Andrey Ivanovich Savin,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
From the “Hero of Labour” to the “Hero of Socialist Labour”. The Moral Incentives of Labour Activity in Soviet Russia in the Early 1920s – First Half of the 1930s
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-1-5
The article analyzes the moral incentives as one of the main ways of non-economic motivation to work in Soviet Russia in the early 1920s – first half of 1930s. Based on archive sources, the author reconstructs the history of origin, use and transformation of the title “Hero of Labor” as a highest honorary title that was awarded to the Soviet workers in 1921–1938. The transition of national economy to a commercial economy in the years of the New Economic Policy has turned the labor heroism into an anachronism. As a result, the heroisation of labour and the development of the cult of heroes took place in the 1920s on an extremely modest scale – the history of awarding the title “Hero of Labor” clearly illustrates it. The main condition for awarding the title for at least 35 years of work experience led to the fact that the title of “Hero of Labor” was reserved mainly for “tired heroes” – pensioners and people with disabilities. With the large-scale celebration of the successes of the first five-year plans, the all-union glorification of young heroes of labour – Stakhanovites, as well as the introduction of new orders and medals of the USSR, the title “Hero of Labor” became an obsolete element of the award system and was abolished. The title “Hero of Socialist Labour”, which was introduced in December 1938, inherited from the “old” award only its title.
Publishing: 28/02/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 30.11.2022
How to cite: Savin A.I. From the “Hero of Labour” to the “Hero of Socialist Labour”. The Moral Incentives of Labour Activity in Soviet Russia in the Early 1920s – First Half of the 1930s // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 1 (27), pp. 65–77. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-1-05.pdf]
Links: Issue 1 2023
Keywords: RSFSR; workers; labour; moral incentives; new economic policy; Hero of Labour; social welfare