Punitive Measures as a Method of Increasing Labor Productivity of Workers in Soviet Ukraine 1929–1938

Abstract

The aim of the study is to study the punitive means of stimulating the production of industrial workers in all industries, transport and construction of UkrSSR, used by the commune during 1929–1938 to increase their productivity in total ownership, use and disposal of all means of production.

Methodology. In her scientific research, the author relied on the main principles of historical science – objectivity and historicism. The problem-chronological approach was used to determine the structure of the studio.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in the coverage of punitive practices and coercion as a way to attract workers in the absence of material incentives to economic life in the conditions of communal socialism. The author found that during 1929–1932, when the ruling party carried out a second communist assault, Ukrainian workers reacted negatively to attempts by the commune state to replace material incentives with punitive practices. At the end of 1933, the replacement of proper material incentives for workers by non-economic coercion put the Soviet economy on the brink of economic catastrophe: labor turnover increased, defect and absenteeism increased, labor productivity declined, and the USSR lagged behind developed capitalist countries. In 1934–1936, the party-Soviet leadership continued to use punitive practices along with material incentives for labor. During 1937–1938, punitive measures to stimulate industrial activity in industrial enterprises were significantly intensified, turning into mass repression on the eve of World War II.

Conclusion. Based on the study of new archival documents and analysis of statistical data, the author proves that during 1929–1938 the government of the totalitarian Soviet state in the economic crisis used fear as a coercive tool through which the party-Soviet leadership increased productivity of Ukrainian workers.