Socialist competition or socialist emulation (, "sotsialisticheskoye sorevnovanie", or , "sotssorevnovanie") was a form of competition between state enterprises and between individuals practiced in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and in other
Eastern bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
states.
Competition vs. emulation
The first variant is a literal translation of the Russian term, commonly used by Western authors. The second form is an official Soviet translation of the term, intended to put distance from the "
capitalist competition", which in its turn was translated as , "kapitalisticheskaya konkurenciya".
Implied was that "capitalist competition" only profited those that won, while "socialist emulation" benefited all involved.
In Soviet practice, according to
Victor Kravchenko and
Mikhail Heller, the competition between workers and industries was, however, not voluntary and much fiercer than the Western one. It was enforced by the collective pressure orchestrated by state security services (
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
) and local
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
representatives using collective responsibility and laws on dronery or
wrecking. The race between teams and team members for
overcompletion of the
five-year plans led to increasingly unrealistic targets, which could only be satisfied with cheating, double accounting, hoarding of resources, and ''
shturmovshchina
Shturmovshchina ( rus, штурмовщина, p=ʂtʊrmɐfˈɕːinə, ''last-minute rush'', ''storming'') was a common Soviet work practice of frantic and overtime work at the end of a planning period in order to fulfill the planned production t ...
'' (last-minute cramming)—which, in the long term, led to a collapse of the supply chain in the economy. This was the dark side of
Stakhanovism,
udarnik
An udarnik ( rus, уда́рник, p=ʊˈdarnʲɪk; English plural udarniks or udarniki), also known in English as a shock worker or strike worker (collectively known as shock brigades or a shock labour team) was a highly productive worker in th ...
i, and the
subbotnik. In 1987, Soviet economist Nikolai Shmelov estimated that out of 450 billion roubles worth of inventories of raw materials and parts, around 170 billion was kept as surplus, with the sole purpose of securing the successful completion of plans.
Organization
![socialist competition winner flag 10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Socialist_competition_winner_flag_10.jpg)
Socialist emulation was nominally voluntary everywhere where people worked or served: in industry, in agriculture, in offices, institutions, schools, hospitals, army, etc. With the natural exception of the armed forces, committees of the
trade unions
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...
were in charge of managing the socialist emulation.
An important component of socialist emulation was "socialist self-obligations" (). Whilst the
production plan was the major benchmark, employees and work collectives were supposed to put forth "socialist self-obligations" and even "enhanced socialist self-obligations" () beyond the plan, both either as a collective or individually.
In Soviet practice, workers were however often underpaid, undernourished, and their sacrifice was the Party's method of choice to "circumvent the technical inadequacy".
Deadlines for tallying up the results of a socialist emulation were usually set at major socialist and communist holidays or notable dates, like the birthday of
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
or the anniversary of the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
.
Winners were awarded both materially and morally. Material awards were money, goods, or perks specific to socialist systems, such as tickets to resorts, authorizations for a trip abroad, right to obtain a dwelling, or a car outside the main queue, etc. Moral awards were honorary diplomas,
honorary badge
An honorary position is one given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment. Other uses include:
* Honorary Academy Award, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States
* Honorary Aryan, a status in Nazi Germany ...
s, and/or putting winners' portraits on the "Board of Honor" (); work collectives were awarded with the "
Transferable Red Banner
Red Banner (russian: Красное знамя) was a symbol of revolutionary struggle used late Russian Empire, in Soviet Russia, and in the USSR and the background of the Soviet state flag and other similar flags.
Military units, instit ...
of the Socialist Emulation Winner" (). More prestigious was the nomination to state orders and medals for services rendered by individuals and by state enterprises.
History
Vladimir Lenin was the originator and promoter of the idea of socialist emulation as a means for organising "the majority of working people into a field of labour in which they can display their abilities, develop the capacities, and reveal those talents". His milestone article was "How to organize the emulation?" (""), in which among the important goal of the emulation was discovery of persons with organizational and management skills, to replace
tsarist
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...
-era specialists. Also, he was the first to set "socialist emulation" against "capitalist competition". Lenin's article however repeatedly highlights the need for strictest "accounting and control" (Russian: ''"учёт и контроль"'') at all levels for the socialist society, postulating mutual "accounting and control" between all layers of the government and supply chain.
Later,
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
wrote in his streamlined style:
:''Principles of (capitalist) competition: defeat and death of ones and victory and dominance of the others.''
:''Principles of socialist emulation: friendly assistance to lagging ones by the leading ones in order to achieve a common rise.'' ...etc.
While criteria of socialist emulation were easy to set, understand, and quantify in production areas, it was not so in non-production areas: medicine, education, work of clerks, etc., where significant formalism took place and among the criteria a significant weight was attributed to "social activism", not related to the work done. Social activism, among others actions, meant:
* Participating in all CPSU and Komsomol activities
* Recruitment of future CPSU members in their workplaces or home towns
* Election campaigns for deputies for the Union and Republican Supreme Soviets and Soviets of People's Deputies
* Active work during national holidays
Attempt to add a "moral" aspect to daily work was a common feature among 20th century socialist governments, with ''Arbeitskult'' ("work cult") in Germany, which "stressed the patriotic potential of labour, comparing industrial work with the task of a soldier defending the Fatherland" and ''Yan’an heroes'' in Maoist China.
See also
*
Gamification
Gamification is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations, and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users. This is generally accomplished thro ...
References
{{Authority control
Soviet phraseology
Socialism
Competition (economics)
Economy of the Soviet Union
Labor history