Measures of the Soviet State to strengthen labor discipline and their implementation at textile enterprises of the Ivanovo region (1939–1942)

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of measures taken by the Soviet state to strengthen labor discipline at textile enterprises of the Ivanovo region in the pre-war period and in the first years of the Great Patriotic War. In the pre-war period, these measures were aimed at strengthening the efficiency of textile production, the fulfillment of planned tasks by enterprises. With the outbreak of war in the second half of 1941 under the influence of the mobilization of 27 conscription ages, the practical lack of booking of workers and engineering and technical workers, the assignment of the region to the frontline region, the situation has changed significantly. All this was reflected in the deterioration of labor discipline at textile enterprises. Despite the efforts made by the People's Commissariat of the Textile Industry and the apparatus of the Ivanovo textile glavkov, there was a general increase in such violations. The facts show that the factory directors, experiencing an acute shortage of labor, concealed the facts of violations and themselves often became the objects of disciplinary action by the prosecutor's office. In 1942, due to the shutdown of textile enterprises, workers were sent on collective leave en masse. The restoration of the work of textile enterprises could not reduce the number of violations of labor discipline. In addition to punitive effects, measures of labor and social motivation were required. As a result, in October 1942 such measures were taken by the Soviet government. To reveal the topic of the article, not only materials from periodicals and scientific publications were used, but also archival documents, a significant part of which is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.