Политика советского государства в сфере трудовых отношений в 1940-х — начале 1950-х гг.: как заставить людей работать? (на материалах Свердловской области)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the topic insufficiently developed in the national historiography, particularly in regard to its regional aspect. The study was conducted on materials of the State archive of the Sverdlovsk region and the Centre of documentation of public organizations of Sverdlovsk region with the assistance of the scientific and publicistic literature. The topic urgency is determined by its high relevance for the social sciences, especially history, sociology and political science. Scientific novelty of the work is seen in the fact that the new materials discovered by the author in these archives are introduced into scientific usage. The research proves that the labour legislation in the USSR was, in fact, punitive. It is argued that the whole history of the Communist regime in our country is the history of the administrative-forced labour of the Soviet people. It is declared that in the Soviet period of history, until the beginning of “perestroika,” any research of problems of administrative coercion in the USSR was impossible. It is emphasized that almost until the last days of the Soviet Union the evasion of citizens from “socially useful work” in any case was regarded as a serious violation of the law and was strongly pursued, either by measures of societal impact or by the application of criminal law. It is proved that the leadership of the Communist party and the state considered repressive labour as a precondition for normal functioning and strengthening of the regime, as a permanent tool for strengthening their own power and, ultimately, as a natural law of the socialist construction.”