work to improve the territory if it is not carried out by specialized organizations. In the Baltic countries this work is called talka. Thus, many private and public enterprises carry out cleaning by their employees, and the management of educational institutions involves pupils and students in cleanup work. These events are no longer always timed to coincide with Saturday, or even less so in the week around Lenin’s birthday. Sometimes such work is counted towards working time, and sometimes it is used by unscrupulous officials as free work force for emergency workers and for extortion from the population - transfers of one day's salary towards the cleanup event, even from those who did not take part in the cleanup. Nevertheless, the tradition of holding cleanup days on Lenin’s birthday has been preserved to this day in a number of institutions.
The matter is not limited to the level of enterprises, organizations and universities; in some cities citywide cleanups are announced, and in some countries, for example in Uzbekistan and Belarus, nationwide cleanup days are announced.
On the night of Saturday April 12, 1919, at the Moscow Sorting depot, a group of workers after working day returned to the workshop to repair steam locomotives.
The minutes of the event organizer, chairman of the depot party cell I. E. Burakov, noted:
“We worked continuously until 6 o’clock in the morning (ten hours) and repaired three steam locomotives under current repair, No. 358, 4 and 7024. The work proceeded amicably and was argued as never before. At 6 o'clock in the morning we gathered in the service car, where, after resting and drinking tea, we began to discuss the current situation and decided to continue our night work - from Saturday to Sunday - weekly - “until the complete victory over Kolchak.” Then they sang “Internationale” and began to disperse..."
15 people took part in the first communist subbotnik. Of these, 13 are communists and two sympathizers. History has preserved their names - here they are: E. Apukhtin - mechanic, I. E. Burakov - mechanic, Ya. F. Gorlupin - mechanic, M. A. Kabanov - mechanic, P. S. Kabanov - mechanic, A. V. Karakcheev - mechanic, Ya. M. Kondratiev - machinist, V. I. Naperstkov - mechanic, F. I. Pavlov - boilermaker, P. S. Petrov - mechanic, A. A. Slivkov - machinist, A. I. Usachev - mechanic, P.I. Shatkov - mechanic, A.V. Kabanova - unskilled worker, V.M. Sidelnikov - mechanic.
Soon the initiative was taken up by other workers - on May 10, 1919, the first mass (205 people) communist subbotnik took place on the Moscow-Kazan Railway. It was this event that became the reason for V.I. Lenin’s article “The Great Initiative (On the heroism of workers in the rear. Regarding the “communist subbotniks”),” first published as a separate brochure in July 1919. Lenin called the initiative of the Moscow railway workers, taken up at industrial enterprises, a manifestation of the heroism of the working masses who began the practical construction of socialism. In an environment of economic ruin, hunger, and a drop in labor productivity, subbotniks were perceived by him as an expression of a new, communist attitude towards labor.
The movement reached its greatest extent in 1920. In January, during “Front Week,” thousands of workers worked on cleanup days to help the front. By decision of the 9th Congress of the RCP (b), an All-Russian subbotnik was held on May 1, 1920. In the Kremlin, the head of the Soviet state, V. I. Lenin, took part in the work on this subbotnik. Subsequently, this fact was actively used in communist propaganda. It was precisely these communist subbotniks that Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote about in his poem “Good!”
Subbotniks became widespread in the 1930s - it was during this period that they gradually turned from voluntary to voluntary-compulsory.
The tradition of holding subbotniks was preserved until the fall of the socialist system in the late 1980s - early 1990s. Subbotniks were usually held at the place of work, and then during the subbotnik people did their usual, everyday work. But sometimes subbotniks were held at their place of residence, on the initiative of local authorities, and then people worked to improve their native area, performing various construction works: building and painting fences, repairing buildings, plastering, decorating premises, planting lawns, creating and arranging flower beds, parks , children's playgrounds. Such “construction subbotniks,” however, could also be organized at the place of work if, for example, the institution moved to another building. It also happened that schools called parents of students to similar cleanup days (for the purpose of repairing the school).
The frequency of subbotniks was inconsistent. Sometimes subbotniks could be held every week, sometimes only a few times a year. All-Union Lenin communist subbotniks, dedicated to the birthday of V.I. Lenin (April 22), were held annually. They seemed to mark the final arrival of spring and were used to prepare for the celebration of May Day.
