Stenographic transcriptions of reminiscences of the executives and employees of Moscow Automobile Factory as a source on socio-psychological aspects of the history of its establishment (1915-1924)

Abstract

This research is dedicated to stenographic transcriptions of reminiscences of the executives and employees of the Moscow Automobile Factory named after I. A. Likhachev (AMO ZIL). The goal consists in determination of information capacity of stenographic transcription of reminiscences as a source for studying the socio-psychological aspects of the history of industrial enterprises. The author examines the following aspects: reflection in stenographic transcriptions of the views of company’s executives and technician engineers upon the industrial process;  different aspects of economic culture of the company; socio-psychological image of employees and their relation to development of the company, local and nationwide sociopolitical processes, technological difficulties; perception of collective environment by the staff members; working and living conditions. In the course of study, the author applied socio-psychological and illustrative methods based on the comprehensive analysis of sources. As a result, the author determines high informational vale of stenographic transcriptions of reminiscences, demonstrate possibilities its implementation in studying socio-psychological aspects of the history of industrial enterprises, namely economic culture, mentality of technical officers and staff members, atmosphere inside the collective, motivation and incentive system for employees, role of interpersonal relations in establishment and functionality of the company, views of executives and technician engineers on the industrial process, etc. Previously unstudied archival materials were introduced into the scientific discourse.