LABOUR FRONT OF KOSTROMA LAND (based on the materials of the newspaper ‟For the Stalinist Harvest” in 1942)

Abstract

The article presents a historical description of the rear life in Kostroma land through the prism of facts and events reflected in the filing of the newspaper ‟For the Stalinist Harvest”. On the basis of the material presented in the newspaper file for 1942, the work activity of women, teenagers, and children who worked, studied, and advanced the Victory over the enemy in the most difficult conditions of wartime, was analysed. The content of the article reflects the agricultural activities that took place in the collective farms of Kostroma land and which were associated with the sowing campaign, with repair work on maintenance of equipment, with weeding, with the preservation and multiplication of the crop, with harvesting, with animal husbandry. The article considers the active labour position of schoolchildren and Komsomol members, who, supporting the common military fate of adult men, helped to cook food, collect medicinal herbs, and earn workdays, as the main indicator of Stakhanovite labour. The article presents the main government documents printed on the newspaper’s pages, active discussion of pressing problems of the rear by labour activists and ordinary citizens. Based on the material presented, it is concluded that the Soviet victory over the Axis invaders was forged not only at the front, but also in the rear. The burden of all state concerns about providing food not only for participants in military events, but also for urban civilians, fell on the weak arms of women and the malnourished shoulders of teenagers, who, forgetting about their own need, malnutrition, and lack of rest, together with them would bring victory closer.